AH, AUTUMN, the back-to-the-oven season. Time to set the dial, grease the pans, mix a batter. Time to bake up a batch of warm and fragrant…polenta?

Famous for its creaminess, polenta traditionally gets that way by being stirred—and stirred and stirred and stirred—in a pot atop the stove. But there’s another way, the oven method. You combine cornmeal, liquid and salt in a baking dish and set it to bake. That’s all it takes. Forty or so minutes later, without any hand cramps or attention whatsoever, the polenta is smooth, fully cooked and ready for embellishments.

Seriously.

The liquid can be water, milk, vegetable or meat stock, or any combination therein. For its clean, straightforward corn taste, polenta made with plain water is my go-to choice, but when richness is called for, I use all or part milk. When I want savory, umami depth, I opt for chicken stock.

The ratio of liquid to cornmeal can vary, too. For very firm polenta—the kind you can cool, cut into shapes and grill or sauté—use three parts liquid to one part cornmeal. For loose, porridge-like polenta, go five to one. Four parts liquid to one part cornmeal—my usual—yields a soft, giving, middle-of-the road texture.

Plain polenta makes a simple side dish, but for a fallworthy main course, top it with end-of -season tomato sauce, roasted root vegetables or even stew. Polenta is one of those dishes you can vary endlessly. With hardly a stir.