My Favourite Cornbread

Cornbread is one of those staple dishes in the South and you tend to find yourself in one of two camps: Team Sugar or Team No Sugar. I fall into the Team No Sugar category and I can’t imagine a sweet cornbread ever going well with Texas chili. My view is that if you want sweet cornbread you can add some honey-butter to it, otherwise keep it plain.

Cornbread always reminds me of being at my Grandma Tippi’s house and how she would make this almost every single time I would come over to visit. My granddaddy would get so excited when grandma announced it was nearly ready and he’d hurry to the butcher block so he could get his piece fresh from the oven. He’d crumble a slice into a glass and pour over cold milk and tuck in with great appreciation.

I introduced P to cornbread and although skeptical at first he is a true convert and he’ll even ask me to make it from time to time. It’s such a comforting food and one that I really enjoy making.

Ingredients:

230g corn flour/meal (please don’t use corn starch)

285g whole milk or buttermilk

100g plain flour

1tsp salt

1tsp baking powder

100g melted butter

2 large eggs

2tbs butter for the skillet

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/450F and place the skillet inside.
2. Place the corn flour and milk in a bowl and set aside for 30 minutes.
   
3. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl.
4. Add the eggs and melted butter to the corn flour mixture and mix well.
5. Add the flour until just combined.
6. Add the 2tbs of butter to the hot skillet and let melt.
7. Add the cornbread mixture to the skillet and bake for 25 -30 minutes until golden.
   
   
    

You don’t have to soak the corn flour with the milk, but I find it makes the final bake softer. Of course, that could just be my imagination.

For those of you unused to cornbread you’ll find it’s more cake like than bread like, but it’s definitely not cake. Enjoy with chili con carne or add to cornbread dressing.