Cornbread is a traditional batter bread typical of Southern American cuisine originating in Native American cuisine. It is traditionally baked in a skillet or iron cast tray. The main ingredient is cornmeal, hence the name.
Cornmeal is also known as polenta flour. A coarse flour made by milling sweetcorn is often used in gluten-free cakes like in the Flourless upside-down pineapple cake recipe.
Fried or baked, cornbread is usually made with cheese and pepper, served warm with a knob of butter, accompanying slow-cooked beef such as briskets and stews.
In this gluten-free version, we paired cornmeal with gluten-free plain flour. In fact, despite the name, this recipe does not usually contain any bread flour.
Ingredients
makes 20x28cm tray, prep time 10 minutes, cooking time 40 minutes
- 180g polenta flour
- 100g gluten-free plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 65g vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 200g buttermilk or yoghurt
- 125g grated cheddar
- 100ml milk
- Salt & pepper
- Butter and extra polenta flour for greasing the tray
Method
1 – Grease a 20x28cm oven-safe tray with a bit of butter and coat it with a thin layer of polenta flour. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: polenta flour, gluten-free plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, and pepper, and finally, add grated cheese.
2 – Mix well the dry ingredients with a whisk. In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients: vegetable oil, eggs, buttermilk or yoghurt and milk. Pour the wet ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients mix.
3 – Combine the ingredients well to reach a smooth batter. Pour it on the lined baking tray, sprinkle some coarse salt and bake in the oven at 180°C 30-40 minutes, until completely cooked, and when inserting a toothpick, it will come out clean. Serve the cornbread warm with a knob of butter.
Tips
- The batter mix will result quite wet, similar to pancake batter.
- Store the cornbread in an airtight container, in the fridge or the freezer and warm it up when it’s time to eat!
