When did we start expecting cornbread to taste sweet like cake? When did we start adding other flours in addition to corn meal? Well, this recipe makes a rustic, real-deal cornbread that is not sweet. I’ve used Blue Mountain Organics sprouted corn from blue-purple corn kernels, because the blue purple color means it contains lots of antioxidants that help protect us. You can always use unsprouted blue cornmeal. Or even yellow cornmeal, if that’s what you have on hand.
And why sprouted cornmeal? Well, the sprouting makes the corn easier to digest, and all sprouted flours (we sell quite a variety of those) are said to digest more like a vegetable than a starch, which is neat!
You can make this with any kind of sour milk and butter – that means non-dairy, cow or goat or sheep. Did you know that pioneer women kept a bowl of milk in the cupboard, deliberately, to sour because it made their biscuits rise? If you don’t have any sour milk (beyond the expiration date is perfect!), add a tablespoon of lemon juice to a cup of milk and let stand at room temperature for an hour or so.
While cheese is luscious, I actually prefer this cornbread with no cheese. Serve bread with soup, stew or a garlicky green salad.
Serves 8 Bake at 375 degrees
| 1½ C Blue Mountain Organic sprouted blue cornmeal | 2 C corn (I use frozen organic) |
| 4 eggs | ¾ C melted butter, ghee, coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil |
| 1 tsp good salt (Celtic, Real, Himalayan) | 1 C sour milk (any kind of milk) |
| 2 tsp baking soda | 2 C melting cheese, optional* |
| 1 jalapeno, minced, optional |
Preheat the oven to 375. Place a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet in the oven to warm for 5 minutes.
Mix dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Beat the two together using a wooden spoon, just until smooth. Remove the cast-iron skillet from the oven and brush generously with the fat you’ve chosen to use. Reheat the skillet for about 2 minutes, then fill with batter. (No cast iron skillet? Use a pie plate, but don’t preheat; simply grease, pour in batter and put into oven.)
Bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes, or until cornbread is lightly browned but still blue and springy to the touch. Remove skillet from oven and let bread sit 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.
*If you use cheese, cut the salt by half. Depending on how melty your cheese is, how much fat it has, you might want to cut the amount of fat some. I love this bread re-warmed the second and third day. It freezes well too.
