A good batch of cornbread is rich, moist, tangy, gritty and deliciously corn-y. It is great beside a bowl of chili, toasted with butter, topped with cheese and served up for breakfast. Here is a traditional buttermilk fermented cornbread recipe with plenty of options for fixings.
Fermenting Cornbread Batter?
Corn ferments really well. It is ideal for prefermented baking because it won’t become sticky like other baked goods. Here are some of the benefits of prefermenting the cornmeal in this recipe:
- Fermentation adds a delicious sourdough-like flavour to the cornbread.
- The fully hydrated cornmeal has a smooth texture.
- Corn is hard to digest. Pre-fermenting for a least 8 hours, and up to 24 hours improves the digestibility of the corn.
- Fermented cornbread can be made without any additional flours so it is a naturally gluten free recipe.
Here’s a picture of fermented cornmeal. All of the buttermilk has been absorbed and that there are air pockets from the fermentation.
Cornbread Muffins with Fixings
I’m always on the hunt for a lunchtime snack that is filling and sugar-free. Cornbread is a great solution, except for one problem, day-old cornbread can be rather dry. This is why I always add some fixings into every batch. The added flavour helps to keep the cornbread from going stale.
Here are a few of my favourite cornbread fixings. All of them are delicious on their own, however, they can be mixed and matched for your own amazing cornbread creation.
- Mix in up to 1/2 cup of grated cheese.
- Finely dice 2 tbsp of sun dried tomato.
- Add a 1/4 cup of diced spring onion.
- Add 1/4 cup of bacon bits or cracklings. Fry the bacon or crackling in a cast-iron skillet then use it to bake the cornbread. The extra fat is delicious.
- Finely dice 1 tbsp of chipotle peppers or pickled jalapeno peppers. Or if you like it really hot, add up to 1/4 cup for a fiery cornbread.
- Make a really corn-y cornbread by adding a 1/4 cup of fresh sweet corn kernels.
Buttermilk Fermented Cornbread
Cornbread is rich, moist, tangy, gritty and deliciously corn-y. It is great beside a bowl of chili, topped with cheese or served up for breakfast. This cornbread is soaked and fermented for improved flavour, texture and digestibility. See the section above for more information.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Serves 8 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Fermented
- Cuisine: Southern
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup cornmeal
- 2 cups buttermilk (see notes other for options)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp oil (to grease your pan)
- Added fixings (see section above for some ideas)
Instructions
- Mix the cornmeal and buttermilk in a glass bowl and allow to soak for at least a half an hour or up to 24 hours.
- Stir in all of the remaining ingredients.
- Pour into a well oiled pan and bake at 450 F for 20-25 min. It should be cooked through and starting to brown on the edges.
Notes
- Though buttermilk is traditional in cornbread, feel free to substitute with milk kefir or yogurt.
- I bake my cornbread in a traditional 9″ cast-iron skillet
, but you could also use a glass baking dish
or a muffin tin
. Just reduce the baking time to 15 minutes if you’re making cornbread muffins.
, but you could also use a glass baking dish
or a muffin tin
. Just reduce the baking time to 15 minutes if you’re making cornbread muffins.Keywords: gluten free, soaked, sugar-free, flour free, fall, winter, spring, cheese, sun-dried tomato, bacon, onions, cracklings, chipotle, jalapeno
Great recipe, love it, will definitely try this at home. Thanks for posting.
★★★★★
This recipe looks so good and simple! I wonder what this tastes like. I can’t wait to try this tomorrow. Thanks a lot for sharing this recipe!
★★★★★
I used corn flour and it never did ferment……wasted almost four cups flour and four cups of buttermilk !
Corn flour is fairly different from cornmeal. Sorry that it didn’t work out! Maybe there’s something else you can do with it? Make corn tortillas? Won’t be typical, but you could just replace the water with buttermilk, just so you won’t have to waste the ingredients.