Our New Orleans experience wasn’t complete without some of Willa Jeans southern hospitality. Their cornbread is to die for with whipped butter and sugar cane syrup made in house.
Southern Cornbread
Yield; 10 Muffins or 7cm Loaf tin
Using corn, not just cornmeal, gives this loaf it's taste and texture. While fresh is best, frozen or canned are just as good. Traditional Southern Cornbread gets it's thick crust from a cast iron skillet, but baking at a higher temperature produces a crusty crust just as crusty.
Ingredients
- 5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 cup yellow or white cornmeal
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
- ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup fresh or frozen corn, thawed OR 1 400g can corn kernels
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
With oven rack in of oven; heat oven to 400 degrees.
Stir flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl until combined; set aside. In a food processor or blender, process brown sugar, fresh, thawed or canned corn kernels, and buttermilk until combined. Not too much as you still want clumps of corn! Add eggs and process a smidge longer.
Using rubber spatula, make a well in the center of your dry ingredients; pour wet ingredients into well and begin folding, giving mixture only a few turns to barely combine; add the melted butter and continue folding until dry ingredients are just moistened.
Pour batter into greased tins; smooth surface with rubber spatula. Bake until deep golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes; invert cornbread onto wire rack, then turn right side up and continue to cool until warm. The smell is irrestiable I know, but cutting too soon will end in tears. Trust me!
Notes
The role of buttermilk is to add tenderness and lighten the batter. On a science note; once the acid in the buttermilk reacts with the baking soda/powder a fizz fest starts. This reaction cancels out the sourness of the buttermilk but leaves our cornbread airy. If you don’t have buttermilk, it is easy to substitute. The method I use is; 1 cup milk, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, leave to stand 5-10 mins until thick and clumpy. You can also use vinegar or cream of tartar in a pinch. Another method is thinning 3/4 cup plain yoghurt or sour cream with 1/4 cup water.
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