Cornbread
has been nominated the official American Bread and why not? It’s
original to the Americas. (Corn originated in the New World.) And Americans
certainly have a love affair with cornbread with regions adopting favorite
types and a world of variations. Whatever your preference, the following
tips and techniques will help you build better cornbread.
•
Always check your cornmeal for rancidity before baking. Rancid
cornmeal will smell stale and musty; good cornmeal will have a sweeter
smell.
•
When mixing batter for cornbread or muffins, put away your electric
mixer. Mixing by hand helps eliminate over mixing. It is desirable
to have a few lumps in the batter. They will hydrate during baking and
the lumps will help give a craggy appearance to your breads.
•
Once moistened, work quickly with the batter. The moisture
will activate the leaveners in the batter.
•
Cornbread does not keep well. It is best used on the day baked.
Store leftovers wrapped in plastic and then aluminum foil and placed
in the refrigerator. Cornbread can be frozen for six weeks.
•
Use old-process cornmeal instead of degerminated cornmeal when
available. Cornmeal with the germ should be stored in the refrigerator
for up to six months. If you have more old-process cornmeal than you
will use in six months, freeze part of it. It will keep in the freezer
for over a year.
•
If you are making cornmeal for stuffing, it can be baked up
to three days ahead. Crumble it and keep it an airtight bag. Consider
adding sage to cornbread batter.
•
Consider substituting whole wheat flour for white flour. With
the grainy nature of cornmeal, your kids won’t even know that
you slipped whole wheat in on them.
•
Consider sugar a variable. A sweeter cornmeal will have 1/4
cup sugar or more for every one cup of flour and one cup of cornmeal.
Many southern style cornbreads have little or no sugar.
•
When making corn muffins (or any muffins), partially fill any
empty tins with water. The moisture will improve the muffins, the tins
will heat more evenly, and cleanup is easier.
•
Many of us love crusty cornbread. A dark pan will make crustier
cornbread than a light pan. For the crustiest cornbread, use a skillet.
•
Typical recipes call for cornmeal and flour in a one-to-one ratio.
Some skillet cornbreads omit the flour and use extra eggs. These cornbreads
are not only very good, they are good for you and an option for those
who are gluten intolerant. As an example, see our Texas
Chili Corn Bread.
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