Corn bread has many recipes. This one is not sweet or cake like. I call it Soul Food corn bread! I use buckwheat flour to lower the gluten.
I ate corn bread before sandwich bread as a kid. It is practically its own food group in my kitchen!
My mom never measured anything or timed anything. She said the corn bread was done when she could smell it in the bedroom! (So much for timing and measurements). I still have the antique skillet she used, and it has made some very good corn bread all those years.
I’ve always thrown this together without a recipe. A soul food chef was my inspiration for this recipe. Bryant Terry, is a vegan soul chef who is not WFPB compliant, but I have been able to make many of his recipes with a few minor changes. I like his Vegan Soul Kitchen and Afro Vegan Cooking cookbooks.
Anyway, in case you haven’t figured it out, I am not a baker. I seldom measure anything, but baking has to be precise! So, I got the measurements from a man who knows his cornbread. Thanks Bryant!
Soul Food Corn bread
Equipment
- Cast iron skillet (12")
Ingredients
- 3/4 Cup Buckwheat Flour
- 1 1/2 Cup Organic corn meal
- 3/4 Cup All Purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
- 1 Tbsp Baking soda
- 2 Cups Plant milk
- 1/2 Tsp Himalayan Salt
- 1 Tbsp Coconut oil
- 5 Tbsp Frozen corn Optional
- 1 Jalapeño Optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Put coconut oil in skillet and place into oven to heat and the oil.
- Place frozen corn in host water to rinse off ice and to thaw.
- Remove seeds and membrane from jalapeño. Dice into a small dice. A 1/8" dice is called a brunoise dice.
- Measure all dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix well.
- Pour about half the melted oil from the skillet into the corn meal mixture. Add milk and stir to incorporate. This should be like a thick cake batter. Add drained corn and diced jalapeño.
- Pour batter into hot skillet and place in hot oven.
- This will take from 45 minutes to 60 minutes to bake. It takes 60 in my conventional oven and 45 in my convection oven. It should be a dark golden brown and the edges should be coming well away from the pan.
- Remove. Within 5 minutes, place a plate on top of the corn bread and use both hands to flip the cornbread onto the plate. Allow to cool 10 minutes before cutting.
Notes
This is a Snap Pea Sheep recipe.
Jalapeño is a fun addition, but green hatch chilies lend a different flavor. Chopped onion, pimento, peppers, corn, even okra slices are possibilities to make your corn bread unique.
The difference between a 10" and 12" pan will vary the thickness and cooking time of the corn bread.
If the corn bread seems a little gooey still, put it back in the pan and continue baking for another 10 minutes. Even if sliced.
This recipe uses coconut oil. The oil in the pan makes the crust and the oil in the bread makes it a little fluffier. I've never tried it but this could be baked in a non-stick pan with no oil. Apple sauce or a vegetable pureé of something like yellow squash could replace the oil. I do not like a sweet, cake like, cornbread but cooking this in a non-stick cake pan with apple sauce would make this recipe more like a true southern cornbread.
