Linda's Literary Home

Mommy’s Cornbread Recipe

Image: Country Corn Pone – Photo by Linda Sue Grimes

Mommy’s Cornbread Recipe and a Tweak

For years, I have experimented with cornbread, trying to find a recipe that was as good as my mother’s.  Finally, I asked my sister if she had Mommy’s cornbread recipe.  She did, and I tried it and discovered that was the taste I was after.

The recipe is better with white cornmeal, which has become difficult to find except in mixes that contain leavening and other unwanted ingredients.  

I was lucky enough to find white cornmeal on Amazon under the brand Indian Head.  The pack states that the product is “Old fashioned stone ground.” Interestingly, the white cornmeal cost $5.00 more than the yellow.

While I do think that white cornmeal makes for better flavor, I have determined that the real difference that has made my earlier cornbread unacceptable was using egg.

Except for my vegan version of cornbread, I had always added egg, and I now believe that the egg created a flavor that distorted the true taste of cornbread.

In the vegan version, I had used coconut milk and vegan sour cream, which likely distorted the cornbread flavor.  It was a simple omission that has made all the difference in cornbread, the simple omission of egg from the recipe.  

Now I plan to tweak my vegan version, by omitting the vegan sour cream and substitute almond milk for coconut milk.  The tweak offered here can easily be made vegan by using vegan butter (I use Earth Balance) instead of dairy butter.

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 2 cups white cornmeal
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup water

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 425°
  2. Place 10 inch cast iron skillet with oil in oven
  3. In large mixing bowl place remaining ingredients 
  4. Mix well
  5. Remove skillet with hot oil from oven, and pour into mixture
  6. Mix well
  7. Return skillet to oven
  8. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown

My Tweak of Mommy’s Recipe

Because buttermilk tends not to serve me well, I have tweaked Mommy’s recipe a bit.

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter and 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 cup white or yellow cornmeal
  • 1/2 cup unbleached flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder (without aluminum)
  • 2 tsp salt (I use Redmond Real Salt™️)
  • 1 cup almond milk (with 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar)
  • 3/4 cup water

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 450°
  2. Place 10 inch cast iron skillet with butter/oil in oven
  3. In large mixing bowl, place remaining ingredients
  4. Mix well
  5. Remove skillet with hot oil/butter from oven, and pour into mixture, mix well
  6. Pour mixture into hot skillet
  7. Return skillet to over
  8. Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown

🕉

You are welcome to join me on the following social media:
TruthSocial, Locals, Gettr, X, Bluesky, Facebook, Pinterest 

🕉

Share