Baking With Faith: CORNBREAD

By Faith F. Griffiths, '11

It was a very cornbread-filled weekend for me. Literally, I ate it non-stop. Firstly, I attended a potluck and I personally find cornbread to be the nicest thing to bring to a potluck, as it is simple, fairly quick to make, and goes well with a lot of different foods. Then, the townhouse had a chili dinner to help raise money for the senior class gift, and I helped make a whole lot of cornbread for that. There is still lots of cornbread left in this house, and do you know, I am not even tired of it. Probably everyone else is, and I will be the only one to keep eating it, and it will become hard and a little stale, and I will keep toasting it and topping it with jam and butter and loving it.

_I tried making both regular cornbread and vegan cornbread, and I think both are pretty great, but the butter used for regular cornbread (esp. the four tablespoons called for in the following recipe to grease the pan) really makes a difference. As does using yogurt or goat cheese – makes for a nice and moist bread.

Also, pure maple syrup is really, really wonderful – you can increase it in the recipes if you like sweeter cornbread – really great.

The Greatest Cornbread

• 4 tablespoons butter, olive oil, or bacon fat
• 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
• 1/2 cup a.p. flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt, goat cheese, or sour cream

• 1-2 cups fresh or frozen corn
• 1 cup chopped bacon
• 1-2 cups shredded cheddar
• 1 cup sauteed onions or shallots
• herbs
• 1-2 cups beans
• chopped chilies
• etc.

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter or fat and spread it into a cast-iron skillet, muffin pan, or 8 in. baking pan. Place pan in the oven.
2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, maple syrup, and yogurt/goat cheese/sour cream. Pour liquids into dry ingredients (and additions as well, if using) and stir with a wooden spoon just to combine. Don’t overmix! There should be some lumps still. If mixture seems too dry, stir in another tablespoon or two of milk.
4. Take pan out of oven and poor batter into it. Smooth out the top, return to oven, and bake about thirty minutes, until top is starting to brown and sides pull away from the pan. Serve hot or warm.

The Greatest Cornbread that is Vegan

• 2 cups cornmeal
• 1 cup a.p. flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2-4 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 cups plain soy milk
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

also the same suggestions for additions as above. Vegan cornbread with bacon!

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 8 -10 in. baking pan, cast-iron, or muffin tins with oil or margarine.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together soy milk and vinegar and set aside (it will thicken.)
3. In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients.
4. Add the oil and maple syrup to the soy milk mixture. Whisk for about two minutes. The mixture should be foamy and bubbly.
5. Pour the wet into the dry and mix together until just combined, DON’T OVER MIX. There should be some lumps. Pour batter into pan and bake 30-35 minutes, until top starts to brown sides pull away from the pan.

• butter or margarine
• jam (blackberry is my favorite)
• honey
• maple syrup
• cheddar and ham
• with chili
• with a bowl of soup
• I also think it’s delightful toasted with any of those toppings/accompaniments AND THE BEST: using it for french toast