Sometimes I bake things, then need to immediately give them away so I don’t gobble down the whole pan. You know how that goes? This cornbread is like that. It’s sweet, light, and soft�with just the right amount of bite from stone-ground cornmeal.
And since it’s made with low-fat buttermilk and olive oil (instead of milk and butter), it’s slightly better for you.
If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can use soured milk, too. Just add a few drops of white vinegar or lemon juice to whole milk. Let it sit for about 5 minutes on the counter before adding to the mixture. You can also totally use regular milk, too.
The cornbread batter is quick to whip together, and bakes in about 20 minutes. It’s very forgiving, and is a very satisfying thing for a novice baker to make.
I think my favorite way to eat cornbread is lightly toasted with cold butter and a little kosher salt.
Buttermilk Cornbread
1 cup stone ground cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup olive oil
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
spray oil or butter
Yields 1 8-inch x 8-inch cornbread
Buttermilk Cornbread: Prep your pan
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Generously grease an 8-inch x 8-inch baking pan with butter or spray oil. Line the bottom with a square of parchment paper. Set aside.
Buttermilk Cornbread: Mix the dry ingredients together
Put the cornmeal in a mixing bowl.
Toss in the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Stir them together with a whisk until you have a uniform mixture.
Buttermilk Cornbread: Add the wet ingredients to the dry
Pour in the olive oil.
Add the buttermilk.
Crack in the eggs.
Whisk it all up until the dough comes together and is fairly uniform in consistency.
It will be thick, and look about like this:
Thick, as in, really thick:
Buttermilk Cornbread: Into the oven!
Scrape the dough out into your prepared pan.
Smooth the surface down with a rubber spatula.
Pop it into your preheated 400 degree oven and bake for about 20 minutes.
Buttermilk Cornbread: How do I know when it’s done?
Good question. Your cornbread is done when the edges turn a wee bit brown. (They should be lightly brown, not dark brown and hard.) There may be a few slight cracks closer to the edges of the pan.
The surface should be firm to the touch when you press on it with a finger. (The indentation your finger makes should spring back, not stay depressed.)
Oh, and a toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the middle of the cornbread.
Cool completely in the pan before cutting.
Serve and enjoy!
