Best Cakey Cornbread…again

Excuse me–have you two met?

If you haven’t met yet, you should. Best cakey cornbread, meet my best new blogging friends.

I think this is only fair–the only thing better than new friends is new friends with the heavenly smell of bread in your house with a warm piece of thick, cakey cornbread in hand. Even though I like to eat this with a fork, definitely. Technicalities.

This is somewhat of an old recipe, but I made it again this weekend and was reminded of how much I like it. Although it is super cakey, it’s not super sweet. It’s incredibly tight-crumbed which means it’s dense, but it’s still on the light side. It had less of a hearty corn flavor than I remembered, but we’ll say it’s a nice, mild cornbread. Which means it goes with–well, everything.

My sister and I made this in an 8×8 pan, which meant it was SUPER thick. We went to the unnecessary trouble of three-quartering the recipe to make it fit in the pan, but really–just give in and make the 9×13 pan. You won’t regret it.

Okay, now you can go read my cringe-inducing old post from way back when (ahem, three months ago) and find the recipe…

[Old post:]

Yup, it’s here. The arrival of my long-awaited go-to cornbread recipe.

It looks thin in this picture, but I promise that that’s only due to halving the recipe in a 9×13 pan. I prefer my cornbread in thick chunks, and this recipe is definitely up for that.

This cornbread. It crumbles in your mouth, breaking off in cakey pieces that have just enough silkiness from the flour to offset the gritty bite of the cornmeal, resonating with grainy corn granules soft with flavorful milk. The trick is to soak the cornmeal in milk for at least 15 minutes or up to an hour to get the most tender results out of the meal.

You could hardly expect anything less than the best from a recipe called “World’s Best Cornbread” and an author who said she’s been on a quest for the perfect cornbread the way I’ve been on a quest for the perfect pancake. So basically we’re twins because cornbread = pancakes + corn, only cakier and crumblier and thicker.

This is making me want to go make some. Right now.

Notes: I did not modify this recipe when I originally made it…mostly because I just really craving some really good cornbread, regardless of nutrition, really, and I didn’t want to mess anything up. I’ll post a modified version as soon as I can!

Best Cakey Cornbread
Taken from No Ordinary Homestead

• 2 cups cornmeal
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, combine cornmeal and milk; let stand for 15 minutes or more. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix in the cornmeal mixture, eggs and oil until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean.

Nutrition Facts: per 1/16 recipe, 218 cal, 8.8g fat (2.1 sat), 24mg cholesterol, 177mg sodium, 31.3g carb, 1.5g fiber, 10.4g sugar, 4.4g protein.