Corn Bread - Sweet, Rich, Easy, and From Scratch

Cornbread was created by European settlers in America as they adapted local foods they found in the new world to their old world tastes.  They found new ways to use the corn (maize) they got from the native Americans by conflating recipes for quick breads and other baked goods with recipes they learned from the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek.  

Cornbread, a distinctly American food, has evolved over time and different regions of the US have their own variations on the cornbread theme.  Northern cornbread tends to be sweeter and lighter (more like a pan-baked variation of corn muffins), whereas southern cornbread is more savory and salty.  The Mexican influence in Texas has even created a substantial cornbread made with creamed corn, jalapeños, and covered with cheese. 

I like most cornbreads but I'm partial to the northern variety.  It's sweet and cake-like, so it's great with butter and honey, but it's simultaneously savory, so it makes a great accompaniment to chili beans etc. 

Here's my recipe for scrumptious easy cornbread made from scratch (I start with dried corn kernels).

Instructions:

• 1.5 cups of corn flour (I grind corn kernels--I've used popcorn--in my Blendtec grain grinder but you can use corn meal in a pinch)
• 1.5 cups of white wheat flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of powdered milk
• 2 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1.5 cups of water
• 2 Tbsp of vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Stir together all the dry ingredients, stir together all the wet ingredients, add the wet to the dry and whisk it all until it's a smooth batter.  Pour into an oiled baking dish.  Bake until it smells good all over your house, the top is golden brown, and a toothpick poked into the cornbread comes out clean (usually around 40 minutes).

BTW, in our home we eat this cornbread for breakfast smothered in my homemade fruit flavored yogurt.  It's delicious and the protein in the yogurt complements the protein in the whole grain (they make up each others' deficient essential amino acids) to boost the protein of the combined foods.  Once again, a food that's simultaneously delicious, nutritious, and thrifty.