Cornbread recipe

Cornbread is simple to make and very tasty. More like a savoury cake, than bread, it is a classic North American favourite and this cornbread recipe is particularly good! Made with golden cornmeal, this recipe is more like savoury cake than bread. It's a classic North American favourite and is often cooked in a cast-iron skillet and served with bowls of hot chilli or glazed barbecue ribs. Cornmeal is a fine grain made by grinding dried corn and is also called maize or polenta (this is Italian cornmeal). You can flavour the basic cornbread with chopped chilli pepper, spring onions, herbs or deseeded and finely chopped red or green pepper. For a cheese cornbread, stir in 75g finely grated mature Cheddar cheese.

Ingredients

• 175g plain flour
• 175g cornmeal
• 1tsp salt
• 1tbsp baking powder
• 2tsp caster sugar
• 50g butter, melted
• 200ml buttermilk
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Fan 180°C/Gas Mark 6. Sift the flour into a large bowl and stir in the cornmeal, salt, baking powder and sugar. Make a well in the centre.
2. Mix together the melted butter, buttermilk, eggs and olive oil and pour into the well. Stir quickly to combine then pour into a greased 20cm square cake tin. Bake for 25-30 mins until golden and a skewer inserted into the bread comes out clean.
3. Leave in the tin for 5 mins then turn out onto a cooling rack. Serve warm or cold cut into 8 pieces.