The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Sourdough cornbread

paul0130's picture
paul0130

Sourdough cornbread

So I found a pretty cool recipe online that I want to try out, but I'm a little confused as to what type of cornmeal to use:

http://www.food.com/recipe/sourdough-cornbread-388529

I like this recipe because its simple, it incorporates an overnight fermentation, and it lets me cook it in my cast iron skillet which is always a good thing.

The question about the cornmeal is do I use plain cornmeal, self rising cornmeal, or cornmeal mix? From what I gather, self rising also contains baking powder and the mix contains that plus flour and other ingredients.

The recipe says "I use self-rising", which almost implies you can use plain cornmeal if you want. When you Google search "cornmeal self rising", you get a lot of hits on corn meal mix. But, you can also make your own self-rising cornmeal by combining corn meal, flour, baking powder and salt. Would that basically be the same as mix at that point? So confused!

I got one shot at this tonight so I want to make sure I get this right. Thanks!

 

 

dosco's picture
dosco

That the author uses self-rising. Maybe you should try that first.

 

-Dave

 

paul0130's picture
paul0130

Therein lies the confusion. Is that self rising cornmeal "mix", or self rising cornmeal (which is harder to find unless I make my own). Not sure if she just left out the word "mix", made her own, or if there is a brand she uses that is available where she lives. I'm probably over thinking this :)

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Especially since the leavening is intended to come from the sourdough fermentation.

Paul

paul0130's picture
paul0130

YES! Exactly. I forgot to mention that. It didn't make sense to use self rising if I'm using my starter which has plenty of rising power. But the consistency of plain cornmeal is so different than the cornmeal mix, I'm afraid it will mess up the texture of the final product.

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

I have here all require flour.  The corn meal mixes will include that already.  That will make a dramatic difference in the perceived texture of that mix out of the bag/box compared to just plain corn meal.  Since your example recipe also calls for flour I think the texture will be fine, but really, it puts you at the fun part now:  start experimenting!  Try it and see if you like it.  If it's not perfect, eat up the evidence and try again. :)  I do that a lot, which probably explains a few things about my waist size and such.

Best of luck
OldWoodenSpoon