CORNBREAD MADE WITH MILK

If you are from Black Sea region of Turkey, like me, cornbread would remind you old memories more than just the taste... You would feel the warmth of your grandma, as the smell of cornmeal fills your kitchen. Even if you have never tasted before, its taste will take you to your childhood. In short, cornbread means warm houses. 

Cornbread is a type of bread, made by grinding corn kernels into coarse flour form. It is widely consumed by people of Black Sea region and with the high amounts of zinc content, it helps repairing of damaged cells. Vitamin A and fibers, which are found in cornmeal, protects health of your eyes. Corn oil in cornbread helps you to keep your cholesterol level normal, so that it is pretty good for your health. However, even it has lots of health benefits, people with diabetes should consume with care, because it has high amounts of sugar in it. So, I do not suggest those people with diabetes, to consume very often. 

Another thing for cornbread is that, it is safe to consume for people who have celiac disease. Patients of celiac disease, which is also known as Gluten-sensitive enteropathy, because of their disease, cannot consume food that contains wheat, barley and rye. Therefore, cornbread can be consumed safely by people with this condition. 

 

For centuries, cornbread is widely consumed in different countries and it has varieties of recipes. It is considered as a type of cake for some folks and as bread for some others. If you do a little search, you will see differences in contents such as cream, baking powder, yoghurt, sugar. My mom’s recipe is pretty easy and it is special to her hometown, Giresun. This delicious bread is prepared in villages by baking of cornmeal, water and salt mixture on a wood heated iron plate. We consume cornbread as a substitute for normal bread. It is thinner and it has fibrous look, contrary to most of other cornbread, which is thick with a raised up look. Only change we made in the recipe is using milk instead of water to get a different taste. It really goes well with other Black Sea dishes and it is also great to have cornbread with milk or yoghurt. Small pieces of cornbread added into warm milk is a delicious and filling way to have breakfast. 

Cornbread that you can buy from bakeries is usually prepared as cake, so it tastes fairly different. If you didn’t have chance of visiting Black Sea region to taste cornbread and only cornbread you had previously is that you have bought from a bakery, or you baked yourself using a recipe in which cornbread is prepared as cake, I definitely suggest you to try this recipe. I am sure it will be your favorite, with your kitchen filled with its smell, with its delicious taste and simplicity in making.

 

For 4 people... 

Ingredients 

2 cups roasted corn meal 

1 cups corn meal (not roasted) 

2.5 cups warm milk 

¾ teaspoon salt 

6 tablespoon olive oil (for heating the pan) 

NOTE: There are two types of cornmeal: roasted and not roasted. It tastes better if you use both of them together mixed. 

 

Instructions

1. First, warm up the milk. 

2. Put cornmeal (roasted and not roasted) and salt in a bowl and mix well. 

3. After they are properly mixed, slowly add warm milk in the middle of the mixture and start making the dough. 

4. You can add milk in 3 steps in order to have better consistency while you are making the dough. You should make the dough until you don’t feel cornmeal particles in it and it becomes more consistent compared to cake dough. 

5. After you are done with the dough, cover the dough and wait for 15-20 minutes. 

6. Later, heat the pan with 3 tablespoon of olive oil and boil for a little while. Optionally, you can use butter instead of olive oil. 

7. Place the dough over the heated pan and spread it uniformly until it gets thinner. 

TIP: You can wet your hand in order to prevent the dough sticking to your hands and spread over the pan better. 

8. Keep the dough over the pan until the bottom of it baked well. Using a pan lid, you can check if it is properly baked or not. 

9. After the bottom is baked, using a pan lid, flip the dough. Before placing the flipped dough again, you should add 3 more tablespoon of olive oil. 

10. When other side of the dough is baked enough, it means that your cornbread is ready. You can serve now. 

11. You can consume cornbread with other dishes or you can put small pieces of cornbread in a bowl of yoghurt or you can mix it with warm milk and add sugar. 

Infinitely many thanks to mom and my aunt, for putting so much effort! 

Bon appetite...