Kitchen Tip Tuesday
Favorite Cornbread

January 29, 2008

It's Kitchen Tips Tuesday at Tammy's Recipes. Here is our kitchen tip.

We bake from scratch with fresh ground grains. We recently discovered with our Favorite Cornbread recipe is that it is even more of a favorite when the batter sits overnight, not to mention more healthy (see Notes below). It makes the bread so soft and moist! So, here's our newly revised Favorite Cornbread recipe:

Note the batter's consistency, cover and let sit unrefrigerated overnight.

When ready to bake, add to mix:
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 6 eggs and
enough buttermilk to return to original consistency before refrigerating.

Pour into greased lasagna pan (12"x16" or thereabouts) and bake 350 for 30-40 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

Cornbread Mix:
Make a mix of dry ingredients above, minus the baking soda & salt, and store in freezer in ziploc bag. Only store this mix in the freezer. When whole grains are ground and not refined, the natural, healthy oils will go rancid in just a couple of days and are no longer healthy. Thus, buying whole grain flours are not a good option. Grinding your own grains gives you the ability to have the freshest, healthiest, most natural grains possible.

For 9"x13" sized recipe, use 5 1/2 C dry mix.
Add: 1 C butter, melted, 1 1/3 C honey, 2 C buttermilk. Let sit overnight.
Add 1 teaspoon baking soda & salt, 4 eggs, and additional buttermilk to correct consistency right before baking.

This is like a cornbread cake and is sweet. We serve this with a turkey dinner and for breakfast. No need to add honey butter!

Whole Grain Notes:

Aside from having a moister cornbread, there are nutritional aspects to soaking this mix overnight. In Nourishing Traditions, published by New Trends Publishing Inc. (Washington, DC), authors Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, PH.D., explain it this way:

“All grains contain phytic acid (an organic acid in which phosphorus is bound) in the outer layer or bran. Untreated phytic acid can combine with calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc, in the intestinal tract and block their absorption.”

“Soaking allows enzymes, lactobacilli, and other helpful organisms to break down and neutralize phytic acid. As little as seven hours of soaking in warm acidulated water will neutralize a large portion of phytic acid in grains.”

“Soaking in warm water also neutralizes enzyme inhibitors, present in all seeds, and encourages the production of numerous beneficial enzymes. The action of these enzymes also increases the amount of many vitamins, especially the B vitamins.”

This preparation method was used extensively by our ancestors and is still in use today by some cultures. Somewhere along the way, perhaps because we have consumed white flour and polished grains for so long, we lost this important knowledge. Now that a lot of us are embracing the “whole grain” revolution, are we really getting the full benefits from our “healthy” choices?

Even if you have been soaking your whole grains, have you thought about doing the same with whole grain flour? Most of us would have to say ‘no’. Think about all the whole wheat products (except the sourdough ones) you’ve eaten in the last year and ask yourself if the flour was “phytic acid neutral” & “enzyme active”?

Once again, the book states:

“Because they are acidic, buttermilk, cultured milk, yogurt, and whey (as well as lemon juice and vinegar) activate the enzyme phytase, which works to break down phytic acid in the bran of grains. Sour milk products also provide lactic acid and lactobacilli that help break down complex starches, irritating tannins and difficult to digest proteins. .................. This method has the further advantage of so softening whole meal flour that the final product is often indistinguishable from one made with white flour. Bread, muffins and pancakes that have been made with whole wheat flour rise easily with baking soda alone; they do not require baking powder. And they are not characterized by the heaviness that can make whole grain products so unpalatable.”

Some simple steps to follow:

- use undiluted buttermilk, yogurt or kefir to soak grains and flours for 12-24 hours at room temperature.

- as an alternate soaking method: add one tablespoon of whey, lemon juice or vinegar (try apple cider) for each cup of water and soak overnight.

- always add baking soda and salt after the the grains or flours have been soaked or lacto fermented.

Sue Gregg has a line of cook books called "Eating Better Cookbooks." One of our favorites is the "Breakfasts...with Blender Batter Baking Allergy Alternatives." This is a very usful cook book containing information on 15 different kinds of grain and milk alternatives. It also uses the method of soaking grains over night as mentioned above in many of its recipes.

Some of the other "Eating Better Cookbooks" are:

1. Main Dishes: With Over 100 Complete Menus
2. Meals in Minutes: From Freezer to Table
3. Casseroles: Meals in Minutes for Busy Women
4. Lunches and Snacks: With Lessons for Children
5. Soups & muffins: Nutritious and delicious : for busy women

Enjoy!