Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Sometimes you feel like corn...




...sometimes you don't.  And I have now determined conclusively that I do not like actual corn in my cornbread.  In the past I've avoided it, figuring I probably wouldn't like it that way.  But the next bread in the BBA Challenge was cornbread, including actual corn, so I figured I'd finally give it a try.  Since it's a quick bread, the batter doesn't take all that long to mix together.  You do have to plan ahead a bit, though, since the recipe calls for coarse cornmeal (polenta) that has to soak overnight.  The cornbread also has bacon on top.  Reinhart recommends cooking the bacon in the oven, and that's my usual method anyway.  It's nice to be able to do a whole batch at once and not make a big mess of the stovetop.  One thing I do recommend is completely lining your sheet pan with foil to make clean up a lot easier.  The batter is made with the standard muffin method--combine dry ingredients in one bowl, wet in another, then combine the two.  I decided to make muffins--a dozen, since I only have one muffin pan--and used an 8" round pan for the rest of the batter.  I heated the pans in the oven, added a bit of the bacon fat, added the batter, and put everything in the oven.  Oh, and I did add corn to the round pan, though not to the muffins.




The verdict?  Big failure on this one.  The muffins had leavening issues, I think.  They ended up with divots in the middle.  And they tried to stick to the pan, though I was able to pry them out intact.  The round pan was a total disaster.  I think the pan wasn't hot enough (plus the only pan I had was shiny aluminum, and I think a dark pan would have worked much better).  The cornbread stuck in the middle, so I ended up with a ring of soggy cornbread.  Yuck.  I did sample it, and as I mentioned above, I definitely don't like corn in my cornbread.  Gillian seemed to like the muffins okay.  She ate one and part of another.  Brianna mostly picked the bacon off the top of hers and left the rest.  Jamie thought the cornbread was okay, though not great, but he eats almost anything. =)  I ate a muffin and wasn't impressed.  Just not my cup of tea, I guess.  I prefer my cornbread sweeter, and despite containing white sugar, brown sugar and honey, this cornbread was not particularly sweet.  I'm fairly certain I won't be making this one again.

Others had a lot more luck with this recipe.  Head over to the BBA Challenge blogroll to see how everyone else is doing with the challenge (the main group is well past the cornbread).  And check out Nancy's blog sometime soon for a cornbread round-up from the Slow and Steady sub-group.


7 comments:

  1. Oh!! Di - I'm sorry it didn't work out. I made mine in a cast iron skillet like reg crn brd and it came right out.

    It was moist tho and that was good.

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  2. That is why I stick with Jiffy. LOL!! I know, sad isn't it, a gal from Virginia using a box mix. Your muffins look good to me.

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  3. I'm with you on not liking actual corn in your cornbread. I'm a northerner so I like my cornbread dense and sweet! I do like the idea of the bacon on top though!

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  4. I've never really liked corn in my cornbread either. Sorry this was an all-around loss for you. I was shocked that mine came out of the pan; my backup plan was to pry wedges out with a pie server. I'm always amazed at the strong preferences that the subject of cornbread brings to the surface. I thought this was pretty sweet...

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  5. After you tweeted your disaster, I figured there was no way I was turning mine out of the pan...LOL...if you had issues, I would have issues. Muffins sounded like a good idea...hmmmm...guess this was just not meant to be. Onto the Cran-Walnut Bread!

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  6. I had better luck, and it turned out pretty good, but will not replace our usual cornbread recipe. Glad I tried it, though.

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  7. aww i'm sorry this didn't work out like you had hoped...i personally love corn in my corn bread...i love jalapeno corn bread especially :)

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