Baker on the Fly on a Friday Afternoon

After intern work on Friday, I metro’d to Trader Joe’s on the way to my brother’s apartment and bought dinner and dessert ingredients.  My parents are in the area, visiting my brother and me.  We ended up going out to dinner, which meant two OK salads for me and cider for dessert. At least I had time to make some sweet cornbread to sneak with me, for edible grains and solid dessert purposes.  



Since my brother didn’t have any non-dairy milk in stock (though he usually drinks almond milk), and I ignored that small voice in my head telling me to buy some at TJ’s, I omitted it in the batch of cornbread I baked yesterday.  What, a 32-ounce box of milk is bulky and I was tired.  I used raw blue agave nectar (hey, it was the same price as regular agave nectar and I don’t notice the difference since I don’t consume it straight up), unsweetened applesauce, cinnamon, and canola oil.  The first picture below is from a two months ago, when I made cornbread with pumpkin, and the other picture shows my first pure-corn cornbread after gluten and I parted ways.

Cornbread
Modified from the Indian Head White Cornmeal bag basic recipe

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup nondairy milk
1/2 cup fruit puree

2 cups cornmeal (white or yellow)
2 tablespoons sugar (optional) or 1/4 cup agave nectar (add agave with wet, sugar with dry ingredients)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Optional flavourings: 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, half a cup of chunks of some type

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Oil the pan of your choice.
In a small measuring cup, whisk water and flaxseed and let stand.  In a larger measuring cup, mix oil, milk, and fruit puree (and liquid sweetener and extracts, if using).

In a separate bowl, combine cornmeal, sugar (if using solid sweetener), baking powder, salt, and spices, if using.  Add flax mixture to wet ingredients, stir, and add wet to dry.  Fold in any chunks carefully.  Add more fruit puree if it doesn’t stick together (the batter won’t be sticky, but it shouldn’t fall apart).  Transfer to pan.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until it cracks near the edges, browns on the edges, passes the toothpick test, and is not wet in the centre.  Cool in pan for 15 minutes then move it to a rack.  Let cool completely before cutting.  It dries out when frozen, but it survives.  Due to its high moisture content, it may grow mould after a week in the refrigerator (I speak from experience). 

Out of soymilk?  Increase the fruit puree amount to 2/3-3/4 cup and consider using a liquid sweetener.  If using liquid sweetener and not using milk, increase fruit puree to 2/3-3/4 cup and use 1/3 cup liquid sweetener.

If using liquid sweetener and non-dairy milk, use 1/3 cup liquid sweetener and decrease the amount of non-dairy milk by 1/4 cup.

The type of oil, non-dairy milk, fruit puree (banana, pumpkin, applesauce), extracts, flavours, and add-ins are negotiable.  Bear in mind that as a gluten-free baked good, add-ins bigger than, say, a small raisin, tend to sink, so finely chopped chunks are best-suited for even distribution.

Pumpkin Cornbread

First all-corn cornbread, made with white cornmeal, cinnamon, and cayenne




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