Tag Archives: cornbread

Norma Schafer’s Red Tail Grains Cornbread–Dairy + Gluten Free

Posted on Wednesday, August 5, 2020 | 6 comments

We are confined to a smaller lifestyle. There are limitations to what we can do, where we can go, who we can see. Many of us are suffering loss of income, family contact, financial well-being. Some of us don’t know if we can keep our homes or make the next rent payment.

I yearn for Oaxaca. I yearn to take small groups of travelers into indigenous villages in pursuit of understanding and to explore the textile traditions. I perfected a cornbread recipe in Oaxaca where I went to my local mill down the street to buy organic meal. They grind the finest cornmeal and I could not find it here — until now!

redtailgrains@gmail.com or www.redtailgrains.com

For now, I’m stuck in Durham, North Carolina until it is safe to travel again. Many of us are stuck somewhere, physically or metaphorically. (There are worse places to be stuck!) For solace, I turn to cooking — that great leveler of creative output. This falls into the category of comfort food.

At the Durham Farmer’s Market (I go early when it is safe and there are fewer people), I discovered Red Tail Grains from Mebane, NC. I’ve been using their fine stone ground corn meal for several months. It makes the finest cornbread, perfect for my lactose-free and gluten-free diet. It yields a cake-like texture with a fine crumb. I season it up like a spice cake but add Hatch Chili powder for a Mexico-style kick. Great with morning coffee, too!

Ingredients/Recipe:

  • 1 C. Red Tail Cateto Orange Heirloom Flint Corn
  • 1-1/2 C. Gluten-Free Flour (almond flour or King Arthur brand)
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. Hatch chili powder
  • 1 t. ground cinnamon
  • 1 T. ground turmeric
  • 2 T. finely grated fresh ginger
  • 1-1/2 C. almond milk or other plant-based milk
  • 1 tsp. white vinegar
  • 7 T. unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 eggs, large
  • 1/2 C. sugar

Note: To make this VEGAN, use butter and egg substitutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine all dry ingredients and grated ginger in a mixing bowl. Make a well. Combine milk and vinegar and let it sit to clabber for at least five minutes. Beat together eggs and sugar. Add all liquid ingredients to the well and mix until thoroughly combined into a cake-like batter — the consistency of pancake mix.

Prepare a baking pan. I use a 10″ cast iron skillet, well-seasoned, lined with parchment paper. You can also use an 8″ x 8″ square glass baking dish, greased. I would also recommend lining same with parchment paper.

Pour batter into baking pan. Put onto middle rack of preheated oven. Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Let cool. Cut into squares. Will keep refrigerated for one week or you can freeze successfully.

Enjoy!

Fresh from the oven! Can you smell it?

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Cinco de Mayo Special: Norma’s Spiced-Up Corn Bread Recipe–Gluten Free

Posted on Tuesday, May 5, 2020 | 4 comments

It’s Cinco de Mayo. What better way to celebrate than with CORN. Native to Mexico and first hybridized right up the road from where I live in Teotitlan del Valle, corn has traveled around the world and become a food staple for many. Of course, Cinco de Mayo was invented in the USA. Read more about it HERE.

Now, for the RECIPE. What some of you have been asking for: the cornbread recipe I created and modified over many recent bakings. I think I’ve perfected it to the point that I’m ready to publish it. It is much better than the original recipe I made and posted a few months ago from Oaxaca.

Finely textured cornbread using almond flour and Gold Mine brand corn meal

The recipe uses almond flour instead of gluten-free white flour and a finely ground cornmeal, giving it a texture more like a cake than the traditional dense, gritty cornmeal one usually encounters in cornbread. If you want something more dense, use a different flour and a stone ground meal.

Assemble the following ingredients:

  • 1 cup gluten-free almond flour
  • 1-1/2 cups finely ground corn meal
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 T. ground turmeric
  • 4 T. fresh grated ginger
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 2 T. dried oregano leaves
  • 1-1/2 cups almond, coconut, rice or soy milk (for lactose free) or cow milk, if you prefer
  • 1 T. white or apple cider vinegar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup sugar

Prepare a baking dish. Use any one of the following:

  • Cast iron 8″ skillet, OR
  • 8″ aluminum springform pan, OR
  • 8″ x 8″ pyrex baking dish

Grease baking dish with grape seed oil. Grape seed oil can take a high temperature without burning. If you use the springform or pyrex pan, cut a piece of parchment or wax paper in a circle 1″ larger than the circumference. Oil the paper, too. I like to use cast iron because it gives a crunchy exterior.

After removing the cornbread from the springform pan

Steps to Prepare the Batter:

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and cornmeal with all the spices, oregano, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Stir until thoroughly mixed.

Combine milk and vinegar and let sit 10-15 minutes until clabbered.

Melt butter in microwave — in three 30 second increments so it doesn’t splatter or overheat.

Beat the 2 eggs with the sugar until blended, about 2 minutes.

Make a well in the flour mix. Add the milk, butter and egg mixture into the well. (A well is a deep indentation in the middle of the dry ingredients.) Mix until all the flour is absorbed into the liquid ingredients. Beat until smooth.

Pour mixture into the greased baking dish.

I grate the peeled ginger with a microplane — my new essential kitchen tool

Put on the middle rack of a pre-heated 425 degree oven. Bake 30-40 minutes until done. Test doneness with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, the baking is finished. If there are particles of batter on the toothpick, continue baking, checking every 10 minutes.

Remove. Let cool. Cut into squares. Can be stored refrigerated in a sealed container for up to 5 days, or freeze. I doubt it will last 5 days and you’ll find yourself making this recipe at least weekly.

Note: you can cut down or add to the spiciness by adjusting these ingredients. I like a lot of turmeric and ginger. To me, this tastes reminiscent of pumpkin bread.

Let me know if you have any questions. norma.schafer@icloud.com

P.S. In years past, I owned and operated a gourmet cookware shop and cooking school in South Bend, Indiana. Just a little tidbit to affirm my competence in the kitchen.

This is the corn meal I love
You can also use this brand, made in Mexico–also excellent for nicuatole

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Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Oregano Ginger Cornbread Recipe — Maize Molido

Posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2019 | 4 comments

How was I going to replicate the organic cornbread I’ve been making (and eating) in North Carolina here in Teotitlan del Valle?, I wondered. As I cruised the village market yesterday, I saw a local woman selling small bags of ground cornmeal. I asked her to verify what it was, since I wanted plain ground corn. For atole, she replied, in Spanish. Nothing more than corn. Maize molido. I thought, oh, good, local from her milpa.

Cornbread, oven fresh. Waiting to cool and eat.

I know how they grind corn here. Almost every family has a small plot of corn, squash and beans out in the campo. This is to sustain them and their animals throughout the year. Everyone eats the same corn — animals and humans alike. There are three corn plantings and harvests a year. The last harvest is coming in now, just before Muertos.

Thankfully, I had almond milk on hand in the bodega.

Once the corn is harvested, most of it is dried. The women peel the kernels off the husks, then take the dried corn kernels to the local molino (mill). There is a mill in every neighborhood here. They choose how they want it ground, coarse to fine. What I bought was a fine ground cornmeal. Native, organic corn. Original corn. Healthy. Just perfect.

Allowed on my low FODMAP diet, candied ginger.

I followed a highly rated gluten-free recipe online, but added my own flavors to the dry meal: 1/4 t. turmeric, one tablespoon of minced, candied ginger, about a teaspoon of dried oregano I had bought fresh at the local market some months ago.

Turmeric, local dried oregano, cornmeal and gluten-free flour.

We are at 6,000 feet altitude here in the Oaxaca valley. It takes longer to bake and we need to crank up the oven temperature a bit to compensate. Baking here is as much an art as it is a science, so I watch the cornbread to make sure it is rising and not browning too fast.

Just in case you didn’t recognize oregano!

My friend Kalisa is a baker extraordinaire. She often stays in the casita when I’m gone, caring for the dogs. Of course, this is a Mexican stove! She did a translation of oven temps from Fahrenheit to Centigrade last year. We keep this on a faithful sticky note on the side of the cupboard near the oven. It helps immensely.

Mr. Armadillo supervising the baking project.

Footnote: It took over an hour to bake. The recipe called for 25 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. The texture is fine, more like a cake than a bread. Next time, I’ll see if I can find a coarse grind meal in the village. Meanwhile, I taste the turmeric and the oregano and ginger. I like the mingling of the flavors.

What can you experiment with?

P.S. A long time ago, in a land far, far away, I used to own and operate a gourmet cookware shop and cooking school. I still love to experiment.

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