Corn bread

For a long time, cornbread has been a product that is prepared exclusively at home. Neither in the store nor in catering establishments today you will not be able to find cornbread. And this is despite the fact that in terms of useful properties and calorie content, this type of roll is much better than ordinary white and even rye.

It is strange that in a country where corn has long been almost a national treasure, it is known to consumers only in the form of canned grains, boiled cobs in the summer and porridge.

Baking bread from cornmeal is still the lot of housewives. However, thanks to numerous TV shows and the all-knowing Internet, people are increasingly baking cornbread, the recipes of which turn out to be simple and very tasty.

Often in cooking, corn as a cereal is called maize. Maize is a herbaceous plant, the species of which in nature is represented by sugar corn and seven other types of cereals. According to some experts, corn was the first plant from which people began to make pastries. Today, this cereal is eaten in the form of cereals and freshly cooked cobs, and ground corn flour can be an excellent basis for baguettes and all kinds of sweet desserts, breads, cereals.

Homemade cornbread has many cooking options, the easiest way is to make it from ground corn grains, but much more often housewives bake wheat-cornbread, mixing two types of flour for this. Depending on the proportions of each ingredient, the final calorie content of the finished product may turn out to be different.

Bread made from corn flour without the addition of wheat flour turns out to be sweet in taste, crumbly and bright yellow. If you use fine flour for baking, then cornbread turns out to be airy, and if you use coarse flour, then it is moist, heavy, a little oily. 100 grams of freshly baked corn flour contains about 266 kilocalories.

The composition and benefits of corn bread

Saturated fatty acids, vitamins B, C, PP, choline, fiber and a lot of trace elements necessary for the body are contained in cornmeal bread. Surprising is the fact that cornbread at the present time, when a healthy lifestyle has been converted into a cult by mass culture, has not reached the store shelves. This is a great product for those who cannot live without buns, but are trying to lose weight and eat right.

Among the useful properties of corn products, there are several of the most important:

1. Reduced calorie product. The calorie content of cornbread is much lower than that of ordinary white bread, which is why nutritionists recommend using the product to all those who follow all kinds of diets in order to lose weight.
2. Rich in vitamins and minerals. Corn groats are not cleaned and sorted as many times as wheat groats, so much more substances useful to humans are stored in its shell. In the same connection, corn is better absorbed.
3. Fiber in the composition of corn flour has a great effect on the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular system and helps to absorb excess cholesterol from human blood.
4. Corn baking is able to support metabolic processes in the human body. In mild forms of diabetes, doctors recommend using such products. They also help with malfunctions of the pancreas, as well as with excess weight.

But, despite all the charms of corn, there are significant disadvantages of eating cornbread.

Harm and contraindications for the use of the product

Anorexics and people suffering from underweight should not eat cornmeal baked goods. This dietary product is contraindicated in high-calorie diets. In addition, all the advantages of this product can turn into disadvantages for certain health problems. For example, corn bread is contraindicated for people with chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. It causes inflammation and irritation of the intestinal membranes in chronic cholecystitis, gastritis or intestinal ulcers.

In case of liver diseases, bread made from cornmeal is strictly prohibited. This medical ban is associated with the ability of the product to provoke a very strong bile secretion, which leads to additional stress on the diseased liver.

Baking methods

Homemade cornbread can have quite simple preparation methods. For example, the simplest recipe for wheat and corn bread in the oven or slow cooker is as follows – just mix wheat and corn flour, vegetable oil, soda, milk, salt and sugar. A rich baking option is obtained by adding eggs and butter to the above ingredients. The yeast cornbread recipe is great for making the product in a bread machine.

For lovers of non-standard recipes, there are special methods for baking cornbread with the addition of tomatoes, herbs, olives or peppers. Top such a loaf can be sprinkled with cumin or polenta – coarsely ground cornmeal.

As a ready-made dish, cornbread has a specific sweetish aftertaste, a denser structure in comparison with the usual wheat analogue and a crispy crust. A loaf of such bread crumbles more easily.

An excellent yeast-free cornbread is prepared according to a Mexican recipe. This dish is called tortilla and resembles a crispy flatbread or pita bread. In this country, the benefits of cornbread have been known for a long time and this knowledge is actively used in everyday nutrition. Buying cornbread in a regular bakery is not difficult. The recipe for yeast-free cornbread is known to all Mexican chefs.

In a large container, 2 types of flour are mixed – corn and whole grain (you can use regular wheat, but the texture of the tortilla will not quite match the recipe), baking powder, spices (turmeric, paprika and others) and salt. In the second bowl, sour milk (ryazhenka, yogurt, kefir), syrup to the taste of the cook (it is possible to replace it with sugar dissolved in warm water) and vegetable oil are mixed. After that, the contents of the two containers must be combined and mixed well with a whisk until the consistency of thick cream. Then add 1 tablespoon of flaxseed, sesame or sunflower seeds to the dough. The introduced seeds must be thoroughly and evenly mixed with the dough. The finished dough is laid out in a greased form and placed in a preheated oven for 50 minutes. After a golden crust has formed on the bread, it is taken out of the oven and left to cool in the same form in which it was baked. When the loaf can already be taken with your hands, it is shifted to cool on the oven grate.

Ready-made tortilla is very tasty on its own, it can be used as an addition to main dishes, or you can cook sandwiches based on it. It is worth noting that due to the lack of yeast in the composition of bread, it quickly becomes stale, therefore, as a rule, tortillas are stored for no more than 1-2 days.

Also, housewives often bake cornbread in a bread machine. This is convenient because all the ingredients are immediately mixed together in an arbitrary sequence, so there is no need to combine the components in different dishes.

Corn flour bread in a bread machine is prepared from the following products:

• a glass of cornmeal;
• a glass of wheat flour;
• 170 gram of milk;
• tablespoon of vegetable oil;
• a little salt to taste;
• a tablespoon of sugar;
• a tablespoon of poppy seeds;
• a teaspoon of dry yeast.

Wheat-corn bread in a bread machine is baked quite simply:

1. Milk is poured into the bowl of the bread machine. You can dilute milk with water, but do not forget to maintain the proportion – the liquid according to the recipe is exactly 170 grams.
2. Vegetable oil, salt, sugar, two types of flour are added to milk. Poppy seeds are also introduced at the same time, but they can be omitted.
3. At the very end, yeast is introduced into the resulting dough.
4. The removable bowl of the bread maker, together with the finished dough, is placed in the appliance. The standard mode for baking bread is set and when the oven signals the readiness of the product, the loaf is laid out from the bowl for cooling.

Healthy and delicious corn bread is ready to eat. It can be eaten with any products, enjoying both the taste and the benefits for your own body. The combination of cornbread with cheese is the most delicious, as the cheese subtly emphasizes the sweetness of such pastries. Similarly to cooking in a bread machine, cornbread is also baked in a slow cooker.

Use of the product on a gluten-free diet

In some diseases, gluten intolerance occurs in the body. This protein is found in foods such as meat, candy, dairy products, wheat, rye, oats and their derivatives – bread, pasta, cereals and flour. Of the cereals, you can only eat those where gluten is absent, for example, corn, buckwheat, rice. That’s why nutritionists prescribe cornbread in this case. Many dishes cannot be prepared without gluten, but, fortunately, this does not apply to bakery products.

A gluten-free diet often helps not only to get rid of diseases, but also to lose extra pounds. Doctors and nutritionists believe that such a diet should be followed only for medical reasons, but fast and effective weight loss with a gluten-free diet makes many adhere to it.

Recipes for gluten-free cornbread are very diverse. You should consider the most popular ones so that you know for sure how to bake cornbread with a minimum of calories. For example, gluten-free cornbread with herbs is very flavorful and goes well with almost any homemade menu. To bake it you will need:

• corn flour – 500 grams;
• milk or water, if you want to make cornbread without milk, in a volume of 625 milliliters;
• 2 teaspoons of yeast and sugar;
• 1 teaspoon salt;
• 2-3 tablespoons of aromatic herbs (dry or fresh);
• ground flaxseed in the amount of 80 grams.

As can be seen from the list of ingredients, corn grits bread can be obtained not only without the addition of milk, wheat flour, but also without eggs. Preparing a loaf is not difficult:

1. In a saucepan, heat milk or water and add yeast and sugar to it.
2. Next, flour, flaxseed, salt and herbs are added to the mixture and everything is well mixed together.
3. The dough should thicken well, for which it is placed in a container with a lid and left for 45 minutes alone.
4. After the allotted time, the dough is kneaded again, if necessary, adding water to it.
5. After that, the dough is formed into the future shape of a roll and left for another half hour.
6. The dough is laid out on a baking sheet with parchment in a preheated oven, it is baked for about an hour at 220 degrees.
7. After cooking, the bread can be cooled by placing it on a wire rack.

It is better to cut this loaf a few hours after it has completely cooled down, then it will not crumble.

Sourdough cornbread is also suitable for a gluten-free diet. First you need to make the sourdough itself, and only then bake the loaf itself. For the starter, you need to mix water with cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice and put this mixture in a warm place. A day later, 2 tablespoons of cornmeal, 4 tablespoons of water are added to the mixture and everything is mixed well. After 2 days, when the starter begins to bubble, it will be ready to use.

Cornbread is baked in a bread machine without the addition of wheat flour. For its preparation, in addition to sourdough, you need:

• special gluten-free flour – 450 grams;
• cornmeal – 50 grams;
• one and a half glasses of water at room temperature;
• 1 teaspoon of salt and sugar;
• olive oil – 2-3 tablespoons.

You need to bake such bread on a special bread machine mode, designed specifically for gluten-free production, or in a special bread machine. Flour is poured into a removable container, water is poured, oil, salt and sugar are added. Lastly, the sourdough prepared in advance is placed. On the bread machine, the necessary cooking mode and the level of crust that you want to get in the end are selected – light or dark. In the process of kneading the dough, you can add additional ingredients to it – nuts, herbs, raisins, seeds, but this is done at will. After the end of baking, the loaf should be completely cooled on the wire rack.

Also, a mixture of corn and rice is often used in gluten-free bread recipes. This is because when choosing one type of flour, the product can end up quite tough, and mixing helps to avoid this. Corn-rice bread is lighter in color and more airy, although it all depends on the coarseness of the grinding of the flour itself and the grains from which the flour was prepared.

The benefits and harms of cornbread for the human body have already been well studied by medical science. There are real contraindications for eating this product and they must be taken into account when drawing up your own menu. However, if cornbread can be used in nutrition, it is worth using it, because the health and appearance benefits that such a baked product provides are invaluable. The product will help you quickly get in shape, lose weight, charge your body with useful substances and simply please you with an unusual taste that many will like.