I’ve finally gotten some success capturing wild yeast and building up a sourdough starter. Of course, one of the first recipes I wanted to test was a sourdough cornbread. While I love the tanginess and chewy bite of a nice sourdough loaf, I missed my cornbread. You know the kind with the buttery top and crispy edges? Yea! That kind! After several delicious attempts, I’m ready to share.

Remember back in 2020 when sourdough was all the craze?!! Well, I took the bait! I’ve been baking fresh bread for about eight years now but never really understood the benefits of sourdough until then. So, I tried…several times…and failed. My first starter, Breadington was his name, lasted a good two weeks before getting mold. I couldn’t get a single loaf. My second attempt failed because I just kept forgetting to feed it. I gave up for a couple of weeks before trying again. The third sourdough starter, Breaddie Murphy, lasted a good month. It took a couple of weeks to mature but I did at least get two small loaves that didn’t rise much. After caring for Breaddie for a couple months, I just couldn’t keep up with a good use/feed scheduling, so I gave up.

Which brings me to present day. I’d given up on my sourdough journey until now. I completely removed bread from my family’s diet, but my husband and sons were not happy about it. When I began to think of ways to add back bread, I remembered all the benefits of sourdough and fermentation, and here we are!

My starter took almost three weeks to mature but I have been baking consistently with it, successfully this time. I’ve made bagels, sandwich bread, artisan loaves, and now cornbread. I love the artisan loaf for everyday bread, but I missed cornbread with my chili and red beans and rice.

Sourdough Cornbread

Ingredients

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 sourdough starter active or discard

1/2 cup milk

2 large eggs

1/4 cup light tasting oil

2 tablespoons butter

Tools you may need

Cast iron skillet

How to do it

Combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl., stir or whisk.

Gently stir in sourdough starter.

Either refrigerate 8-12 hours to allow fermentation (then proceed to next step)

If baking immediately, add in eggs, milk, and oil.

Gently whisk until smooth.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place the 2 tb butter skillet, then place skillet in the oven as it preheats.

Remove hot skillet from oven then pour in the batter immediately.

Place pan back into the oven and bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown and the edges pulled away from the sides of the pan.

FAQ’s

Can I use sourdough in a cast iron?

Yes, this sourdough cornbread recipe is cooked in a 10 inch cast iron skillet. Alternatively you could also make it in a 8×8 inch pan.

Can I use sourdough to make cornbread?

Yes, my recipe is below. You can choose to either bake it immediately or do a long ferment.

Can you use cornbread mixed with sourdough bread for stuffing?

Yes, you can, simply replace regular bread with sourdough bread. Recently I made a chicken and dressing with both sourdough bread and this sourdough cornbread recipe. It was a hit!!!