The number one reason I can’t stop making this cornbread?
… the moist pockets of buttery corn & gouda cheese. Corn bread can sometimes be a bit dry, so when writing this recipe I heeded some useful wisdom I stumbled upon while doing research — adding AP flour to cornbread makes it a lot more moist, with a slightly more cake-like consistency.
And yeah, I’m a huge fan: the soft texture makes it a pleasure to eat both warm and cold - right out of the fridge. A perfect way to use up ears of corn that didn’t make it to the grill… or just an excuse to make cornbread? I’ll let you decide.
Sweet Summer Corn and Gouda Cornbread
Serves 8+
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup Indian Head Yellow Corn Meal
1/3 cup turbinado sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ cup +2 tablespoons oil
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup labne + 1/2 Tbsp milk
2 eggs
1 ear corn, 120g corn kernels
1 Tbsp butter, 13g
1/2 cup Grated gouda + a little extra to melt on top at the end (grate while cheese is cold as gouda is quite soft)
Preheat oven to 375.
Combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt and baking powder) in a mixing bowl. Use a whisk to combine.
Remove husk and silk from your ear of corn and cut in half. Stand each half up on it’s flat, cut side, and using a sharp knife, remove the kernels from the ear. In a small saute pan, place 1 Tbsp butter over med-high heat, occasionally swirling, until butter is very fragrant but not browning - 2-3 minutes. Add the corn and sauté, 5 or so mins, until corn is tender but maintains some bite. Add 1/4 tsp salt, stir and then remove from the heat. Let cool while you combine the wet ingredients.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine oil, eggs, milk and the mixture of 1/4 cup labne + 1/2 Tbsp milk, whisked together to loosen the labne.
Finally, to the wet ingredients add the cooled corn and 1/2 cup of grated gouda.
Using a balloon whisk mix together the wet and dry ingredients until the batter is uniform — it will be slightly lumpy. Avoid over whisking the batter, but scrape down the sides and bottom to make sure there are no dry pockets of flour. Pour the batter into a greased 5” x 9” loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, remove the cornbread from the oven. Insert a cake tester, skewer or knife and make sure it comes out dry.
Switch the oven to the high broil setting. Grate a little extra gouda cheese on top of the corn bread and place under the broiler to melt the cheese — just 2-3 minutes. Remove from the oven and let come to room temperature. Run a knife around the edge of the loaf pan to loosen, flip to remove and serve warm or refrigerate until you’re ready to enjoy.