You can whip up this sweet and moist homemade sourdough discard cornbread recipe with just a few pantry staples. It makes a perfect side dish for a summer BBQ, Quick Breakfast, and the dinner variations are limitless! Serve it with warm chili in the fall, your favorite BBQ chicken in the summer, or slather it with your favorite jam or jelly for breakfast. This sourdough cornbread recipe from scratch is super moist and never dry. It only requires a few ingredients you may already have in your pantry!
Sourdough cornbread is a great staple side-dish no matter the time of year. It pairs really well with chili or stew, but is also great on its own with butter or jam.
Ingredients
This sourdough cornbread recipe is a classic favorite. The sourdough discard adds moisture to a dish that can often times be dry. This recipe only requires a few ingredients, many of which you may already have in your pantry! Here is what you will need to make cornbread with sourdough discard.
- Corn grits or polenta
- Unbleached all purpose flour
- Honey
- Baking Powder
- Sourdough Discard
- Butter
- Salt
- Eggs
- Milk
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Sourdough cornbread is moist and fluffy with just a little sweetness and if you allow it to ferment a little sourdough tang. It's the perfect cornbread combination and its so simple to whip up!
Combine sourdough discard or starter with flour, corn grits baking powder and salt.
Add in eggs, honey and milk to the dry mixture, add melted butter last
Combine with a fork or dough hook until the mixture is complete smooth and well combined. Allow batter to sit and rest for up to an hour (optional)
transfer mixture in to a greased 9x9 baking dish and bake in the oven for 25-3 mixtures or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean.
Allow cornbread to cool five to ten minutes and then serve! This recipe is amazing hot with melted butter, but it's wonderful fully cooled as well.
Helpful Tips:
If you want a fermented sourdough cornbread you should allow the batter to sit out and start the fermenting process, however this is in no way necessary. If you prefer to bake the batter right away the sourdough discard will still give your finished product a moist and fluffy consistency without the sour flavor.
Substitutions
Sourdough cornbread is pretty versatile, if you have dietary restrictions you can easily make this recipe
- Sweetener - Instead of honey you can use a lower glycemic sugar substitute like monk fruit. Or you can use real cane sugar if you prefer that.
- Corn Masa - If you prefer your cornbread to have a more smooth texture, try substituting the polenta for corn masa.
- Dairy - If you are dairy free feel free to sub out the butter and milk for oil and your favorite milk alternative one for one substation should work for these!
You can also absolutely substitute a different kind of flour in this recipe, I love to use Kamut®, Einkorn will work as well. Just make sure to use the proper substitution amounts especially if you chose to use a more dense flour like Kamut®.
Equipment
This recipe really doesn't require any special cooking equipment. Here is what I used.
Variations
This sourdough cornbread recipe is perfect on its own, but you might want to kick it up a notch. These simple variations can really add a little extra something for the right occasion!
- Cheesy - add chili pepper flakes while cooking to imbue heat into the dish, or banana peppers
- sweet - add guacamole, crispy onions or
- Spicy - add crushed potato chips (ketchup chips!)
Storage
Sourdough cornbread batter can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week (note: the longer the batter sets the more the sourdough discard will ferment the batter giving you a much more sour flavor).
Once baked this recipe can be frozen or will store well in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week. simply remove and reheat, or eat it cold if you prefer.
Sourdough Cornbread
You can whip up this sweet and moist homemade sourdough cornbread recipe with just a few pantry staples. It makes a perfect side dish for a summer BBQ, Quick Breakfast, and the dinner variations are limitless!
Ingredients
- 1 cup corn grits or polenta
- 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 tbs baking powder
- ¼ cup sourdough discard
- ¼ cup melted butter
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup milk
- a pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a medium sized mixting bowl combine flour, polenta, salt, and baking powder.
- Add in the sourdough discard mix until combined. The batter should still be dry, and lumpy.
- add in the honey, melted butter milk and eggs, mix until well combined. the batter should now have taken on the consistency of a thick pancake batter.
- Add a pinch of salt. Combine ingredients once more.
- Allow batter to sit covered with a towel or plastic wrap for 45 minutes to an hour. I leave mine on the counter, but you can refrigerate if you prefer. This resting time allows the sourdough discard to start fermenting the dough. (You can skip this step if you prefer a less sour flavor. you will still get a moist fluffy result).
- Transfer batter into a well greased 9x9 baking dish.
- Bake in a 350F degree preheaded oven for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the dish comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for five to ten minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
