Spicy Spinach Cornmeal Bread

8:00 PM

Nothing Soothes the sight and taste of freshly baked food coming out of the Oven . I am not a baking person nor do I bake often . But after I started to Blog about my food adventure, my love affair with baking had taken off so effortlessly that I sometimes feel I have been doing this for ages. But the fact is that I am a novice baker and try to learn and understand the science behind the baking and integration of flavours. In order to sharpen my Baking skill I have joined a group of Bakers at Baking partners who every month comes up with a theme on which all bakers has to bake and post their recipe . Though I am always eager to participate every month ,due to some personal reason I could not participate in the November month’s challenge of Skillet Cheese Corn Bread.

For a new bee like me in the world of baking, Cornmeal Bread seems a logical challenge to take up, but the nonavailability of Corn meal and Skillet at home, dampen my spirit a bit. But when I saw my fellow blogger friend Sreelatha’s recipe of cardamom flavored cornbread muffins at http://www.framedrecipes.com/, a ray of hope arises that this recipe can be done without a skillet also. Then a frantic search for Cornmeal ended with a shop who promises to get it for me. I have been waiting to bake this Cornmeal bread for a long time and finally the day came when my house is filled with the beautiful aroma of the freshly baked spinach and cornmeal bread. The whole process of trying this recipe is so satisfying that its worth waiting for all these days.

The original recipe for this month’s baking partner’s challenge has been given by Suja of Kitchen Corner Try It. She has given two recipe one with cheese and jalapenos and other with molasses. While going through the history of Cornbread I came to know that Cornbread is a common bread in United States cuisine, particularly associated with the South and Southwest, as well as being a traditional staple for populations where wheat flour was more expensive.I have changed the recipe and the ingredients a bit to adopt it to the likes of my family and it’s taste bud. However You can find the original recipe at http://kichencorner.blogspot.in/2015/11/skillet-chile-cheese-cornbread.html.

Ingredients:

1 cup Cornmeal
1 1/4^th cup All Purpose flour
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon Sugar
2 nos of egg at room temperature
½ cup sunflower oil
½ cup yogurt
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon fennel powder
1 tablespoon Chilli flakes
1 teaspoon Ground pepper
1/ 2 cup finely chopped baby spinach
¼ cup sweet corn kernels

Let’s Learn how to make this recipe:

Pre heat the oven to 220 degree C for minimum 10 minutes.
Shift the dry ingredients like the cornmeal, all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, chilli flakes, ground pepper, fennel powder and keep aside.
Now in a large bowl, break the eggs and whisk them nicely. Slowly add the oil to the egg mixture and whisk till well. now add the yogurt and mix well. Lastly add the milk and mix.
Add the finely chopped spinach and sweet corn into it.
Now fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in small batches. Do not mix too much, just mix easily with a spatula scrapping the sides of the bowl.
Now grease a Loaf Pan and pour the mixture into it.
Bake on a preheated oven at 220 degree for 15 ms and then lower the heat to 180 degree and bake for another 20 mts or till a toothpicks comes out clean.
Allow the bread to cool in the oven for 10 mts and after which you can cool it on a wire rack. This bread is best served warm.