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Clabber Milk Corncake – A Healthy Soaked Grain Cornbread

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This clabber milk corncake is the perfect accompaniment to so many meals.

We like to serve it with, well, everything. It also makes a great snack to pack along in lunches, or try it toasted with butter for breakfast! You will find that because the grain has been soaked in a traditional way it is much easier to digest.

A pan and a plate of clabber milk corncake with a dish of butter.

Why You Should Soak Your Grains

Soaking grains to make them easier to digest and to enhance them nutritionally has been practiced for centuries in cultures all over the world. Unfortunately, in America and other developed countries, soaking grains has fallen out of practice. But if you are like me and you want your food SLOW and as nutrient dense as possible, then you might want to bring back these ancient techniques for improving the digestibility and nutritional profile of grains.  

In this recipe I use clabbered raw cow’s milk to soak organic cornmeal and whole wheat flour for at least 12 hours. During this time the clabbered milk (that has produced a lot of lactic acid during fermentation) will help to break down the starch and anti-nutrients that can interfere with digestibility and vitamin and mineral absorption. We have to be aware as more and more people become sensitive to grains that it doesn’t seem a far stretch to assume that the way we are growing (with heavy agro-chemical use) and eating (cooking without prior soaking) our grains has changed too quickly from the way our bodies evolved to handle and assimilate grains. So when we buy freshly grown organic grains and prepare them with traditional techniques we are not only improving the digestibility and unlocking the nutrients in them but also supporting a more sustainable way of farming and consuming foods.

Please note: This recipe calls for clabbered RAW cow’s milk.

A good quality plain organic yogurt, kefir, or cultured buttermilk can be substituted for the clabbered milk.

Learn More About Traditional Cooking!

These books are easily the most important books I have in my kitchen library!


Click this link to learn more about clabber milk.

Preparing Your Clabber Milk Corncake

Recipe serves 8 to 16 and yields one 8 by 11.5-inch baking pan of cornbread.

The night before baking, combine the cornmeal and flour in a ceramic or glass bowl. Add the clabber milk to the cornmeal mixture and stir thoroughly. Cover this mixture and let it sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours. Tip: Start the soaking at 8 p.m. and your mixture will be ready to proceed by 8 a.m. the following day.

The next day uncover your grains and stir them well. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Vigorously beat the eggs, baking soda, maple syrup, and salt in a separate bowl (make sure to thoroughly mix in the baking soda) and add them to the corn mixture. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. When it’s completely melted stir it into the batter until smooth.

A pan of clabber milk corncake and a wooden spoon on a white cloth.

Generously butter an 8 by 11.5-inch baking pan and pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 35 minutes until the top is toasty brown.

My favorite way to eat this corncake is with plenty of pastured butter. It also makes a great accompaniment to soups and stews and can be toasted and topped with butter and honey or preserves for breakfast.

Variation: Try adding 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese, 1 cup of fresh corn, and 1/2 cup of green chilies to the batter for a wonderful Southwestern-style cornbread.

Clabber Milk Corncake-A Healthy Soaked Grain Cornbread

Clabber Milk Corncake

Yield: 12
Prep Time: 1 day
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 1 day 35 minutes

A healthy and delicious soaked grain cornbread.

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. The night before baking, combine the cornmeal and flour in a ceramic or glass bowl. Add the clabber milk to the cornmeal mixture and stir thoroughly. Cover this mixture and let it sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours. Tip: Start the soaking at 8 p.m. and your mixture will be ready by 8 a.m. the following day.
  2. The next day uncover the grains and stir them well. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Vigorously beat the eggs, baking soda, maple syrup, and salt in a separate bowl (make sure to thoroughly mix in the baking soda) and add them to the corn mixture. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. When it's completely melted stir it into the batter until smooth.
  3. Generously butter an 8 by 11.5-inch baking pan and pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 35 minutes until the top is toasty brown.

Notes

My favorite way to eat this corncake is with plenty of pastured butter. It also makes a great accompaniment to soups and stews and can be toasted and topped with butter and honey or preserves for breakfast.

Variation: Try adding 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese, 1 cup of fresh corn, and 1/2 cup of green chilies to the batter for a wonderful Southwestern style cornbread.

Dee

Wednesday 2nd of February 2022

This is The best cornbread. I made my own masa harina and added spices. Thank you for such an awesome recipe

Butter For All

Thursday 3rd of February 2022

Hi Dee!

I'm so happy to hear it! I'm impressed that you made your own masa! I bet it's delicious :)

Thanks for the nice note!

Courtney

Mollie

Saturday 28th of April 2018

Hi Courtney: I love it when you bring these recipes to the table, but I wish you had a printable version of the cornbread! Also can you use buttermilk, lassi, or kefir instead of clabber milk? I am right there with you in the journey to healthy eating. Would you please email me where you are located? If you are somewhat nearby I could share some of my sources of organics with you. Mollie Flack

Butter For All

Saturday 28th of April 2018

Hi Mollie, Thank you so much, you are too kind! I have recently updated my website so that I can include a printable recipe and I'll work on this one just for you. It just takes time to convert them all over. You can absolutely use yogurt, buttermilk, kefir etc as long as the product is fermented and contains the lactic acid! I'm located outside of Eugene OR in the Willamette Valley. Feel free to email me at courtney@butterforall if you'd like to share some of your sources. Thanks so much for the great feedback. I'm so glad you are part of the Butter For All community! -Courtney

Nancy Chishala

Saturday 16th of September 2017

I’m trying this for the 2nd time. The 1st time it didn’t rise properly. So this time I was very careful to follow every detail carefully. I’m crossing my fingers it’ll turn out this time. Even though it didn’t rise properly last time,everyone still enjoyed it. I’m so happy I found your website it’s fabulous.

Butter For All

Sunday 17th of September 2017

Hi Nancy! Thank you for your nice comments! I wonder what happened there the first time you made the bread? The different clabber milk could potentially have changed the way the bread rose. I sincerely hope the second batch behaved itself! If not, we could brainstorm together if you feel like giving it another go. I'm always here to help. - Courtney

Diane

Thursday 9th of March 2017

Can you substitute honey for the maple syrup?

Butter For All

Friday 10th of March 2017

Hi Diane, I am actually starting to steer away from cooking and baking with honey. This is a link to a really interesting article on why honey should only be consumed in it's raw state, written by Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist. http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/is-cooking-honey-unhealthy/ If you follow my blog you will most likely see less recipes that call for honey in a cooked form. I would recommend using coconut syrup or date syrup as a substitute for the honey if you prefer something other than maple. I hope this helps :) Thank you so much for visiting!

Amber

Tuesday 7th of March 2017

I have a question on the maple syrup. Is it suppose to be a 1/2 cup or 1/2 ???

Butter For All

Tuesday 7th of March 2017

Amber! Thank you so much for alerting me to this glaring typo! Yes, 1/2 cup!

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