Weekend Project: Skillet Cornbread

My friend Brianne gave me a jar of pear butter last week and ever since then. I've had a serious craving for cornbread. I happened to have just bought a bag of local cornmeal, so I made this lovely version adapted from The Real Food Daily Cookbook. I love both the Southern-style skillet corn bread recipe, and the one for Wheat-free corn muffins, but I went for the skillet version since it was a bit simpler. It turned out really well—moist, dense, and really flavorful. It was a perfect breakfast, warmed and slathered with pear butter.

Southern-style Skillet Corn Bread
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (I used regular whole wheat flour)
2 tbsp baking powder
2 cups unsweetened soymilk (I used regular 2% milk)
1/3 maple syrup
1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp sea salt

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Sift the cornmeal, flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Whisk the milk, maple syrup, the 1/3 cup oil, and the sea salt in a separate bowl to blend. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and set aside.
2. Add the remaining 2 tbsp oil to a 12-inch diameter cast-iron skillet and swirl to coat the bottom and sides of the skillet. Heat the skillet over high heat until it begins to smoke. Pour the batter into the hot skillet and spread evenly. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the corn bread is firm to the touch and golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool slightly.
Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Also, if you're curious to hear about my new CSA, check out the last in a series of posts I did last week on readymade.com about a Week Without Processed Foods. The results were pretty enlightening!