Super moist sourdough cornbread is the perfect combination of savory and sweet. Serve with a drizzle of honey for the perfect companion to a hearty meal.
Cornbread is just one of those foods that brings instant comfort. Most likely it is because it makes the perfect side dish to pumpkin chili or Dutch oven beef stew, or is even delicious simply topped with homemade herb butter or peach preserves. It’s that kind of rustic farm food that fills bellies, and something your kids will talk about when they are grown up and out of the house.
This easy sourdough cornbread has the perfect crumbly texture, and is moist with a tender crumb and slight sourdough tang. You can mix it up and bake it right away, or ferment it overnight for the most health benefits and stronger sour flavors. You are going to love this easy recipe!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Sourdough discard – I love sourdough discard recipes as it is a great way to use up leftover sourdough starter. This is a great recipe to make if you are a sourdough baker with excess discard on hand! If you need more recipes to use up discard, check out these 15+ healthy sourdough discard recipes.
Easy to digest – If you choose the long fermentation route, fermented grains make this recipe easier to digest. Fermentation breaks down the gluten, making it easier to digest. It also breaks down the anti-nutrient, phytic acid, which in turn makes the nutrients more bio-available for your body to absorb.
Simple ingredients – No hard to find ingredients for this delicious cornbread – just pantry staples.
Ingredients
Butter – You can also use another neutral oil, like avocado oil or coconut oil.
Milk – Preferably whole for best results in flavor and texture.
Sourdough starter – Active sourdough starter or sourdough starter discard can work in this recipe. This is due to the fact that the sourdough isn’t what is giving this recipe rise, rather the baking soda and baking powder. If you don’t have a sourdough starter, you can learn how to make your own starter here.
Yellow cornmeal – You can make your own by grinding popcorn in a grain mill.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How to Make Sourdough Cornbread
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the oven is preheated, add one tablespoon of butter to a 10-12” cast iron skillet and place into the oven for 5 minutes to melt the butter and heat the pan.
Step 2: In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, honey, and cane sugar until combined.
Step 3: Melt 8 tablespoons of the butter and whisk into the egg and sugar mixture along with the milk.
Step 4: Once the mixture is combined, stir in the sourdough discard until fully incorporated.
Step 5: In a separate bowl whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt.
Step 6: Use a spatula to gently stir in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
Step 7: Remove the cast iron skillet from the oven and pour the batter into the hot cast iron skillet. Bake for 18 – 20 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted into the center and comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
Step 8: Let cool for about 20 – 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
How to Long Ferment Sourdough Cornbread
The Night Before
Step 1: Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, honey, milk, 8 tablespoons of melted butter, and sourdough starter. Mix well.
Step 2: Cover with plastic wrap, a damp tea towel, lid, or foil. Allow to ferment for 12-18 hours. Allow to ferment for 12-18 hours. (If you don’t feel comfortable leaving milk out at room temperature, you can substitute water. I personally use milk!)
The Next Day
Step 1: Sprinkle baking powder and salt over the fermented dough. Add the egg and mix well. This is easiest using a stand mixer.
Step 2: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter to a 10-12” cast iron skillet and place into the oven for 5 minutes to melt the butter.
Step 3: Remove from the oven and pour the batter into the cast iron skillet. Bake for 18 – 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
Step 4: Let cool for about 20 – 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Tips
- For a dairy-free version, substitute the milk for a non-dairy milk and butter for another neutral oil, like avocado.
- You can make your own cornmeal by running popcorn through your grain mill. Just make sure your grain mill is made for such things before you do this.
- For more texture, add some canned or frozen corn to the batter before baking.
Recipe FAQs
Yellow cornmeal offers the most classic flavor and is what is used in this recipe.
You can use a flaxseed egg or yogurt as a substitute. I have not tried either of these, but they should work.
Yes. Sourdough discard or active starter will work for this recipe. This is because this recipe relies on baking soda and baking powder to give the bread rise.
Place leftover cornbread in an airtight container or Ziplock bag and store in the fridge for up to 7 days. For longer term storage, freeze for up to 6 months in a freezer safe Zip-lock.
More Sourdough Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Sourdough Hawaiian Rolls
- Sourdough Carrot Cake
- Sourdough Chocolate Bread
- The Best Cinnamon Maple Sourdough Apple Cobbler
- Homemade Sourdough Bagels
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Sourdough Cornbread
Video
Equipment
- 1 Cast Iron Skillet 10 to 12 inches
Ingredients
- 9 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup white cane sugar
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the oven is preheated, add one tablespoon of butter to a 10-12” cast iron skillet and place into the oven for 5 minutes to melt the butter and heat the pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, honey, and cane sugar until combined.
- Melt 8 tablespoons of the butter and whisk into the egg and sugar mixture along with the milk.
- Once the mixture is combined, stir in the sourdough discard until fully incorporated.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Use a spatula to gently stir in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
- Remove from the oven and pour the batter into the hot cast iron skillet. Bake for 18 – 20 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted into the center and comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Let cool for about 20 – 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
- For a dairy-free version, substitute the milk for a non-dairy milk and butter for another neutral oil, like avocado or coconut oil.
- You can make your own cornmeal by running popcorn through your grain mill. Just make sure your grain mill is made for such things before you do this.
- For more texture, add some canned or frozen corn to the batter before baking.
- See post for notes on ingredients and how to long ferment this recipe.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
For years I have used a cornbread recipe that uses creamed corn. I am new to the sourdough bandwagon and wondered if I could add the creamed corn to this recipe? What would I need to adjust if I could? What about other add-ins like jalapenos or cheese?
I’m not sure about the creamed corn. My guess is it would add extra moisture and the flour would need to be adjusted. Cheese and jalapeño would be totally fine and delicious.
Lisa, I make a Mexican cornbread that uses no milk at all just creamed corn, eggs, sour cream and oil along with jalapeños,chopped onion and bell peppers.
Super amazing recipe! I love how airy the cornbread was.
so glad you enjoyed it!
I made this the long fermented way. It tastes amazing! The only thing is once it’s cut it falls apart while trying to hold it and eat. I have to use a fork. Are their any tweaks I can make to be able to pick up and eat?
I always use two eggs for a basic cornbread recipe for the same reason. 😀
I just put chili into the slow cooker, printing this to make with it. Sounds yummy! My mommy made cornbread, not using sourdough, but also not sweet. It was fried like small pancakes in her cast iron skillet. It accompanied nearly every evening meal when I was growing up, unless she made homemade biscuits. mmmmm
Hi! So excited to try this, I’m new to sourdough so I’m learning a lot! I wanted to confirm that the fermentation overnight is just on the counter or in the fridge? Thank you!!
It’s at room temp. Some people don’t feel comfortable leaving out milk that long.
You could use water instead, or allow it to ferment for a few hours at room temperature and then place it in the fridge to ferment longer if you’d like.
Can you substitute butter milk for whole milk?
I would think so. I haven’t tried this, but I do know sometimes you have to adjust the baking powder to baking soda ratio when you switch to buttermilk. If you experiment with this, let us know how it turns out!
Since only the flour needs to ferment, would it make sense to just add the flour and starter together the night before and add the remaining ingredients in the morning?
I wonder if adding the other ingredients the night before would actually hinder the fermentation of the flour, since some of the yeast would end up fermenting the sugar and milk.
No it shouldn’t. I ferment grains with other ingredients and never have an issue.
Wondering about the option to skip the fermentation step. #2 in the the recipe says “Allow to ferment for 8-18 hours. Or skip this step and bake one time.” Not sure I understand what that means.
Are you saying you can just mix everything together and bake the same day?
Yes. You don’t technically need to let it ferment. You can just mix it up and bake.
This tasted great, but was very crumbly. This may have been caused by my cornmeal. I did notice the grains was a very coarse grain. I will probably try this again with finer grain cornmeal.
This is my favorite cornbread recipe. I only use about 4 tsp of sugar though and it’s the perfect sweetness for us. I’ve made it with cornmeal and also with polenta. It’s delicious. Thank you, Lisa
Love that! Glad you enjoy the recipe! Thanks for sharing!