Why it works: Corn and wheat match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 465 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Corn-meal, Cokn-flour, and Wheat Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
In a large bowl, combine corn meal, salt, corn flour, and wheat flour.
In another bowl, mix milk, molasses, egg, and baking soda.
Mix and bake
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Corn + wheattop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together465 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
-
Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Wheat flour
- Provides gluten for structure, giving the cornbread a sturdier crumb than corn flour alone.
- Corn meal
- Gives the cornbread its coarse, grainy texture and characteristic corn flavor.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps set the crumb as it bakes.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark flavor and moisture, and helps browning.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidity in the batter to produce gas that lifts the cornbread.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flours and adds moisture and richness to the batter.
The step that matters
Stir the batter until just combined. Overmixing develops gluten in the wheat flour, which can make the cornbread tough and dense. Stopping once the dry streaks disappear keeps the crumb tender.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
More cornbread recipes
You might also like
Wheat Bread65 recipes
Whole Wheat Bread55 recipes
Barley Wheat Bread6 recipes
Bread Pudding336 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.