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Wholegrain cornbread can be the ultimate comfort food and with all that wholegrain goodness, wholegrain cornbread makes a healthy alternative to cornbread made with highly processed flours and meals. I love cornbread and last Sunday, while watching my Partner In Culinary Crime (PICC) paint the insides of a bank of kitchen cabinets, I threw together a batch of my Osage County Red bean-free chili. Nothing goes better with chili than cornbread, but in the spirit of <a title=”Weston Price ” href=”http://www.westonaprice.org/” target=”_blank”>Weston Price </a>and <a title=”Nina Planck” href=”http://www.grit.com/food/real-food-what-to-eat-and-why.aspx”>Nina Planck</a>, I wanted to make wholegrain cornbread with minimal sugar and a healthful oil that was more or less unadulterated. </p>
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<a title=”Mother Earth News” href=”http://www.motherearthnews.com/” target=”_blank”>Mother Earth News</a>
</em> editor in chief, Cheryl Long gave me last fall (literally whole grain … no sifting, nothing) for the name-brand stuff, and whole wheat flour for the bleached all purpose fortified white flour. I had to monkey with the ratios to get the batter where I wanted it, but wow, did this wholegrain cornbread turn out great. </p>
<p>I didn’t get rid of the sugar all together, opting to take Nina Planck’s approach of cutting it in half as the first step. And unadulterated whole milk could have been substituted for the unadulterated half & half I found in the fridge (we only had whole goats milk and my PICC guards that like gold bullion at Ft. Knox). In the future, I plan to try this cornbread with honey instead of sugar and some different unadulterated fats, including our home-rendered lard. You could also bake it in a glass or glazed dish, but I am very fond of cast iron. If you use cast iron, pop the wholegrain cornbread out of the pan to cool – that way you will avoid any iron flavor in the bread and any condensation from forming between the cornbread and the pan. </p>
<p>Hank’s Wholegrain Cornbread</p>
<p>½ cup peanut oil, divided<br />
2 eggs, beaten<br />
1¼ cups half & half<br />
1 cup whole-wheat flour<br />
1 cup fine wholegrain ground corn<br />
2 tablespoon sugar<br />
½ teaspoon salt<br />
2 teaspoons baking powder</p>
<p>Place ¼ cup peanut oil in 10-inch cast-iron skillet and place in the oven. Preheat oven and skillet to 400 F. </p>
<p>Whisk together the eggs, half & half, and leftover ¼ cup peanut oil. Set aside. </p>
<p>Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Combine the two mixtures and stir just until wet. </p>
<p>Pour batter into heated skillet and bake for 20 minutes. </p>
<p>Photos and recipe formatting Courtesy Karen Keb.</p>
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<a href=”http://www.grit.com/biographies/oscar-h-will” target=_self>Hank Will</a>
<em> raises hair sheep, heritage cattle and many varieties of open-pollinated corn with his wife, Karen, on their rural Osage County, Kansas farm. His home life is a perfect complement to his professional life as editor in chief at GRIT and Capper’s Farmer magazines. Connect with him on </em>
<a title=Google+ href=”https://plus.google.com/u/0/117459637128204205101/posts” target=_blank rel=author>Google+</a>.</p>