Masa Harina Cornbread – Properly Prepared Grain, Sweetened With Honey

If you love cornbread, just wait until you try this easily digestible, properly prepared version.

I’ve been messing around with this recipe for a few months and it’s finally ready to be released to the world. This is not your standard dry and crumbly cornbread. This cornbread is dense and moist and lightly sweetened. Perfect for breakfast or as a side for your favorite chili.

Masa harina is the star of this unique recipe. It is a traditional flour made from corn but treated in a way that helps make the nutrients more bioavailable. Masa harina is traditionally eaten in Mexico and Central and South America where it is used to prepare tortillas, tamales, sopes, and more.

The Difference Between Cornmeal and Masa Harina

Cornmeal is just dried corn that has been ground. Masa harina is corn that has been dried and then soaked in lime water (from limestone, lye, or ash), dried again, and then ground. This process is called nixtamalization. According to the 2003 study Nixtamalization, a Mesoamerican technology to process maize at small-scale with great potential for improving the nutritional quality of maize based foods by Carmen Wacher, these extra steps are done in the traditional preparation of maize and help to make the nutrients in corn more available while reducing phytic acid and mycotoxins.

This is why I choose traditionally prepared masa harina cornmeal over conventional cornmeal, polenta, or corn flour.

Other Recipes To Try That Use Masa Harina

Sourdough and Masa Harina Cornmeal Pizza Crust – Made With Fully Fermented Sourdough Starter and Traditionally Soaked Masa Harina

Homemade Sourdough Corn Tortillas – The Best of Both Worlds

Why Use Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour?

The sprouting process changes the wheat grain from a hard-to-digest, inflammatory food source into one with boosted nutrition. Sprouting wheat increases vitamins B and C along with increasing carotene and neutralizing phytic acid that acts like an anti-nutrient.

Masa Harina Cornbread

Yield: 16

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

This delicious cornbread made with traditionally prepared grains like masa harina and sprouted wheat is sweetened with just a touch of honey. 

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Ingredients

• 2 cups masa harina (yellow or white corn)
• 1 cup sprouted whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder, aluminum free
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup yogurt
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup honey

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
2. Butter a 9 by 13-inch baking dish.
3. In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients well with a whisk.
4. In a separate bowl blend the wet ingredients well. 
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.
6. Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish and bake for 50 minutes. The top should be lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread should pull out clean. 
7. Cool the cornbread completely before serving.