Cornbread
Cornbread is made with corn meal or corn flour (the same thing as polenta).
I decided to be a rebel and use tortilla flour instead. So sue me.

Masa Harina Cornbread
bread veg
I thought I'd have a go at making cornbread with my tortilla flour masa harina rather than cornmeal, since I have a lot of it and I don't eat that many tortillas. And milk, since I didn't have any buttermilk.
Masa Harina is made from field corn (maize) which is dried then treated with a lime solution (slaked lime). This reacts with the corn to make its nutrient niacin content digestible. The wet corn is ground into a dough (masa) and then dried and powdered to make the flour (harina).

Corn meal or regular corn flour (usually used to make cornbread) is produced from different types of corn, and processed differently (no lime slaking).

Makes a small (½lb) loaf

Ingredients
Method
Heat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.
Put the butter in a skillet or oven tin and heat until it browns. otherwise you can use lard or bacon fat.
Mix all the other ingredients with enough buttermilk or milk to make a thick, non-pouring batter. Pour in the hot fat. Heat the tin and return the batter to it - it should sizzle. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.
It cooked well, though the taste is a bit indifferent. Could have used a bit more sugar, and some extra flavourings. Like creamed corn, or chillies.
Might be better with buttermilk. I'll find out as soon as I find some.
Well, I found some buttermilk so I made another round using double quantities. This time, though, I used about a tablespoon of condensed milk rather than sugar, added the optional extra flavourings, and cooked for about an hour at 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5.
Much better!