Corn Muffins, or, What to Serve with Jambalaya

When I was a kid, we ate Jiffy corn muffins. I loved them. Still do, actually. However, I now prefer to make stuff from scratch when possible. Whenever I make jambalaya, these muffins are ALWAYS requested. I'm pretty sure there would be a riot if I didn't have them. They're pretty simple. I've often thought of mixing up the dry ingredients as my own "mix" and just adding the liquid ingredients later, but I forget. Oh well!

Hope you enjoy these as much as my family does!

Corn Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 oz)

1 cup fine-ground, whole-grain yellow cornmeal (4½ oz)

1½ teaspoons baking powder 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

½ teaspoon table salt 

2 large eggs 

¾ cup granulated sugar (5 1/4 ounces)

8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted

¾ cup sour cream 

½ cup milk 

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.  Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl to combine; set aside. Whisk eggs in a second bowl until well combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Whisk sugar into eggs until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds; add melted butter in 3 additions, whisking after each addition. Add half the sour cream and half the milk and whisk to combine; whisk in remaining sour cream and milk until combined. Add wet ingredients to dry; mix gently with a rubber spatula until batter is just combined and evenly moistened. Do not over-mix. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Do not level or flatten the surface of mounds.  Bake until light golden brown and skewer inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean, about 18 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool in tin 5 minutes; invert onto a wire rack, stand upright, cool 5 minutes, and serve warm.

Pocket breads

I discovered this recipe years ago (Cook's Illustrated - of course!) and my family LOVES it. We use it for tuna salad (two batches - one with mayo and one with Miracle Whip to keep everyone happy), egg salad (made the same way), Greek salad (oh my gosh, it's fabulous), and the best of all....GYROS!!!

I hope you try it. It's not too hard. Just make sure there's plenty of flour on each piece.

Baked Puffed Flatbread
Makes eight 6- to 7-inch breads
Make sure you let the pieces of dough rest after forming them into balls and again after rolling them into 4-inch circles; otherwise, they will shrink back and not hold their shape.

1 package dry active yeast (2¼ teaspoons)

1 cup water (warm -- 110 to 115 degrees)

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for brushing

2 teaspoons granulated sugar 

¼ cup plain yogurt 

1½ teaspoons table salt, plus extra for sprinkling

½ cup whole wheat flour

2 cups flour, plus additional as needed

In the workbowl of a food processor fitted with stainless steel blade, sprinkle yeast over warm water. Add oil, sugar, and yogurt and pulse to mix, about four 1-second bursts. Add salt, whole wheat flour, and 2 cups bread flour; process until smooth, about 15 seconds, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Process dough (adding more flour as necessary until dough just pulls completely away from sides of bowl) until soft and satiny, about 30 seconds. Squeeze dough gently with full hand; if dough is sticky, sprinkle with flour and knead just to combine. Place dough in medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in warm, draft-free spot until dough doubles in size, 30 to 45 minutes. (At this point, dough can be punched down, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerated up to 2 days.)

 Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface and, if sticky, sprinkle very lightly with flour.  Cut into eight pieces.  Roll into balls, let rest 10 mins.  Roll into 4” rounds, let rest.  Roll into 6” rounds and stretch to 7” just before baking.  NOTE:  Be SURE that each bread has flour on it and doesn’t stick at ALL…if it does, it will NOT puff up. 

About 30 minutes prior to cooking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, line rack with pizza stones and heat oven to 500F. Bake dough rounds on preheated pizza stone until bread is puffed and golden brown on bottom, 5 to 6 minutes.  Transfer breads to wire rack to cool for 5 minutes; wrap in clean kitchen towels and serve warm or at room temperature.  If you want to use them for sandwiches, cut in half with a serrated knife.