Going for the golden

Corn bread -- I can’t live without it.

When I wrote a book on bread years ago, I put in all the corn breads I baked at that time. The dozen or so recipes included a plain Texas corn bread to serve with pinto beans, a corn and cheese bread baked in an iron skillet with chile strips on top, a cheese and onion corn bread from Paraguay, several meltingly soft spoon breads from the American South and yeast breads such as New England’s Anadama, which combines cornmeal with wheat flour.

That’s already a good variety, but my repertoire is bigger now, because this rustic American classic inspires chefs to experiment, and I keep making new discoveries -- three already this year.

The first turned up at Brothers Restaurant at Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos. Although dinner at this historic stagecoach stop was very good, the bread plate -- especially the jalapeno corn bread -- outshone everything else. Brothers Matt and Jeff Nichols brought the recipe to Mattei’s when they opened there last year. The incredibly light (cake flour’s the secret), sweet corn bread, flecked with green jalapeno and red bell pepper, had been popular at their previous restaurant in Solvang. Matt, who once cooked at the former Spago on Sunset Boulevard, worked out the recipe with input from Spago pastry chef Sherry Yard.

I’d heard raves about Clementine’s “sunshine” corn cakes and called Annie Miler, owner of this Westside bakery-cafe, to get the recipe. “We made about 30 different corn breads and corn muffins until we got the recipe how we wanted it,” says Miler. “Finally we did this one, which has orange segments inside and a thin slice of orange on top, like a little sunburst.”

Miler sprinkles sugar blended with orange zest onto the top to form a sugar crust as the cakes bake. The hearty, citrus-accented breakfast treats make a satisfying alternative to bagels or brioche.

A couple of weeks ago, I dropped into the Newsroom Cafe on Robertson Boulevard for lunch and another corn bread epiphany, this one brought on by a blue corn bread that fairly shouted with zesty flavors and riotous color.

Chef-owner Eddie J. Caraeff bakes his corn bread in 6-inch iron skillets that are sent out as appetizers accompanied by salsas for dipping. Side by side in a little crock on the platter are red salsa quemada (“burnt salsa,” made with roasted tomatoes) and green tomatillo salsa. A dab of deep red chipotle salsa links the two. A fourth salsa, made with corn and chipotles, goes into the batter along with white Cheddar cheese, blue cornmeal and whole-wheat pastry flour. More of the corn mixture decorates the top. (We reworked Caraeff’s recipe for a 10-inch skillet, a more common size.)

Caraeff uses only blue cornmeal, never the yellow. “I think it has a more earthy texture,” he says. “Nutrient-wise, I’ve heard it’s much better.”

The taste difference between blue and yellow is subtle. “If you did a blind tasting, I’m not sure you could tell the difference,” he says. Caraeff would also use rare red cornmeal, if he could get it.

According to Linda Carman, baking expert at Martha White Cornmeal, a company that has co-sponsored the National Corn Bread Festival (www.national cornbread.com) in South Pittsburg, Tenn., for the last seven years, the color of cornmeal is simply determined by the color of the corn it’s made from, and there’s only a slight difference in taste.

“People prefer one or the other, I think, because of the way it looks. It depends on what you’re used to. In the South, we prefer white, but everywhere else, people like yellow.” Carman says there are variations in the granulation of cornmeal that can be significant in terms of recipe preparation, again with regional preferences such as for a very fine, almost flourlike granulation in Georgia. But widely available cornmeals will be of a medium granulation, and recipes calling for other textures will so specify.

Restaurants like the Newsroom and Z’Tejas Southwestern Grill in South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa serve their corn bread in iron skillets not only for the skillets’ rustic Western charm but also because they keep the bread “at the optimum temperature throughout the entire dining experience,” says Russ Klop of Z’Tejas.

Baking bread in iron pans is an old custom that has caught on again. Home cooks once used spiders, a graphic name for skillets on legs tall enough to stand above the coals in a fireplace. This kept ashes from collecting on the bread. Iron skillets are ideal for rough travel, hold the heat well and last forever. Iron pans from old American firms like Griswold, Wagner and Lodge (founded in 1896 and a co-sponsor of the cornbread festival) are collectibles, with enthusiasts’ clubs.

Last weekend, I whipped out one of my veteran iron skillets just before dinner. Following an old technique, I let shortening melt in the pan in a very hot oven while mixing the batter. The skillet became so hot the batter crusted around the edges the minute I poured it into the pan. Only 20 minutes of baking, and the gorgeous golden loaf was ready to serve. You couldn’t ask for nicer fast food than that.

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Newsroom Cafe’s blue corn bread

Total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Servings: 8 to 10

Note: From chef Eddie J. Caraeff at Newsroom Cafe, Los Angeles. The organic ingredients are available in health food sections of grocery stores and at health food stores. The chipotle chiles in adobo sauce are available canned.

Chipotle corn salsa

1/4 cup corn kernels, cut from an ear of grilled corn

1 medium tomato, seeded and diced

2 tablespoons finely diced red onion

2 tablespoons finely diced red bell pepper

1/2 serrano chile, toasted in a dry skillet and diced fine

1 teaspoon diced chipotle chile in adobo sauce

Juice of 1 fresh lime

1 teaspoon oil

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper

1. Stir together the corn, tomato, onion, bell pepper, serrano chile, chipotle chile, lime juice, oil, cilantro, salt and pepper in a small bowl. (Makes 2 1/4 cups.)

Corn bread

1 cup organic blue cornmeal

2 cups organic whole-wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup organic cane sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

2 eggs, beaten (preferably organic)

1 cup low-fat buttermilk

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup grated white Cheddar

1 cup chipotle corn salsa, divided

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Sift together the cornmeal, pastry flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl.

3. In another bowl, combine the beaten eggs, buttermilk and melted butter. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combine, being careful not to over-mix. Then add the cheese and half the salsa, stirring to blend.

4. Pour into a 10-inch cast iron skillet and top with the remaining salsa. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out dry, 30 to 35 minutes.

Each of 10 servings: 253 calories; 495 mg. sodium; 67 mg. cholesterol; 11 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 32 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams protein; 4 gram fiber.

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Brothers’ jalapeno corn bread

Total time: 1 hour

Servings: 10 to 12

Note: From Brothers Restaurant at Mattei’s Tavern, Los Olivos.

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cake flour

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup cornmeal

2 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup corn oil

2 tablespoons sour cream

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper

1-2 jalapenos, diced fine, seeds and veins removed

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter or spray a 13-by-9-inch pan. Place the all-purpose flour, cake flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and stir to combine.

2. In another large bowl, combine the eggs, milk, buttermilk, oil, sour cream, butter, bell pepper and jalapeno and stir to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix thoroughly.

3. Pour the batter into the pan and bake until firm in the center and golden on top, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

Each of 12 servings: 225 calories; 330 mg. sodium; 64 mg. cholesterol; 10 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 29 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 1 gram fiber.

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Clementine’s sunshine corn cakes

Total time: 1 hour

Servings: 16 corn cakes

Note: From Clementine’s cafe and bakery in Century City.

Orange sugar

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons grated orange zest

1. Blend the sugar and orange zest in a food processor for 20 to 30 seconds. Set aside.

Corn cakes

Nonstick cooking spray

3 oranges, skin and pith cut away, cut into segments and roughly chopped

1 cup pastry flour

1 cup bread flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1 cup sour cream

3/4 cup milk

3 tablespoons grated orange zest

2 oranges, peeled then thinly sliced across the sections into rounds

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray 16 muffin cups with cooking spray and set aside. After chopping the oranges, allow segments to sit for a few minutes, then drain by holding orange in hands and allowing the juice to run off.

2. Combine the pastry flour, bread flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs until light, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and beat until smooth. Add the melted butter in three parts, beating after each addition.

4. In a separate bowl, combine the sour cream and milk. Add to the egg mixture and mix well. Add the orange pieces and zest and gently combine.

5. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. Do not over-mix.

6. Fill the muffin cups evenly with the batter. Place one orange round on top of each muffin, slightly pushing down into batter. Sprinkle each muffin with 1 tablespoon of orange sugar.

7. Bake until golden and a cake tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Each serving: 286 calories; 286 mg. sodium; 50 mg. cholesterol; 10 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 46 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 3 gram fiber.