Sour Cherries Sweet Cornbread

This Sour Cherries Sweet Cornbread is a rustic Romanian sweet bread made with cornmeal, semolina, and all-purpose flour. Very easy to put together and delicious, the recipe makes two loaves of sweet bread. Perfect for potlucks or rustic parties.

Easy Sour Cherries Sweet Cornbread

The recipe is inspired by a blog that belongs to one of the most famous chefs of Romania, who made this bread following one of his mother’s recipes.

I loved the recipe because it has many ingredients close to my heart when it comes to Romanian Cuisine: cornmeal, semolina, sour cherries. It is a rustic sweet bread that is also very easy to put together.

Romanian cuisine uses simple, cheap ingredients. One of those is cornmeal, which we also find in many other cuisines like Mexican or Italian.

If you know a little bit about Romanian cuisine, you already know that polenta is not only an Italian staple, it is also very Romanian.

In the villages, corn was a staple and still is for many people and very much part of the cuisine.

There are multiple recipes that use cornmeal, and this sour cherries sweet cornbread recipe is one of them.

You can make this bread on a lazy Sunday, but it is also great for a party where you serve rustic foods.

The best part of this recipe is that you get two loaves out of it, which is awesome. You can keep one and give the other one away or freeze it for later use.

This is not a gluten-free bread because there is also regular flour and semolina in it. The bread is not very sweet, but there are a lot of flavors and textures involved. I personally love it with butter.

What kind of ingredients go into this bread:

Cornmeal

Cornmeal gives the bread some texture, together with the semolina.

Semolina

Semolina is a type of flour, high in gluten, made from durum wheat. It is used generally to make pasta, desserts, added to soups, etc.

The couscous that we all love is made from semolina. Semolina is a bit coarser than traditional flour and may be darker and more golden in color. Used in this bread, it adds texture.

All-purpose flour

This is the most popular and easy-to-find flour, and most people have some in their pantries.

Eggs

The recipes are calculated specifically for large eggs, so this is what we are going to use for this recipe.

Yogurt

You need plain yogurt. Please do not use Greek yogurt or flavored one.

Milk

Any type of milk is OK to use. I like whole milk.

Vanilla

Try to buy the best vanilla you can afford. Fake vanilla doesn’t taste good, by the way.

Baking powder

Baking powder is not the same as baking soda, so make sure you use the right stuff.

Lemon and orange zest

Sour cherries from syrup

The original recipe requires sour cherries that come from these jars of canned cherries in syrup. They are very popular in that part of the world and easy to find.

You can find sour cherries in syrup on Amazon or any other European store. Enjoy!

Instead of sour cherries, you can use regular cherries or dried fruit like cranberries, sour cherries, or raisins. You can also use fresh or frozen cherries.

Powder sugar

Powder sugar is always nice on baked sweet bread, but if this is not your cup of tea, you can try to drizzle some honey diluted with lemon juice over the bread or some maple syrup.

To make the recipe, look for the instructions below. Basically, you have to mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, beat the egg whites separately and add them to the batter.

Add the sour cherries and bake. This bread is rustic and delicious.

Some readers out there commented on the amount of sugar. I know, the bread is not very sweet. You can add more sugar if you want, I personally like it the way it is.

Enjoy!

More recipes to love :

Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts and Raisins

Old Fashioned Lemon Bread With Lemon Syrup

Cocoa Walnuts Banana Bread

Best Blueberry Orange Bread With Walnuts

Sour Cherry Pie

Chocolate Cake With Tart Cherries

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Yield: 2 loaves

Sour Cherries Sweet Cornbread

Print

This Sour Cherries Sweet Cornbread is a rustic Romanian sweet bread that is made with cornmeal, semolina and all purpose flour. Very easy to put together and delicious, the recipe makes two loaves of sweet bread. Perfect for potlucks or rustic parties.

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup corn meal
• 1 cup semolina
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs separated
• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 1 cup sour cherries from syrup
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 lemon zest
• 1 orange zest
• powder sugar for dusting the breads
• Optional: instead of sour cherries you can use regular cherries or dried fruit like cranberries, sour cherries or raisins.
• Instead of powder sugar for dusting, drizzle honey diluted with lemon juice or just maple syrup.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
2. Mix cornmeal, semolina, flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, baking powder, lemon, and orange zest in a big bowl.
3. Separate, cream together egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla.
4. Add milk and yogurt to the egg yolks, mix well, then add it to the dry ingredients.
5. Combine everything well.
6. Beat the egg whites and 1/2 teaspoon of salt until the mixture is firm: the egg whites won't fall if you turn the bowl upside down.
7. Fold the egg whites into the mixture gently, making sure you do not lose the air from the mixture. Do not overmix.
8. Butter lightly two 9x5 loaves of bread pans.
9. Split the mixture between the two pans.
10. Sprinkle the sour cherries on top of the breads. You can push the fruits gently inside the batter.
11. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean.
12. Remove the breads from the pans and let cool on a rack.
13. Dust the breads with powder sugar, slice, and serve.
14. Optional: Instead of powder sugar, drizzle on the breads some honey diluted with lemon juice. Or drizzle maple syrup.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

24

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 165Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 33mgSodium: 147mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 2gSugar: 12gProtein: 5g

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