This vegan cornbread is steamed in the slow cooker and results in a crumb that is soft, light, airy, moist and easily sliced. So tasty especially as an accompaniment for your favourite chilli, stew or soup. Or enjoy a slice buttered for a snack with a glass of chilled oat milk or hot cup of tea.
Pour and scrape the batter into the pudding basin.
Use a piece of kitchen foil larger than the basin rim and cover the pudding basin by bunching up the top of the foil and pressing the foil firmly into the basin rim. This is to allow the bread room to rise and to prevent too much steam accessing the bread.
Pop the covered basin into the slow cooker and pour in enough boiling water into the slow cooker so that the water level sits about half way or more up the basin.
Place the slow cooker lid on and leave the bread to cook for 4 hours.
The bread is ready when it has lightly browned on the top, risen, the edges of the bread will have shrunk a little away from the sides, and a skewer popped into the middle comes out clean. If you think the bread is not ready just cover with the foil lid and leave to cook for a further 30 minutes and then check again.[There may be a small patch on the surface of the bread that looks slightly moister than the rest but this is fine and is just caused by being steamed. As long as a skewer comes out clean and the rest of the surface is firm and cooked, the bread is ready.]
Once the foil lid is removed, carefully lift the basin from the slow cooker. Leave the bread for at least 10 minutes before trying to remove from the basin.Use a knife to loosen the edges of the bread right down to the bottom of the basin. Using a small chopping board, or similar, place it on top of the basin and flip the basin over. Give the basin a few good firm pats and carefully shoogle the bread out. This may take a few attempts!
Enjoy warm or at room temperature, spread with vegan butter or margarine.
Notes
Nutritional data is provided for guidance only and is not intended as a strict calculation as ingredients vary.
Store cornbread within a bread bag or food container, and keep somewhere cool and dry. Wrap the bread in an additional layer of greaseproof paper or kitchen foil if preferred.
Cornbread is at its best 1-2 days after baking, but older slices can be refreshed by popping into a warm oven for a few minutes to warm through. Or toast slices over a non-stick hotplate or fry pan/skillet.