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Sourdough Cornbread Loaf

Name: Sourdough Cornbread Loaf
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 220 g Sourdough Starter ((or sourdough discard)); 3 Eggs ((large)); 65 g Vegetable Oil; 120 g Buttermilk ((or milk or sour cream)); 40 g Honey; 20 g Brown Sugar; 100 g All Purpose Flour; 200 g Cornmeal; 14 g Baking Powder; 8 g Salt; 150 g Corn Kernals ((Frozen, don't need to defrost))

ByThe Pantry Mama Published: July 9, 2025July 9, 2025

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This sourdough cornbread loaf is a deliciously hearty twist on a classic skillet bread, combining the subtle tang of sourdough with the sweet, earthy flavor of cornmeal. This version is studded with corn kernels, baked in a loaf pan and drizzled in melted butter to create a gorgeously, golden quick bread that's just begging to be served alongside your favorite dish.

A sourdough cornbread loaf baked in a silver loaf pan. The pan is being held by a pair of hands with blue napkins.

If you love making cornbread with your sourdough starter, you might also like this sourdough skillet cornbread and these sourdough cornbread muffins.

Why You'll Love This Recipe!

Mix and Bake - it's so easy, you just mix and pour the batter into a loaf pan and then straight into the oven. Voila, a delicious loaf of sourdough cornbread! It's so good, you'll want to make a double batch, first time, every time.

Loaf Pan - Using a loaf pan to make this sourdough cornbread makes it just a little bit different. It's super versatile too and can proudly sit beside a vast array of dishes.

Corn Kernels - This recipe adds some extra texture to the loaf pan cornbread by using a can of corn kernels in the mixture. This adds extra sweetness too.

A loaf of sourdough cornbread sitting on a woven placemat. Some of the sourdough cornbread has been sliced and is on a white plate, drizzled with some butter and hot honey. There is a pale blue linen dish towel decorating the scene. — The sourdough cornbread loaf in this photo is served with homemade butter drizzled in hot honey, it's so easy and so delicious!

Ingredients

Baking Powder
Sourdough Starter - like most recipes that use a leavening agent like baking powder, you can use either sourdough starter or sourdough discard to make this recipe.
Eggs - this hearty quick bread uses 3 large eggs. Mine are around 60 to 70g each. If your eggs are on the small side, I recommend using 4.
Vegetable Oil - you can substitute any light flavored oil in this recipe. I prefer it with vegetable oil, but a light flavored olive oil works too. Don't use anything with a really strong flavor though. If you're really adverse to vegetable oil, you can use butter, but it won't give you the same moisture as vegetable oil.
Buttermilk - this loaf yields delicious results with buttermilk. If you don't have any on hand, you can substitute it for whole milk or sour cream. If using milk, you can add a splash of vinegar and let it sit for 5 minutes to thicken as an easy buttermilk alternative.
Honey
Brown Sugar
All Purpose Flour
Cornmeal - This gives the cornbread it's signature color and flavor, so don't swap this out for anything else.
Salt
Corn Kernels - I used regular frozen corn kernels. You can use draining canned kernels or even fresh if you have them!

How To Make Sourdough Cornbread in a Loaf Pan

This recipe for sourdough cornbread in a loaf pan is so simple, even the kids can do it! I love making a double batch so there's always an extra one to freeze or share with neighbors.

I've used a 1 pound USA pan to bake this loaf and it fits beautifully.

Preheat oven to 200C/390F and grease a loaf pan with butter (I like to go a little heavy on the butter to keep the corn bread moist).

Mix together all of the wet ingredients. Whisk them together until they are well combined.

Now, add the dry ingredients onto the top of the wet ingredients and gently fold them altogether, being careful not to over mix (as this will give you tough cornbread). This is quite a wet dough, so don't worry if it feels a bit wetter than you're used to.

Pour the corn bread batter into the loaf pan your prepared earlier.

Bake your sourdough cornbread loaf at 200C (390F) for around 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown on top.

A series of 4 photos showing the process of mixing together the sourdough cornbread loaf batter.

Once removed from the oven, pour 20g of melted butter over the cornbread loaf while it's still in the pan. Allow to cool in the pan for around 30 minutes while it absorbs all that lovely butter. Then remove from pan and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Serving Suggestions

This sourdough cornbread loaf is super versatile. It's hearty enough to serve as a snack alongside a dish of homemade butter (actually I love spreading it with this spicy jalapeño honey butter). It also works really well as a side dish for soups and stews where it's sturdy enough to mop up sauces.

I actually created this recipe as a side dish to go with a smoked brisket, sourdough mac and cheese and homemade bbq sauce. My family had a brisket competition one weekend and we had to make a brisket, a bbq sauce and a side. Of course I made 3 sides, one of which was this sourdough cornbread loaf! It was so good I just had to share it on the blog.

How To Store + Freeze

This sourdough cornbread baked in a loaf pan is definitely best eaten when fresh, slightly warm. Leftovers can be stored in a airtight container or ziploc bag for a few days, but it can become dry quite quickly.

You can freeze this loaf once baked and cooled. Place in a large ziploc bag and into the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature. When you want to eat it, wrap in aluminum foil and warm in the oven before slicing.