Cornbread with Courgette and Cheddar

• butter↗75g g

  melted, plus extra for the pan

• strong white bread flour↗75g g
• polenta↗150g instant g

  instant

• baking powder↗1 tbsp tbsp
• eggs↗3
• whole milk↗350ml ml
• aged cheddar↗100g g

  grated

• courgette↗2 small or 1 medium

  (about 200g), peeled and coarsely grated

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C with convection/gas 7. Grease a 900 g loaf pan with butter and line it with a wide strip of parchment paper. In a bowl combine the flour, polenta and baking powder with 1 tsp salt.

2. 2

   Beat the eggs, milk and melted butter in a jug. Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients and stir. Add the cheese and courgettes, stir. At this stage the batter will be quite runny, but don’t worry — the polenta will gradually swell and absorb the liquid during baking.

3. 3

   Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 200°C/180°C with convection/gas 6 and bake for another 25‑30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the bread comes out clean (if needed you can loosely cover the top with foil if it browns too quickly).

4. 4

   Allow to cool completely in the pan, then remove and slice.