Easy Corn Flour Bread (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
Soft, fluffy and tender, this easy corn flour bread is lightly sweetened and makes the perfect breakfast, tea-time snack or for anytime of the day! No yeast or rising time required, this quick bread requires just 8 ingredients and comes together in under an hour! Totally gluten-free and dairy-free too, but it’s so good no one would care. Bake a loaf or two and freeze so you can enjoy this gluten-free quick bread anytime!
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Jump to:
- My Love for Homemade Quick Bread
- What is Corn Flour?
- Why This Recipe Works
- Ingredients You’ll Need:
- Ingredient Notes/Substitutes:
- How to Make Corn Flour Bread (Step by Step)
- Dish by Dish Tips/Tricks:
- Recipe FAQs:
- Other Quick Bread Recipes You’ll Also Love:
- Bread Recipes to Enjoy:
- Easy Corn Flour Bread (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
My Love for Homemade Quick Bread
Nothing beats baking a loaf of homemade bread – and while I love baking yeast breads (such as this soft, fluffy gluten-free white bread, this soft brown rice bread, or this tender buckwheat bread), there are days where I prefer to make a loaf of quick bread instead.
Quick breads use baking powder for leavening instead of yeast (which means no rising time required and hence quicker prep time). This makes them great for throwing together when you’re in a hurry or simply hungry for something delicious and don’t want to wait long to eat.
Some of our favorite quick breads include this hugely popular honey oat quick bread, this low-carb almond bread, and this coconut flour bread.
Recently, I’ve also been testing a quick bread recipe made with corn flour, since I had a half a packet of corn flour in my pantry (left over from when I made the easiest corn flour pancakes ever!)
What is Corn Flour?
Corn flour is basically made from grinding whole corn kernels very thoroughly to get a very soft, fine pale yellow powder. It is naturally gluten-free, which means it’s safe for Celiacs and those with gluten intolerances to enjoy!
Corn flour is NOT the same as corn starch, which is made only from the starchy part of corn, and is processed into a fine white powder.
Corn flour is also NOT the same as corn meal, which is basically dried corn kernels ground into a yellow, coarse meal with a sand-like texture.
Why This Recipe Works
Honestly, this recipe is literally foolproof. All you need is just 8 simple ingredients and an hour to bake a loaf of this absolutely delicious corn flour bread.
This loaf is insanely fluffy and crazy addictive, and just sweet enough to satisfy your hunger, while not being too sweet so you can eat it for breakfast, tea, or anytime you wish.
Best of all, it’s totally gluten-free and dairy-free too (so even Celiacs or those with gluten and dairy intolerances can enjoy it!), but it’s so darn good no one would notice! Trust me when I say that!
Ingredients You’ll Need:
Here’s a visual overview of the ingredients you’ll require to make this recipe. For the exact quantities, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Ingredient Notes/Substitutes:
- Corn Flour: Note that corn flour is NOT the same as corn starch or corn meal (which is also known as polenta), so do NOT substitute it with either of those.
- Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour: I highly recommend using a good-quality gluten-free flour blend that is made up of lighter flours/starches (such as rice flour, corn starch, tapioca starch, or potato starch) to ensure a light and tender final texture. I do NOT recommend using gluten-free flour blends that include heavier flours and starches (such as garbanzo bean flour) as that will result in a denser final texture.
- Sugar: I used white granulated sugar, but feel free to use light brown sugar or brown if you prefer. Just note that using light brown or brown sugar will cause the interior of the bread to be a darker color (instead of the pale yellow color that it has in the photos in this post). If you are diabetic, I highly recommend using Lakanto monkfruit sweetener (a 1:1 sugar alternative with zero glycemic index).
- Baking Powder: Make sure to use gluten-free baking powder if you are Celiac or gluten-intolerant. Since we are not using yeast in this bread, baking powder is what will help this corn flour bread to rise and give it its fluffy texture.
- Eggs: If your eggs were originally in the refrigerator, you can bring them to room temperature by running the eggs under warm water to warm them up a little before breaking them. The eggs are necessary for binding and helping the bread to rise, and I haven’t tried this recipe without eggs. If you are allergic to eggs though, you could try using aquafaba as an egg-replacement. Please let me know how it goes it you make it without eggs.
- Almond Milk: I used my 5-minute homemade almond milk, but you can also use other non-dairy milks such as cashew milk, rice milk, sunflower seed milk or soy milk if you prefer. Alternatively, if you are not lactose-intolerant, you can also use normal dairy milk in equal quantities.
- Sunflower Oil: I used sunflower oil because I always have it on hand. However, you can also use other neutral vegetable oils. Alternatively, if you are not lactose-intolerant, you can also use melted butter instead.
How to Make Corn Flour Bread (Step by Step)
1. Preheat and Grease
Preheat the oven to 350F and grease an 8″ x 4″ metal loaf pan.
2. Whisk Dry Ingredients
In a large bowl, whisk the corn flour, gluten-free all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together until combined.
3. Add Wet Ingredients to Form Batter
Add the beaten eggs, almond milk, and vegetable oil, and whisk until you get a homogeneous pale yellow batter (the batter will be rather liquid and have a pourable consistency).
4. Transfer Batter to Pan
Pour the batter into the previously-greased loaf pan.
5. Bake Until Golden Brown
Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Cool Completely
Allow loaf to cool for at least 10 minutes in the pan before removing it and allowing it to finish cooling on a wire rack.
7. Slice and Enjoy
Once the loaf is cool, slice and enjoy!
Dish by Dish Tips/Tricks:
- Metal Loaf Pan: I highly recommend using a metal loaf pan because it allows the sides of the loaf to cook evenly and creates the golden brown crust on all sides. Using a glass pan or ceramic pan will probably not result in the evenly color all over.
- Storing/Freezing: To store, place the cooled loaf in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. To freeze, wrap the cooled bread in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. Let the bread thaw completely in the refrigerator overnight before slicing.
Recipe FAQs:
No, I do NOT recommend that you substitute the corn flour with corn starch or corn meal as they are three completely different ingredients.
Yes, corn flour is totally gluten-free. It is made from grinding whole corn kernels into a fine flour, and corn is naturally gluten-free.
To store, place the cooled corn flour bread in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Yes, you can! To freeze, wrap the cooled bread in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. Let the bread thaw completely in the refrigerator overnight before slicing.
Other Quick Bread Recipes You’ll Also Love:
- Low Carb Almond Flour Bread (Gluten-Free, Paleo)
- Low Carb Coconut Flour Bread (Gluten-Free, Paleo)
- Easy Honey Oat Bread (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Option)
- Honey Quinoa Bread (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
- Flax Almond Bread (Gluten-Free, Paleo)
Bread Recipes to Enjoy:
P.S. If you try this recipe, I’d love for you to leave a star rating below, and/or a review in the comment section further down the page. I always appreciate your feedback. Be sure to check out my entire Recipe Index for all the recipes on the blog. You can also follow me on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram! Sign up for my Email List to get fresh recipes in your inbox each week!
Easy Corn Flour Bread (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Soft, fluffy and tender, this easy corn flour bread is lightly sweetened and makes the perfect breakfast, tea-time snack or for anytime of the day! No yeast or rising time required, this quick bread requires just 8 ingredients and comes together in under an hour! Totally gluten-free and dairy-free too, but it’s so good no one would care. Bake a loaf or two and freeze so you can enjoy this gluten-free quick bread anytime!
Ingredients
- 1 cup corn flour
- 1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cups white sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 4 large eggs, room temperature, beaten
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/3 cup sunflower oil
Instructions
- Preheat and Grease: Preheat oven to 350F and grease an 8″ x 4″ metal loaf pan.
- Whisk Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk the corn flour, gluten-free all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together until combined.
- Add Wet Ingredients to form Batter: Add the beaten eggs, almond milk, and vegetable oil, and whisk until you get a homogeneous pale yellow batter (the batter will be rather liquid and have a pourable consistency).
- Transfer Batter to Pan: Pour the batter into the previously-greased loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Cool Completely: Allow loaf to cool for at least 10 minutes in the pan before removing it and allowing it to finish cooling on a wire rack.
- Slice and Enjoy: Once the loaf is cool, slice and enjoy!
Notes
Corn Flour: Note that corn flour is NOT the same as corn starch or corn meal (which is also known as polenta), so do NOT substitute it with either of those.
Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour: I highly recommend using a good-quality gluten-free flour blend that is made up of lighter flours/starches (such as rice flour, corn starch, tapioca starch, or potato starch) to ensure a light and tender final texture. I do NOT recommend using gluten-free flour blends that include heavier flours and starches (such as garbanzo bean flour) as that will result in a denser final texture.
Sugar: I used white granulated sugar, but feel free to use light brown sugar or brown if you prefer. Just note that using light brown or brown sugar will cause the interior of the bread to be a darker color (instead of the pale yellow color that it has in the photos in this post). If you are diabetic, I highly recommend using Lakanto monkfruit sweetener (a 1:1 sugar alternative with zero glycemic index).
Baking Powder: Make sure to use gluten-free baking powder if you are Celiac or gluten-intolerant. Since we are not using yeast in this bread, baking powder is what will help this corn flour bread to rise and give it its fluffy texture.
Eggs: If your eggs were originally in the refrigerator, you can bring them to room temperature by running the eggs under warm water to warm them up a little before breaking them. The eggs are necessary for binding and helping the bread to rise, and I haven’t tried this recipe without eggs. If you are allergic to eggs though, you could try using aquafaba as an egg-replacement. Please let me know how it goes it you make it without eggs.
Almond Milk: I used my 5-minute homemade almond milk, but you can also use other non-dairy milks such as cashew milk, rice milk, sunflower seed milk or soy milk if you prefer. Alternatively, if you are not lactose-intolerant, you can also use normal dairy milk in equal quantities.
Sunflower Oil: I used sunflower oil because I always have it on hand. However, you can also use other neutral vegetable oils. Alternatively, if you are not lactose-intolerant, you can also use melted butter instead.
Metal Loaf Pan: I highly recommend using a metal loaf pan because it allows the sides of the loaf to cook evenly and creates the golden brown crust on all sides. Using a glass pan or ceramic pan will probably not result in the evenly color all over.
Storing/Freezing: To store, place the cooled loaf in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. To freeze, wrap the cooled bread in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. Let the bread thaw completely in the refrigerator overnight before slicing.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
My whole family loved this bread! My great-granddaughter and I are gluten-free, but dairy-free as well. I used canned coconut milk as neither of us like the alternative milk products and substituted raw turbinado sugar.. Exchanged the oil for melted Irish butter. The bread was soft and delicious. We toasted a slice to see how that would do and it, too, was very good! Thank you for the recipe!
So happy to hear that Karen! Thanks for letting me know how it worked with the substitutions 🙂 Hope to see you around the blog again sometime soon!
xx,
Felicia
Wow, amazing! We don’t typically eat GF but I had these ingredients on hand. So moist it could double as a GF yellow cake! I used buttermilk and monk fruit sweetener and canola oil. Baked it for the exact time on recipe. I am beyond impressed and think any of my GF and non-GF friends would love this as cornbread or a cake !
So happy to hear that Michelle! Thanks for sharing your substitutions, and glad to know it worked out well as well!
I really liked this bread. I made it just as you did, but used refined coconut oil as my oil instead of liquid oil. Turned out perfect and I think this bread could even be used as sandwich bread if sliced thin enough. I will be making again!
So happy you enjoyed this corn flour bread Kimberly! I like that you used refined coconut oil too, thanks for sharing your substitution! 🙂 Hope to see you around the blog again sometime soon!
xx,
Felicia
used masa flour and serve sugar substitute. 1/3 cup of skinny sugar. I am a whole grain guy so white whole wheat flour. I t of tumaric for color. was good but very cake like.
Hi John! Glad you enjoyed this corn flour bread! Thanks for sharing the substitutions you made 🙂 Yes, this corn flour bread is more like a quick bread/cake texture (as opposed to yeast bread texture).
I was looking for a a gf recipe that helped to use up my oversupply of cornflour. I cooked these in mini muffin tins and pressed a frozen raspberry into the centre of each before baking. Loved the burst of flavour that added. They didn’t last long!
Hi DJ, glad to hear that this recipe works as muffins too! Thanks for the idea, plus that addition of raspberry sounds delish!
Hope to see you around the blog again sometime soon!
Felicia
Absolutely delicious! My first venture into using Corn Flour, what an excellent starter!
Hi Tamara! so happy that you loved this bread! 😉 I also have a corn flour pancakes recipe on the blog if you still have corn flour to use up and would like to experiment with a different recipe (https://www.dishbydish.net/easiest-corn-flour-pancakes-gluten-free-dairy-free/).
Hope to see you around the blog again sometime soon!
First – thanks for the recipe – it is fantastic. Second – i don”t follow instructions well … so, i ground some Hopi blue corn to flour, added ground Basmati rice flour, and subbed 1/3 c honey for sugar… it was delicious. Now i’m wondering how it would taste with butter milk, and poppy seeds for a bit more texture… so many ideas …. thank you so much for sharing!
Hi Jim! Glad you enjoyed this corn flour bread (and thanks for sharing the substitutions your made!). Did you bread turn blue because of the blue corn flour? Just curious!
Can I use all corn flour?
Hi Amanda, if you use all corn flour it will not be as fluffy as shown in the photos.
It is an easy and delicious recipe for corn bread. I have already shared the recipe. Thank you.
Hi Wayne, so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for sharing. Have a great week ahead!
If my child is lactose intolerant and has nut allergies is there anything else I can substitute for the milk?
Hi Cody, can you child take rice milk? If so that would be a good substitute.
I’m not gluten free and bought corn flour by mistake so looked up a recipe for it. This was absolutely perfect!! As far as I’m concerned this is GF pound cake. Absolutely delicious! Making a second loaf now and came to comments to see if anyone had used regular flour since I don’t normally have GF flour on hand. Not a great question on a GF site but maybe others are just dairy free like me. :). Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Theresa! YAY so happy to hear you loved this corn flour bread/cake! Now you have a recipe to finish up that bag of corn flour, lol.
If I want to make more than 1 loaf can I just double the ingredients? Or should it be made one batch at a time ?
Thank you
Hi Sherie, you should be able to easily double the ingredients. Just make sure to divide the batter between 2 loaf pans (both loaves can be baked at the same time). Regarding baking time, not sure if you’ll need a little longer, just check by poking a toothpick in the middle of the loaves and if it comes out clean the loaves are fine.
I love your recipes and use them often but I have to disagree that this corn flour recipe is “lightly” sweetened. It’s cake. I make it for a friend who loves sugar but it’s overwhelming for me.
Hi EJ, thanks for the feedback. Glad your friend enjoys the bread. Next time you can easily reduce the amount of sugar if you prefer 🙂
I made this Easy Corn flour bread recipe today. Oh my goodness it is so delicious! In my oven it took 60 minutes to bake. Pure gold! It came out of the pan with no problem. It is firm enough to hold together, like bread should, and was surprisingly moist and soft. Again, just like bread should be. It has a faint sweet corn taste that is not at all overpowering. My husband who is not Gluten free said several times how much he enjoyed it. The only gluten free flour I have right now is Great Value from Walmart and it seemed to work just fine in this recipe. This bread recipe is a definite keeper and we will be enjoying it often! Thank you!
Hi Donna! So happy to hear that you and your husband enjoyed this corn flour bread (even though he is not GF). YAY!! Makes me so happy to hear that.
Hope to see you around the blog again sometime soon!
xx,
Felicia
my whole family loves this bread! Thank you so mu
note*I use cormea! in place of corn flour and cit omes out perfect.
Hi Diane! So happy to hear that your whole family love this bread!