Corn Flour

Corn flour behaves nothing like wheat flour, and you must respect that. Rub it between wet fingers and you feel no stretch, no pull — nothing to grab and hold. That is why corn flour alone gives you crumb, not chew. Stir it into hot liquid and watch it thicken into a soft, smooth paste, heavy enough to coat the back of a spoon, and then it sets firm as it cools. That is all you need to know about it.

Choose it by look and smell. The colour should be even, whatever shade it is, with no grey patches and no speckling. It should smell sweet, faintly milky — like fresh cornbread, not dusty cardboard. Rub a pinch between your fingers: it should feel fine and dry, never gritty with lumps, never damp.

Some people say you can swap corn flour for wheat flour anywhere, gram for gram. No! Try it in bread and the dough sits heavy in your hands, refusing to hold together. Try it in a cake and it comes out dense and crumbly, sinking under its own weight where a proper crumb should spring back. Corn flour wants company: an egg, a starch partner, or just a pot of soup to thicken gently, not a loaf to hold up on its own.