“My wife LuAnn’s a great cook and her peach cobbler is unbelievable.”
– Jack Gilmore, chef, Austin, Texas
Serves 4-6
INGREDIENTS
5 or 6 fresh peaches, juices reserved
4 small knobs of butter
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp sugar
Topping
225g plain flour
50g cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g chilled butter, diced
3 tbsp caster sugar
220ml buttermilk
1 tbsp demerara sugar
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Line the bottom of a cast iron skillet or baking dish with the peaches. Place the pieces of butter over the peaches and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
To make the topping[footnote] The recipe for the topping is adapted, in part, from Felicity Cloake’s column in the Guardian on 10 October 2013 [/footnote], blitz the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and butter a food processor until crumbs begin to form. (Alternatively, rub the butter into the flour mixture.)
Stir in the caster sugar and a pinch of salt, then just add enough buttermilk to bring it together into a firm dough – do this by hand so you don’t overwork the mixture. Divide into small balls, flatten slightly, and arrange, spaced out, on top of the peaches.
Sprinkle the balls with the remaining sugar, and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden and well risen. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving.