Cornbread

[Obi-Wan Cannoli]

What is your favorite cornbread recipes?

 

[coloradoclyde]

Jiffy in the little blue and white box.... :grin:

 

[satx78247]

IF you would like a really traditional/simple Dixie recipe:

1 cup yellow cornmeal (I use Indian Head stone-ground meal)
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
milk (as much as you wish to make a batter)
lard/vegetable oil for the pan

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
heat cast iron skillet or muffin pan on stovetop
stir together the dry ingredients
add in about a cup of sweet milk
mix in egg
then add in as much milk as is necessary to make the batter as thick as you desire.
(The amount of milk needed varies based on the sort of dry ingredients used, the ambient temperature, altitude & perhaps other factors.)

Pour batter into greased/heated skillet, fry the bottom for about 2 minutes & them place skillet/pan into oven & bake 20 minutes.

ENJOY.
(Note: IF you choose, you may add any quantity of sugar to the batter BUT if you do that understand that what you are baking is called YANKEE CORNBREAD & in the Southland that was served with butter & syrup/honey as a breakfast dish.)

yours, satx

 

[tenngun]

Corn wont raise well and need wheat flour to make it light. The little blue box is good, however you do sacrifice some of the deep cornbread taste. I make mine with just corn meal. Making hoe cakes mostly. Whipped eggs and cream folded in to the corn meal and milk make a bread half way between hoe cakes and blue box.
I've made bread simular to Satx above and its lots better then blue box.

 

[will5a1]

Preheat oven to 450 and put 4 tablespoons Crisco in the cast iron skillet, place in oven for the Crisco to melt.

In a large bowl mix:

1.5 cup corn meal
3 tablespoons white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt

In a smaller bowl pour in 2 cups buttermilk, whisk in 1 large egg.

Once the oven temp. reaches 450 mix the wet and dry ingredients, the batter will be thick, remove the skillet (wearing decent oven mitts) and swish the melted, smoking hot oil around to coat the skillet then pour the hot oil into the batter and stir it in.

Pour the batter into the skillet and bake for 25 minutes if you like a little bit of crust, 20 minutes if not, remove from oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes on a rack, the cornbread should fall right out of the skillet when you invert it.

If the buttermilk is a little sour all the better, if you don't have buttermilk sour some milk with a teaspoon of vinegar to the two cups milk, then add a slice of melted butter to the milk and it will be fine for baking.

I use dent white cornmeal, and prefer a medium course grind, I don't want a cake like texture.
The cast iron skillet is 9", a Wagner, and is dedicated for bread only.

You can do this with coals in a dutch oven, just don't burn it and check for done with a knife or stick method.

added: You can use other oils, but the solid criso works better than the liquid, bacon fat is good if you have it, but cut the salt to 1/2 teaspoon if using bacon fat (or not if sodium isn't an issue).

 

[Don Steele]

Thanks SATX :hatsoff: for providing the GEN-U-Wine Southern cornbread recipe to all the needy folks out there. That's how it's been made up in the E. Tennessee mountains by my inlaws for the last couple of hundred years...no need to change I don't reckon. :thumbsup:

 

[satx78247]

Inasmuch as my 98YO Mother learned to make most of her "family recipes" from my Great-Great-Grandmother, Rebecca Anne (Watkins) Carpenter, who was born in Fayette, TN in 1837, I've often wondered how old that "the old family recipes" that our family still uses actually are??
(Btw, Rebecca Carpenter passed away in her sleep just before Christmas in 1929. - She had 9 sons & 6 daughters by her only husband.)

yours, satx

 

[Nativearizonan]

Corn was easier to come by than wheat flour in early times, so naturally a lot of cornbread did not contain wheat flour until more recently. Water instead of milk was often used too, due to lack of a cow. About all the milk adds is additional protein and fat.

I find you can make tolerable cornbread without wheat flour if you have eggs. They help it rise and stick together without the gluten in the flour. It's good for gluten free diets that way as well.

Cornbread made this way, with just cornmeal, baking powder, salt, eggs, and water may not have the flavor and texture people have gotten used to, but is just as good when used to soak up bean juice, one of my favorite uses for cornbread.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

When I was in Jr high school, the cafeteria folks made the best corn bread, moist, just a hint of sweet and a deep corn flavor. Yankee style is more like cake with corn in it.

 

[satx78247]

TRUE FACT.
Nonetheless, I admit to liking Yankee cornbread with ribbon cane syrup & butter for "country supper", served with eggs & pork chops.

yours, satx

 

[Tallswife]

TRUE FACT.
Nonetheless, I admit to liking Yankee cornbread with ribbon cane syrup & butter for "country supper", served with eggs & pork chops.

yours, satx

Glad to hear you say you like Yankee cornbread, here's my recipe!

Butter Corn Bread

2/3 C butter, soft
1 C sugar
3 eggs
1 2/3 C milk
1 1/3 C AP flour
2 C cornmeal (I split it even between fine and coarse ground)
4 1/2 t baking powder
1 t salt

Cream butter and sugar. Combine eggs and milk, it helps if you beat the eggs up some first. Combine dry ingredients. Alternate adding dry to wet into the creamed butter until it is all mixed well. Pour into your favorite smoking hot cast iron skillet with some bacon fat in it. Or you can use a 13X9X2" pan. Bake at 400 for 22-27 mins.

 

[satx78247]

THANK YOU Ma'am,

yours, satx

 

[Loyalist Dave]

How did they make cornbread ifin they didn't have wheat flour to use in the mix???

Well I tried making a basic cornbread, without wheat flour. Here's the basic recipe from the cornmeal bag:

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
teaspoon of salt.

Mix up into a batter and pour into a greased pan, and bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.


So...., I substituted one cup Masa Flour for the wheat flour. I figured if they had corn to grind for meal, they had corn to turn into hominy, and could then grind that into grits, and then into Masa flour. I used olive oil for the oil, and omitted the sugar. It worked just fine.
Though the "finish" when tasting was a little bitter....probably the reason for the sugar in the recipe.

Masa flour can often be found in a Latino Foods aisle at the grocery store, or at a Latino food store..., it's the basis for corn tortillas and pupusas.

LD

 

[satx78247]

INTERESTING. - I just may try that recipe when I next make cornbread for folks who are gluten intolerant.

yours, satx

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I never thought of that! GOOD IDEA.


Next batch I am going to try unsulfured molasses instead of the sugar. I figure they had better access to that than to white sugar on the frontier...., the rest of the ingredients eggs, milk, salt, olive oil [aka sweet oil] were pretty common....that leaves baking powder...

So if the molasses works, THEN I will try some ashes and some buttermilk instead of baking powder and plain milk.

LD

 

[Tallswife]

What about using oat flour in place of the masa?

 

[satx78247]

While refined sugar was available, quite early, on the frontier, it was EXPENSIVE.
Molasses were LESS expensive but HONEY was everywhere that there were bees & CHEAP.
(Interesting that in 2016, that the prices are exactly REVERSED, huh??)

I may try that recipe with my "locally purchased" CRIMSON CLOVER honey, which is WONDERFUL & actually "good for you" (I like the clover honey on pancakes, waffles, French toast & biscuits.), whereas refined sugar is just empty calories.
(The "dark chocolate brown" SOURWOOD honey from up in The Hill Country works well in any recipe that uses molasses.)

yours, satx

 

[satx78247]

That sounds like a GOOD PLAN too.

Here in south TX Masa Harina is everywhere & I'd likely have to go "on safari" to find oat flour.

yours, satx

 

[Tallswife]

That sounds like a GOOD PLAN too.

Here in south TX Masa Harina is everywhere & I'd likely have to go "on safari" to find oat flour.

yours, satx

I just grind up store bought oatmeal. You can run it thru a grain mill, or a food processor to make it as fine as you want or need. Works great.

 

[satx78247]

THANKS, Ma'am.

While I don't have a mill, I do have a good (though old) food processor.

yours, satc