Johnny-cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Sift the Indian meal into a pan and make a hole in the middle.
Pour in the warm water and add the salt.
Mix the meal and water gradually into a soft dough using a spoon.
Stir the dough briskly for about 15 minutes until it becomes light and spongy.
Bake and serve
Spread the dough evenly on a flat board.
Place the board nearly upright before an open fire, supporting it with an iron.
Bake until done, then cut into squares and serve hot, split and buttered.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Indian meal
- Forms the main structure of the dough and gives the cake its body.
- Warm water
- Hydrates the meal so it forms a soft, workable dough.
The step that matters
Stirring the dough briskly. Beating air into the dough for about 15 minutes makes it light and spongy; stirring too little leaves the cake dense.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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