Johnny Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the batter
Stir cornmeal and salt together.
Add warm water and mix until light.
Bake and rest
Bake in a Dutch oven for about 45 minutes until browned.
Let it sweat in the closed oven for 15 minutes after removing from heat.
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
- Cornmeal
- Forms the bulk of the bread, giving it its coarse, grainy structure.
- Warm water
- Hydrates the cornmeal so it forms a spreadable batter that bakes through.
The step that matters
Letting it sweat in the closed oven. Resting the bread in the residual oven heat after baking lets the interior finish setting and steam soften the crust, reducing the chance of a dense, gummy center.
“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.
More johnny cake recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.