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Dessert

Johnnie Cake

A simple cake made from Indian meal, water, and salt, baked over an open fire.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Johnnie Cake

Johnnie Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Sift the Indian meal into a pan.

  2. Make a hole in the middle of the pan.

  3. Pour in the warm water.

  4. Add the salt.

  5. Mix the meal and water gradually into a soft dough with a spoon.

  6. Stir briskly for about 15 minutes until the dough is light and spongy.

Bake and serve

  1. Spread the dough smoothly on a flat board.

  2. Place the board nearly upright before an open fire.

  3. Support the board with an iron.

  4. Bake well.

  5. Cut the baked dough into squares.

  6. Serve hot, split and buttered.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Indian meal
Forms the main body of the bread, giving it structure as the dough sets.
Warm water
Hydrates the meal so it forms a soft, workable dough.

The step that matters

Stir briskly for about 15 minutes until the dough is light and spongy. Vigorous stirring works air into the dough and develops it, so the cake rises lightly instead of baking up dense. Stopping early leaves the texture heavy.

“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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