Name: Pumpkin Johnny Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked pumpkin, stewed until very dry and sweet; 1 cup cornmeal

Pumpkin Johnny Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

2 cups cooked pumpkin, stewed until very dry and sweet
1 cup cornmeal

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

In a bowl, combine the cooked pumpkin and cornmeal until a stiff dough forms.

Bake

Spread the dough onto a baking pan that has been dusted with dry cornmeal.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Cooked pumpkin: Provides moisture and sweetness, and binds the dough into a stiff mass.
Cornmeal: Gives the bread its structure and grainy texture as it absorbs the pumpkin's moisture.

“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.