Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Mix cornmeal and salt in a bowl.
Gradually add boiling water and stir until the mixture drops lightly from the spoon.
Cook and serve
Bake in a Dutch oven or cook in thin cakes in a frying pan.
Serve warm or cold.
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
- Cornmeal
- Forms the main structure and body of the bread.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the cornmeal and gelatinizes its starch so the batter holds together.
The step that matters
Adding the boiling water. Cornmeal absorbs liquid gradually and keeps thickening as it stands. Adding water slowly and stopping when the mixture drops lightly from the spoon gives a batter that is moist but not runny. Too much water makes a heavy, spreading batter, and too little leaves a dry, crumbly one.
“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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