Hoe Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Mix the cornmeal, boiling water, and salt together until well combined.
Let it sit for 1 minute.
Cook on the griddle
Sprinkle a little cornmeal on a hot griddle.
Form the dough into a smooth, round ball and place it on the griddle.
Pat the dough down to about ½ inch thick.
Brown one side quickly, then turn it before the top dries out.
Bake slowly until the cake is cooked through and browned on both sides, about 30 minutes.
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
- White cornmeal
- Forms the body of the cake, setting into a firm, sturdy crumb as it cooks.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the cornmeal and gelatinizes its starch, turning it into a cohesive, pliable dough.
The step that matters
Turning the cake before the top dries out. Flipping while the surface is still moist lets the cake brown evenly and keeps it tender. If the top dries out first, it can crack and cook unevenly.
“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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