Cornmeal Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Scald 1 cup of cornmeal.
Add 1 cup of meal and 1 cup of sifted flour.
Mix in 2 cups of cold water, ½ cup of wet yeast, and ½ teaspoon of salt.
If the batter is too thick, add more water.
Set the batter in a warm place to rise overnight.
Cook
In the morning, the batter will be light and ready to fry without stirring.
Heat a griddle and fry the cakes.
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 body of the cakes and gives them their grainy texture and corn flavor.
- Sifted flour
- Adds gluten-forming structure so the cakes hold together when fried.
- Wet yeast
- Ferments the batter overnight, producing gas that makes it light and airy.
The step that matters
Overnight rise in a warm place. Yeast needs time and warmth to ferment the batter. If it is too cold or rushed, the batter stays dense and the cakes will not turn out light.
“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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