Cornbread
Southern cornbread is made in a screaming hot cast iron skillet. Batter poured onto sizzling butter sets instantly and forms a crisp, almost fried edge — that is the whole point. In a cold tin you get a quite different bake — paler and without the crisp edge.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Heating the skillet, mixing 15 min
- Into the skillet 3 min
- Baking 22 min
- Resting 5 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneHeat the skillet, then the butter
Put an empty 25 cm cast iron skillet into a cold oven and heat them together to 220°C (about 15 minutes) — make the batter meanwhile. Once the batter is ready, drop 20 g of butter into the hot skillet and return it to the oven for a minute: the butter should melt and sizzle but not burn. A hot pan is the condition for a crisp edge.
Ingredients: 350 ml buttermilk · 2 pcs eggs · 80 g butter · 2 tbsp honey · 20 g butter
The butter should sizzle at the moment the batter hits it.Mix the dry ingredients
Combine the cornmeal with flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate and salt. Use coarse cornmeal, not cornflour — it gives that characteristic slightly sandy bite.
Ingredients: 250 g cornmeal · 100 g plain flour · 30 g sugar · 2 tsp baking powder · ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda · 1 tsp salt
Combine wet and dry briefly
Whisk the buttermilk with eggs, melted butter and honey, pour into the dry ingredients and stir for 10 seconds. The batter should stay lumpy. Mixed smooth it gives rubbery cornbread — the wheat flour develops gluten.
Ingredients: 350 ml buttermilk · 2 pcs eggs · 80 g butter · 2 tbsp honey · 20 g butter
TipButtermilk reacts with the bicarbonate and that reaction lifts the batter. Substitute: milk with a spoonful of lemon juice, left 10 minutes.
Lumps are wanted here — a smooth batter means rubbery bread.Pour into the hot skillet
Take out the pan, tilt it so the butter coats the sides and pour in the batter in one go. It should hiss at the edges immediately. Level the top with a spatula and return it to the oven at once.
Ingredients: 250 g cornmeal · 100 g plain flour · 30 g sugar · 2 tsp baking powder · ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda · 1 tsp salt
A hiss at the edges as you pour — the sign the pan is hot enough.Bake for 22 minutes
Bake at 220°C for 20–22 minutes until the top is golden and a skewer in the centre comes out dry. The edges should pull away from the sides of the pan.
Ingredients: 250 g cornmeal · 100 g plain flour · 30 g sugar · 2 tsp baking powder · ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda · 1 tsp salt
Serve straight from the pan
Wait 5 minutes and cut into wedges in the pan. Cornbread is eaten warm with butter and honey — once cold it dries out quickly.
Ingredients: 350 ml buttermilk · 2 pcs eggs · 80 g butter · 2 tbsp honey · 20 g butter
Before you start
Savoury version
Leave out the sugar and honey — in the South cornbread is traditionally made unsweetened. For a loaded version, stir in 100 g of grated cheddar, chopped jalapeños and drained tinned sweetcorn.
Without cast iron
Use a metal tin heated in the oven; add the butter just before the batter. Ceramic and glass dishes can crack from the thermal shock and do not give as crisp an edge.
What to serve with it
Classically with chili con carne, stew or barbecue ribs. Stale cornbread is the classic base for turkey stuffing.
