Corn Bread
A staple of Southern cooking, corn bread goes as a great side dish with any Southern entree. Most Southerners insist that corn bread should be savory, but I admit that I prefer it sweet, especially when served with BBQ.
This recipe recommends using a cast iron skillet. I think cast iron is very important to the outcome, and I like to use a cast iron corn cob mold.
Corn Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking power
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup buttermilk or 3/4 cup milk + 2 TBS lemon juice or sour cream
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- 3 eggs
- Options: ¼ cup sweet corn kernels ¼ cup sweet bell pepper finely chopped.
- 2 more tablespoons of butter or bacon grease.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and put a 12 in skillet in to pre-heat.
- Mix dry ingredients together.
- Whisk the eggs. Add honey and whisk 20 seconds. Add milk or sour cream and whisk, add melted butter and whisk.
- Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Gently stir until everything is mixed, only about a 30 seconds. The batter will be lumpy. That’s what you want. Now add the corn, red pepper, any other add-ins, and stir gently until they are evenly distributed. It is important that you do not over-mix.
- Take the skillet out of the oven and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Roll the butter around as it melts coating the inside of the pan, including the sides. This will create a nice crisp crust on the bread.
- Pour in the batter, level it more or less. Place in the hot oven. Work quickly so that the skillet doesn’t cool off.
- Cook until the top is golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it to make sure the edges don’t burn.
- Cool for about 10 minutes and serve.