In all my years of cooking, making bread, making pizza crusts, etc... I've never made corn bread.

And so, last night when I was serving my wife and the widow of my old flyin' buddy a "peasant dinner" (soup and freshly-made, still hot from the oven bread), instead of making some form of rye bread, I decided my rich, tasty Beef Vegetable with Barley Soup would be even more tasty if I substituted corn bread for regular rye bread.

Soooooooooo... using the recipe on the bag of corn meal, I made an 8"x8" pan of corn bread. While it was pretty good and easy to make, I ended up with a pile of corn bread CRUMBS on my plate when I tried to butter the corn bread.

What's the "secret" to making good corn bread that DOESN'T fall apart when ya "slather" butter on it?

Anybody got a REAL solution to my "problem"?!?!? PLEEZE!!!


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

Incidentally, I did serve the corn bread still hot from the oven... did that contribute to it's tendancy to fall apart?

Try putting about a tablespoon more oil in it than a small recipe calls for and do the same with the milk only about two tablespoons. You can also try a little less cooking time. Too hard to increase the egg so try the liquids.-Mike

Sounds like to me you know your way around a kitchen. Next time use the same recipe and add a couple of spoons of corn starch to the batter. It'll have a real crunchy crust and probably won't come apart so easily. If this doesn't work just have another longneck and get over it.

Both of your recommendations sound good... 'specially the "longneck" thought... (hehehehe)

I've also got bread flour. I wonder if I use BREAD FLOUR rather than the all-purpose flour the recipe called for??? Bread flour definitely holds a better "rise"... but would it HOLD the corn bread together better?!?

Whatta think?

Down heah, we don't use flour. Guess we figure corn bread should be made from the pure stuff. Most of us throw in a spoon of sugar and a couple of chopped pickled jalapenos along with a spoonful of the pickle juice. Of course this is for people that like spicey. Cornbread is like many recipes in that it takes a little adjustment to get it the way you like it. Hang in there, you can do it with just a couple of tries.

Doo Dah

Wahl... up heah, we do the same thing minus the jalapenos 'n pickle juice.

I wondered about the ratio of corn meal to flour... 1 cup of each... sounds like too much flour to me, too. I like my corn bread CRUNCHY... not soft.

I agree with your "adjustment" statement... think that's what I'll do... "adjust"... and "adjust"... and try all of the suggestions I've gotten so far.

I sho-nuff like da flavor of da corn bread... and I'm a-fixin' ta make some mo...

Thanx for the thoughts, Doo Dah !~!~!

Wifey makes great, never fail, cornbread, but it has sugar (north). Always served hot.

1 C all-purpose flour
1 C cornmeal
1 T baking powder
1/4 C sugar
1/4 t salt
1 egg
1 C milk
1/4 C oil

Please try the recipe before you make adjustments.
Good luck.

Cornbread:

2 Cups Cornmeal mix (Martha White if you can find it)
one large egg
Buttermilk (approximately 1 1/2 Cups)
Cooking oil

And most importantly, a well seasoned 10" cast iron skillet

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the cooking oil in the skillet. Pour oil approximately 1/8" deep in skillet.

Mix ingredients together but do not over mix. Add hot oil from skillet to batter and mix. Pour batter into skillet. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Remove from oven and invert onto plate. Cut cornbread into wedges, butter and serve immediately. Enjoy!

What TNrifleman said...spot on.

Elwood

Sounds like we pretty well got the corn bread thingie down. Now should we move on to the side dishes such as collard greens, sweet potato casserole, and pork chops. Just kiddin', couldn't help it.

Shucky-DARN... DooDah,

You forgot the GRITS !~!~!~!~!~!

Been there!

Do NOT---I repeat DO NOT---overwork the batter/mix. In the case of cornbread a hot skillet and lumps in the batter are a must!

TN got it right. Although, I still stand by White Lily.

Cornbread.
One box of Jiffy cornbread mix, one egg, milk.
Mix, put in oven about 15 minutes, take out, slice and eat.

Bingo!

Mind you I'm a yankee, but I've never been able to make scratch cornbread that turns out better than Jiffy.

Last week I started thinking about the cornbread my grandmother made for me when I would go to her house after school. Then I made some homemade soup and said time to make some cornbread. I did some research and found a recipe I liked. I made the cornbread and it came out great i.e. crunchy on the outside but soft inside. Here's the recipe.

How To Make Cornbread

By Buster Bucks
What Makes Delicious Cornbread?

A crispy, crunchy exterior with a moist, light interior. Lots of intense corn flavor. A tender crumb.

I've been baking cornbread for years, and have made more mistakes than I can count. Slowly, though, I've been able to perfect it.

Here's how to make the most delicious cornbread you've ever tasted. You'll love serving this with chili or stew, or fresh peas, or simply to eat hot from the oven with loads of sweet butter.

This is true, downhome cornbread.
A Few Quick Notes

Please read through all of the instructions, okay?

This recipe is divided into two parts:

1. the ingredients

2. the techniques, or how to make it.


The Ingredients

3/4 cup of all purpose flour

3/4 cup of yellow cornmeal (it's okay to use white cornmeal -- I prefer yellow)

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tbsp. sugar

1/4 cup of butter, MELTED

1 large egg

1 1/4 cup of buttermilk

3 tbsp. oil (I prefer Canola oil)
The Techniques (How To Make It)

Turn on your oven to 400 to preheat.

Put 3 tbsp. of Canola oil into a black 12" skillet, and put the skillet into the oven so it'll get hot. The skillet with the oil should be in the oven about 15 minutes or so. You want the skillet, and the oil inside it, to get piping hot, but not to begin to smoke.

You'll use TWO bowls, one large and one small.

Into the LARGER bowl put the dry ingredients. Stir them till you're sure that they've all been mixed together thoroughly.Make sure your baking powder/soda have been complete incorporated into your flour and cornmeal.

Into the SMALLER bowl, put the wet ingredients. (I usually put my butter into one of my small mixing bowls and put it into the microwave, on high, for about 20 seconds to melt the butter.) Then I pour in the buttermilk, then break in the egg, and use a fork to mix it all together.

Now here's the trick: pour the liquid ingredients ALL AT ONCE into the dry ingredients.

Use a spatula (or large wooden spoon) to mix the wet and dry ingredients, using only a few swift strokes -- about a dozen turns. It's okay if there are small bits of dry flour/cornmeal here and there. The point is to mix LIGHTLY -- if it starts to look smooth like cake batter, you've gone too far. (It'll still be good, but these instructions are about making a great cornbread.)

Use an oven mitt to remove the hot skillet from the oven and place it on your counter. Then pour your cornbread batter into it, then return the skillet to the oven.

Bake for about 20 - 25 minutes. I encourage you to set your timer for 15 minutes, then check the cornbread and turn it halfway around (for even browning.)

Some ovens run really hot -- so your cornbread might be ready in slightly less than 20 minutes. For other ovens, it could take the full 25 minutes, or even slightly longer.

When will you know it's done? When the top has turned a gorgeous golden brown.

Remove it to the counter and let it sit for about 8 minutes. Place a plate on top of the skillet (use an oven mitt -- the skillet will still be really hot) and invert so that the cornbread falls onto the plate. The top (what had been the bottom on the skillet) will be dark and beautiful!

Let the cornbread rest for about 10 minutes, then slice into wedges. The crust will be dark and crisp, the interior will be moist and have a heavenly crumb.

Trust me -- you and your Loved Ones (or guests if you're serving it for a dinner party) are going to rave.

Enjoy!

Thats it, pretty much! Make sure you use at least a large egg, if not a jumbo. I use a hotter over...425, makes a good crust.

Or you can use the Martha White Buttermilk mix and then use sweet milk. Just as good. miles

Cornmeal Mix? Jiffy Cornbread Mix? Margarine? Canned Beans? Tou Fu???

I know---I even saw canned chili posted a couple of times.

Cupacupacupa
1cupa course yaller cornmeal
1cupa all purpose flour
1cupa milk or cream
1/4 cupa oil or melted lard
1/4 cupa sugar (optional)
3 tsp baking powder
1 egg
grease a 8x8 cake tin or use a 10" cast frypan
mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl
mix wet ingredients in a two cup measuring cup
add wet to dry and stir to just barely mixed
bake in pre heated oven at 325 for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean(not an Arkansas toothpick)

We cut into four pieces split in half horizontally and add on butter and maple or corn syrup. We are from Canada Eh, what did you expect.

That one comes from my Grandpa to my pa to me and then to my daughters so 4 generations of "Johnny cake"

Sittin on a tree stump
Eaten Johnny cake
I heard the whistle blow
And I had to take a break

An old folk song about bush camps in the northern Boreal.

Randy

*******************************

CANNED Chili?!?!?!?

OMG!!!

TRAITORS!!! Now they went and DONE IT !

Where's my SHOTGUN?!?!?

Canned chili is over the top. I'm ok with the margarine.

Anybody that eats canned chili probably lets their kids play soccer. Dang communists are showing up everywhere.

Please don't confuse corn meal mix with the boxed or bagged "Jiffy" cornbread type stuff. Real corn meal mix is corn meal with a bit of flour, baking powder and salt added so you don't have to add them.

I think the purists should give Jiffy a try for the heck of it. I'll think you'll be surprised. Bakes up fine in bacon fat in a cast iron skillet.

I was just making a joke. It is a family argument with us.

Wifey makes scratch cornbread, daughter uses jiffy. Wifey uses Minute Rice, daughter uses rice. Wifey uses canned spaghetti sauce, daughter makes her own. Wifey make our pizza, including sauce, daughter carries theirs in.

No! Jiffy sucks! It's yankee cornbread. Sweet. And you can give grief about using mix. It's just the dry ingredients put together for you, and it's good, unless is Jiffy.

There's a lot who put sugar in their cornbread, just won't admit it.

We use the sugar that we save from our Iced Tea, in our cornbread. LOL

knew it...

This is the way my Mama (and her Mama) always did it!

That's cuz it's wrong.

Yup---sugar in corn bread, grits nor cole slaw just ain't right!

Amen! It's perversion I tell ya!

In the soutwest however, sweet corn bread with honey goes along great with ranch beans, ham and green chile. Not as good as soappillas,but close.

In my family anything with sugar in it is "Kentucky wedding cake"

My dad would never get close to anything with sugar in it, and firmly believes that corn bread shouldn't be yellow.

My mom and dad liked the yellow corn meal best. My wife on the other likes the white. I like both. miles

"Kentucky Wedding Cake" I like that. Your dad had it right.

Served with sweet tea for punch. And coffee that is not straight black. LOL.

No doubt your mother and grandmother were fine ladies and excellent cooks.

Got to this party late....if you want to try a different, softer/more cake texture cornbread substitute corn flour (masa) for half of the wheat flour in your recipe. Sugar too

Hot cast iron pan is required for a good crust.

cole slaw without sugar in it?

un sweet tea?

canned chili?

sweet cornbread?

what is the world coming to...

:-)

Thanks for the recipe. I am going to try it. I have made this before, but it was not the best.

I'll give it a try.

Have to admit, I like sweet slaw at times. Just depends on what it's being served with.