Until recently I could count on one hand the number of times I had made cornbread from scratch. Corn-kits or Jiffy mixes were just too good and too easy to bother doing anything else. Not too long ago, though, I spotted some home ground cornmeal at Backhome Collections, a local thrift store/flea-market. It was from a local place called "My Aching Back Mill"--don't you love the name? I've always heard that home-ground meal was the best kind to use, so I decided if I was going to make the plunge to making cornbread from "scratch", I may as well use the best corn meal.
So I bought this home ground meal, but I still didn't have a clue about how to go about turning it into cornbread.
I finally pestered my mother into writing down her guesstimate of how she makes her homemade cornbread. She doesn't really measure, she scoops with a coffee cup and uses a teaspoon and soup spoon from her flatware to do the baking powder, salt, and sugar. (I was reading another blog (I can't remember which one, I'm sorry!) where they shared their family cornbread recipe, and their aunt/grandmother/whoever they got the recipe from did it the same way!) So I took her proportions and tweaked it just a bit with some trial and error and this is what I came up with.
Ingredients:
- 2 c homeground cornmeal
- 3/4 c self-rising flour
- 2 t baking powder
- 2 t salt
- 4 T sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/4-1 1/2 c milk
- 2 t cooking oil
Pour the oil into a seasoned iron skillet-mine is marked 8in--the bottom diameter is 8 inches, the top 10 inches. Put your skillet into the oven while it's pre-heating to 425 degrees.
Meanwhile, mix together dry ingredients, then eggs. Add a cup of milk, then add the additional milk 1/4 cup at the time, stirring until you get to the desired consistency.
Take the iron skillet out of the oven, and turn so that the oil coats the bottom. Pour any excess oil into the cornbread batter and mix in; then pour the batter into the hot pan. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until the top is browned and it's firm to the touch.
Despite the amount of sugar, this is not a sweet cornbread--the sugar just adds a little something extra to the flavors, though. I made this last night with a big pot of 10-bean soup and rice and it was so good, and not that many more steps than using a mix.
This will definitely be a keeper!
For links to more recipes, join me at:
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace, and at
Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
Until next time, good cooking, and good eating!
