The Cornbread Gospels (11 page)

M
AKES
9
SQUARES

You couldn’t get a more impeccable Yankee pedigree, where breadstuffs are concerned, than this third-generation cornbread from Brinna Sands’ mother, Mary Baird, a great New England baker. Brinna’s pedigree is conferred both by blood
and
marriage, the latter (to Frank Sands) making her part of the venerable King Arthur Flour clan (see
previous page
). A fine baker, Brinna’s definitive baking books include
The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook
, from which this recipe is adapted. Like all her writing, its style is, one could say, both wry and rye.

Brinna’s mother, Mary, learned this cornbread from
her
mother (Brinna’s grandmother). Both grandmother and mother often prepared this quick, good bread. The extended Baird family summered each year in western Massachusetts. “There was a ‘kitchen tent,’” says Brinna, who visited as a child, “and this was pretty easy fare for my grandmother to make for a big family for breakfast.” Brinna fondly remembers how sticky and buttery she and the other kids would be after eating it. (See the
menu
, and you’ll get the picture.)

For Rhode Island jonnycakes, spelled without the “h” and griddled, see
pages 224
–
229
.

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1 cup unbleached white flour, preferably King Arthur brand

¾ cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal

⅓ cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 to 3 tablespoons butter, melted

1.
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with oil, and set aside.

2.
Sift together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.

3.
Break the egg into a second medium bowl, and whisk it well. Whisk in the milk and melted butter.

4.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients with as few strokes as possible, and transfer the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

M
AKES
12
SQUARES

When I lived in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, I was fortunate enough to be able to dash over to Hart’s Family Center and purchase five-pound bags of excellent stone-ground white or yellow cornmeal from Hodgson Mill, located in Teutopolis, Illinois.

Naturally, the bags have a cornbread recipe on the back—one entitled “Tasty Corn Bread.” The version on the white cornmeal sack calls for white cornmeal, and on the yellow, of course, for yellow—otherwise they’re identical. The recipe
was
tasty indeed, but I feel I improved on it by cutting back the oil ever so slightly and adding a bit of leftover canned creamed corn I didn’t want to see go to waste. I prefer this one with the white meal, but either will do.

Try it with a bowl of tomato or vegetable soup for a lunch that radiates well-being.

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1 cup unbleached white flour, preferably Hodgson Mill brand

1½ cups stone-ground white cornmeal, preferably Hodgson Mill brand

¼ cup sugar

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil

½ cup canned creamed corn (see Pantry,
page 351
)

1.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with oil, and set aside.

2.
Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

3.
Break the egg into a second medium bowl, and whisk it well. Whisk in the buttermilk, vegetable oil, and creamed corn.

4.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients with as few strokes as possible, and scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.

S
ERVES
8
TO
10

You can’t get much more Yankee in the fruit department than the cranberry, a Massachusetts native. This is a not-too-sweet sweet bread that’s perfect for tea, breakfast, maybe even dessert. Cornmeal gives a pleasant toothy crunch, the citrus a subtle accent, while the cranberries are little tart explosions of color and flavor in the pale gold. Its texture is light, firm, reminiscent of pound cake; yet it’s very low in fat.

How do you “coarsely chop” a cup of cranberries, short of quartering them berry by berry? Throw them in the food processor and pulse chop just a few times, maybe three or four on-offs, scraping down the bowl sides in between.

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1½ cups unbleached white flour

⅓ cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

Finely grated zest of 2 oranges (see
Note
)

1 cup cranberries, washed, picked over, and coarsely chopped (see
headnote
)

2 to 4 tablespoons walnuts, toasted and chopped (optional)

¼ cup oatmeal (rolled oats)

1.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat 1 large, 2 medium, or 3 small loaf pans with oil.

2.
Sift the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt into a large bowl.

3.
Whisk together the eggs, oil, buttermilk, and orange zest in a second, smaller bowl.

4.
Combine the mix-ins—the cranberries, walnuts, and oatmeal—in a third bowl. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture over them, and toss well.

5.
Quickly combine the flour mixture and the egg mixture, using as few strokes as possible. Gently stir in the mix-ins. The batter should be stiff. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan(s). Bake for 45 to 55 minutes for the large pan, 35 to 50 minutes for the mediums, and 35 to 40
minutes for the smalls. Check two-thirds of the way through the baking period; if the loaves are browning excessively, tent them loosely with foil.

6.
Let the baked breads cool for 10 minutes in the pan(s), run a thin knife around the edge of each pan, and turn the loaves out. Let finish cooling on a rack.

N
OTE
:
When using citrus zest, try your best to get organic fruit, because it is free of the waxes and fungicides that are routinely sprayed on conventionally grown citrus fruit peels.

M
AKES ABOUT
12
TO
15
SLICES

This sweet, rich, steam-cooked bread is almost certainly a legacy of the Algonquian-speaking peoples, who dominated most of northeastern America. Throughout the region, Native Americans made a sweetened steamed cornmeal bread, and the colonists adopted it as they did so many other things. Because it is nourishing and delicious, I’ve adopted and adapted it as well.

For instructions on steam cooking, see Steam On,
pages 64
–
66
.

Vegetable oil cooking spray

2 cups stone-ground white cornmeal, plus extra for dusting the molds

½ cup unbleached white flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

1 heaping tablespoon white sugar (or granulated maple sugar)

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1⅓ cups buttermilk

½ cup pure maple syrup, preferably Grade B

¾ cup dried blueberries or cranberries

Boiling water, for steaming the bread

1.
Have ready the mold(s), heat-proof trivet, and cooking vessel of your choice (see Steam On,
page 64
). Wash and dry the molds well, spray the insides thoroughly with oil, and dust the insides with cornmeal. Also have at hand some foil, and kitchen string or rubber bands to secure the foil to the top of the molds.

2.
Stir together the cornmeal, flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda (sift the leavenings if necessary), and salt in a medium bowl.

3.
Whisk together the buttermilk and maple syrup in a small bowl.

4.
Combine the wet and dry mixtures, stirring just enough to blend well but not overbeating. Stir in the dried fruit with a few quick strokes.

5.
Scrape the batter into the prepared mold(s), filling each about two-thirds of the way full.

6.
Tear off a piece of foil that is twice as large as the mouth of a mold. Fold it in half, and spray one side with oil. Place it oiled-side down on top of the mold, puffing it up a bit to allow for the bread’s expansion as it steams. Repeat with any remaining molds.

7.
Secure each piece of foil tightly with kitchen string or a rubber band. Place the trivet or equivalent in the cooking vessel. Place the mold(s) on top of the trivet.

8.
Pour enough boiling water into the cooking vessel to come halfway up the sides of the mold(s). Secure the lid of the vessel and steam the bread according to the directions for the particular cooking vessel you are using.

9.
Cook the bread for the length of time suggested, then test the bread with a long skewer: You want to get way down deep into the bread’s interior. When done, the middle of the bread is moist, but not sticky. Visible wet batter means the bread should steam longer. If it’s wet, keep steaming patiently, checking about every 20 minutes until the moist-but-not-sticky point is reached.

10.
When the bread is done, remove it from the cooking vessel, and let it cool in the mold(s), uncovered, on a rack, for at least 45 minutes. Reverse the bread out of the mold(s)—it should come out quite easily—slice it, and serve.