3.16.2012

cooking: improved cornbread

I have a great Cook's Illustrated recipe for skillet cornbread somewhere, but I can never find it- I have a dozen or so of their cookbooks with probably six different recipes, so I usually end up going with the "one on the box", Albers Yellow Cornmeal Cornbread.  I only use their cornmeal in a pinch, preferring the bulk organic stuff from the natural food store, but the recipe, with some tweaks, works fine and doubles nicely for a crowd.

Main upgrade, I make mine in an 8" cast iron skillet, preheated along with the oven- doubled, it nicely fits in a big 12" skillet.

Measurements are mostly the same, except I halve the sugar and only use 1/2 cup of all purpose flower, substituting 1/4 cup of corn flower & 1/4 cup of flax meal or whole wheat flour.

When the skillet is hot I chuck in 2tbs of butter and let it melt down, then add the batter which should sizzle as it goes in the pan- this gives you a golden brown crust that tastes as good as it looks.  The bread cooks faster in the pre-heated skillet & is usually ready at the 20 minute mark.


No comments: