Fine Cooking's Classic Buttermilk Cornmeal

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Fine Cooking Buttermilk Cornbread
Classic Buttermilk Cornbread

I love cooking in my cast iron pan. It feels rustic and it's perfect for upside down cakes. Making cornbread brings images of cowboys cooking on the open range.

Fine Cooking Buttermilk Cornbread
I added some corn to the cornmeal to make it corny. Hee hee. This isn't "cake" with some cornmeal (like the Marie Callender's type), this is cornbread. It would be great as a base for stuffing.

I made this a few months ago and am finally posting it. I kinda lost my blogging and baking mojo during the summer. I had plans this weekend to bake...and then something happened on Friday morning. I was washing dishes and I'm crazy about grease (no grease down the drain!). As I was wiping a metal base with a paper towel, I sliced my thumb. OUCH. A trip to urgent care gave me stitches, antibiotics, and a few restaurant recommendations (my urgent care doc was a totally foodie and she passed along some of her favorites...along with stitches!) I added some medicinal sorbet to the mix when I picked up the antibiotics at Target pharmacy.

Washing dishes. Sharp edge. Thumb. Urgent care. Good morning?  Four stitches on my thumb (ouch!), antibiotics, and medicinal lemon sorbet.
Ouch! Stitches in the thumb!

Classic Buttermilk Cornmeal 
From Fine Cooking 107, pp. 37, November 19, 2010

9 oz. (1-3/4 cups) medium-grind stone-ground yellow cornmeal, divided.
2-1/4 oz. (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
2 Tbs. granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. table salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1-1/2 oz. (3 Tbs.) unsalted butter, cut into a few pieces

Heat a cast-iron skillet (9 or 10-inch) in the middle of a 425 oven. More info about other types on the original recipe.

In a small saucepan, bring 1/2 cup water to a boil over high heat. In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup of the cornmeal and the boiling water. Stir to blend—the mixture should become a thick mush.

In a medium bowl, whisk the remaining 1-1/4 cups cornmeal with the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda to blend.

Add the buttermilk, sour cream, and eggs to the cornmeal mush and whisk to blend.

When the oven and pan are fully heated (after about 20 minutes), add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until just blended. Do not overmix.

Remove the hot pan from the oven and add the butter pieces, tilting the pan to swirl the butter around until it’s melted and the pan is well coated. (The butter may brown; that’s fine.) Immediately pour the melted butter over the mixed batter and stir to combine—a half-dozen strokes with a wooden spoon should be plenty. Scrape into the hot pan.

Bake until the cornbread pulls away from the sides of the pan and is golden on top, 18 to 20 minutes. Immediately turn the bread out onto a rack. Cool for 5 minutes. Serve hot.
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5 comments:

Deb said... [Reply to comment]

I love Corn Bread and used to make it lots of times, the first time I made it was with my dad`s mothers cast iron, and Martha Stewart was the one that showed me how that was at least 25yrs ago...LOL my fav
love and follow you and your recipes thank you so much for taking the time

Andrea said... [Reply to comment]

Ouch! Sorry about your thumb! I hope it heals quickly and you get your mojo back soon!
Have you tried the coconut sorbet? Yum.

Miss Mochi said... [Reply to comment]

I can totally understand losing your mojo during the summer. It's been SO HOT here in Southern California, it turns me into a lazy AC addicted slug.

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

It has been SO hot - can't stand it!! love this cornbread - simply delicious :)
Mary x

Kelly said... [Reply to comment]

So sorry about your stitches! Just reading this now.... You deserved the sorbet. By the way - your skillet is so clean!

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