Sunday, April 5, 2009

Conference Cornbread

Twice a year the LDS Church holds a General Conference where we get to hear sermons and advice from the General Authorities – the top brass in the Church. In Utah, we're lucky enough to have most of the sessions broadcast over TV. As I sat in my living room watching the Saturday session I was in the mood to bake some bread. I didn't want to wait for hours tending a yeast bread, so I pulled out my cook books looking for a quick bread recipe. Cornbread at conference? That sounded great.

After looking at few cornbread recipes I'd tried before, and a few I hadn't, I was feeling pretty unsatisfied. I like making cornbread in a cast-iron skillet. Most recipes call for an 8 or 9 inch pan. Mine's 10 1/2 inches and I really don't need a smaller one. When I'd made these recipes before, the bread had been good, but it hadn't been as thick as I'd wanted. I'd have to do something else. I threw caution to the wind and came up with my own cornbread recipe that had an uncommon nuttiness to it. Served warm with butter and honey, my whole family kept asking for more.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups corn flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
2 tablespoons cooking oil
butter

Directions

Grease a 10 1/2 inch cast iron skillet with butter. Place the skillet in the oven and preheat them both at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

While the oven is heating, mix the wheat flour, corn flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, and oil. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and blend into a thick batter.

Remove the skillet from the oven. Use a pot holder so you don't burn yourself. Pour in the batter, you should hear a little sizzle when it hits the pan. Return the pan to the oven and raise the oven temperature to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown. A toothpick inserted into the bread should come out clean.

Remove from the oven and let cool, in the pan, for ten minutes. Remove to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way. Serve warm with honey-butter.

2 comments:

Maria said...

The cornbread looks really good! Hope you had a nice weekend!

John Newman said...

Thank you! Yes, I did have a good weekend. General Conference always gives my spiritual batteries a recharge.