The Cornbread Pamphlet

The Cornbread Pamphlet

Ten Recipes with Instructions


All Recipes were collected from many Ladies now passed on.







Cornbread is made in many ways but for the most part there are only two ways to make the bread. You either bake it or fry it. In some cases you do both to the same pan of bread. The first recipe in this pamphlet is just that kind of bread.

Quick Cornbread is a dry mix that will give most people the taste they are looking for. It’s a great bread for soups of all kinds to include stews.
1. Recipe One: Quick Bread

Note: Please try to follow the recipe in both the ingredients and steps to cook the bread. Things will work out better for you. NEVER leave hot eyes or pots alone for any reason!
Ingredients: The following are the ingredients are for a large cast iron skillet of ten (10) inches or more. For half size or quarter size cut your ingredients down accordingly. Never use Baking Soda in the place of Baking Powder.
1. 8 Heaping Tablespoons of Cornmeal. Please make things easy on yourself by using Self raising Cornmeal. It does not matter if the cornmeal is yellow or white. I prefer yellow.
2. 2 Whole Eggs
3. 2 Heaping Tablespoons of Baking Powder.
4. A pinch of salt
5. Whole sweet milk or Buttermilk.
Instruction: Preheat oven to four hundred (400) degrees. In a bowl large enough to accommodate the dry ingredients steer the dry ingredients together.
Next add the two eggs and steer in while you add milk. Somme people call this the hard part but it is only if you let it be. The amount of milk added is enough to make the dry mix look like a loose batter. Never think that you have NOT put enough in. The real problem is NOT using enough milk. The mix should look very soupy.
Now while mixing the dry ingredients you must start preparing the skillet for the cornmeal mix. This is not hard but you must watch this skillet at all times. WARNING: A HOT SKILLET WITH HOT OIL IN IT CAN CATCH FIRE. If this happens use a cover or a large amount of BAKING SODA to cover the skillet or a proper fire extinguisher to put out the fire.
In the skillet coat the bottom of the skillet with vegetable oil. This is very important just coat the bottom surface of the skillet. Then heat the skillet just before putting the cornmeal mix into the skillet. Remember use a skillet that can be placed into the over for fifteen (15) minutes at four hundred (400) degrees.
Once the skillet is hot pour the cornmeal mix into the skillet. As the mixture hits the skillet bottom the hot oil will burn the meal creating a smooth surface upon which the bread can bake. Now turn off the cooking eye. Lift the skillet from the cooking surface using a proper set of oven gloves and put the skillet into the oven. The oven should have been preheated to four hundred (400) degrees prior to mixing the dry ingredients. Set the skillet on the upper most rack in the oven and let it cook for fifteen to twenty minutes.
The bread will be ready when the top of the bread is a golden brown. Remove the skillet and set it on the back eye of the stove. It must cool before plating. Remember this is a very hot skillet and should not be touched without oven gloves.
Plating can be done while the bread is still hot. Caution: always use gloves to prevent burns. Now take an empty plate and lay it face down on top of the bread. Holding the plate in place with one hand turn the skillet over. The weight of the bread should release it from the skillet. If you have tear away where some of the bread sticks to the skillet then either you didn’t use enough oil or the skillet is still too hot to plate the bread.
If all has gone well you should have a plate of corn bread ready to cut and eat. I like hot corn bread in a glass of cold milk. Most people eat the bread with soups or stews. Enjoy.
2. Recipe two: Quick Bread
This bread is made in custom pans and glass wear. The issues with using different baking utensils is to understand just how these types of utensils conduct heat and just what it is we are trying to achieve.
Glass bowls are used in baking when it comes to Corn Bread. This is also true with round metal dishes nominally used to bake cakes. These are not as easy to cook with as the quick breads frying pan that is cast iron. Heat along the cast iron pan is more intense through-out the process of cooking. This means that more defined points along the base of the bread get an ample amount of heat during the cooking process. This simply means the bread will cook faster with a much more consistent heat along the bottom. Instead of cooking from the middle of the bread slurry out it cooks both from the middle out as well as from the bottom up. So the choice of the utensil to do the cooking is important.
Why would anyone cook with a glass bowl or cake dish? Simple, when used properly these pans create a cake like bread that is softer and deeper. It is a different type of bread and one that is used in restraints and homes alike. The history of the bread is as simple as the grain it is made of. During World War Two, cooks were charged with getting food out to the troops and sailors in record time. Cornbread was the best type of bread to cook for that type of order. Having said that cornbread goes back to the early days of the movement into the new world by the Puritan settlers when they were first introduced to Maze (corn) by the native Indians. The bread was made of corn and goats milk. Then in a Dutch oven the bread was baked on the bottom of a stew. As the stew was dished up the bread came out as a crust.
During the Depression cornbread was the best end product for the money spent to make it and could feed many more people for the same money. Just after World War Two schools throughout the country started cooking large amounts of cornbread to feed the classes at their daily lunch. So cornbread has come a long way.
Recipe two is much the same as the first with one exception. There is an added ingredient.
1. 8 Heaping Tablespoons of Cornmeal. Please make things easy on yourself by using Self raising Cornmeal. It does not matter if the cornmeal is yellow or white. I prefer yellow.
2. 2 Whole Eggs
3. 2 Heaping Tablespoons of Baking Powder.
4. A pinch of salt
5. Whole sweet milk or Buttermilk.
6. Two heaping tablespoons of sugar
In adding sugar you get a completely different taste. You mix and cook the bread the same way you did in the first recipe. Remember the difference in using a iron skillet and a deep dish glass pan. Always remember that these utensils will be very hot and can burn your hands if handled incorrectly. NOTE: When using a glass pan pre-heating the pan is NOT necessary. Simply mix your recipe and pour it into the pan. Then put the pan into the oven and start your timer for 17 to 20 minutes. Some people like harder bread at the dinner table. If that is your preference then add 3 minutes to the cooking time.
Recipe Three: This recipe is called Southwest Cornbread and comes in many different varieties. This is also called Mexican Corn Bread.
Our Ingredients are as follows:
1. 8 Heaping Tablespoons of Cornmeal: In the Southwest recipe please use Yellow Cornmeal.
2. 2 Whole Eggs
3. 2 Heaping Tablespoons of Baking Powder
4. A pinch of salt
5. ½ can of sweet nib lets corn white or yellow it does not matter
6. ½ cup of chopped up Jalapeño peppers or as many as your taste calls for
7. ¼ cup of green and red bell pepper each
8. Whole sweet milk or Buttermilk
9. One Heaping tablespoon of sugar
10. One small onion chopped very fine
11. ¼ cup pimento chopped very fine

You mix and cook the bread the same way you did in the first recipe. Follow the same cooking times as given above.
Recipe Four: Cornmeal Muffins.
Our Ingredients are as follows:
2 Cups Cornmeal (Yellow cornmeal if possible)
¾ teaspoon soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 Whole egg
1 ½ cups of Buttermilk
3 tablespoons melted fat. If you do not have fat or lard you can use a clear type cooking oil or butter.
Instructions: Put cornmeal, soda and salt in a bowl. Stir until well mixed. Beat egg. Add buttermilk to egg and stir; then add melted fat. The fat should be warm but not hot. Add egg mixture to cornmeal mixture all at once. Stir just enough to mix; mixture will still have rough appearance. Fill hot greased muffin pans two-thirds (2/3) full. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes or until done.
NOTE: If self-rising cornmeal is used, omit the soda and salt.

Recipe Five: Hush Puppies.
This is a tradition that goes back a long ways. The bread was cooked first as a deep fry dish at fish fry’s all over the country. Our recipe is no different. It is ment to be cooked at a fish fry in the same oil that the fish is cooked in.
Our Ingredients are as follows:
2 cups enriched cornmeal
1tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
6 tablespoons chopped onions
1 egg, beaten
1 cup buttermilk
Instruction: Sift together cornmeal, flour, soda, baking powder, and salt. Add chopped onion. Combine the beaten egg with the milk. Now add the dry ingredients and stir just enough to blend. Drop by the spoonful into hot deep fryer oil where the fish are cooking. Hush puppies will float when done. Put the cooked puppies on absorbent paper to drain.
NOTE: This should make from 36 to 48 small hush puppies if dropped as spoonfuls.

Recipe Six: Kentucky Corn Bread
Our Ingredients are as follows:
1 ½ cups cornmeal mix
2 eggs
½ cup cooking oil
1 cup sour cream
1 (81/2 oz.) can cream style corn
1 tsp. minced onion
Instruction: Combine all ingredients. Place in a hot greased iron skillet and bake at 425 degrees until done. NOTE: You can change the taste of the bread by dropping the onion and in its place putting sugar or even peppers.


Recipe Seven: Moist Corn Bread.
Our Ingredients are as follows:
1 cup enriched white self-rising cornmeal
1 (8oz.) can creamed corn
1 (8oz.) carton sour cream
3 Whole eggs
½ cup oil
1 Tablespoon sugar
Pinch salt
Instructions: This is more of a cake mix than complete bread and should be cooked like one. Use a cake pan or deep glass dish used for pies to cook this recipe. Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Make sure that you grease the dish or pan completely. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 30 to 35 minutes.

Recipe Eight: Egg Bread.
Our Ingredients are as follows:
2 cups cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1teaspoon salt
2tablespoons sugar
2 Whole eggs
1 cup milk
¼ cup melted fat or clear cooking oil
Instructions: Combine cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Stir until evenly blended. Beat eggs. Add milk and melted fat or cooking oil. Add egg mixture all at once to dry ingredients. Stir until well blended. Pour into hot, greased, 8-inch baking pan or skillet. Bake at 425 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes. It makes 12 servings.
NOTE: If using self-rising cornmeal, do not add baking powder or salt. For Buttermilk Egg Bread, make Egg Bread but use 1 cup buttermilk instead of 1 cup milk. Add ¼ teaspoon soda.
Recipe Nine: Southern Spoonbread
Our Ingredients are as follows:
4 cups milk
1 cup enriched cornmeal
2 tablespoons of butter (or margarine)
1 ¾ teaspoons salt
4 Whole eggs
Instructions: Scald milk in a double boiler. Add cornmeal; stir and cook to a thin mush, about 5 minutes. Add butter and salt. Separate eggs. Beat yolks. Add hot mixture gradually to beaten egg yolks, stirring as you add. Beat egg whites until stiff. Add them to cornmeal mixture. Fold in by cutting spoon through egg whites and cornmeal mixture and turning mixture over egg whites. Continue doing this until they are thoroughly blended and no lumps of egg white are visible. Do not beat or stir. Pour into a greased 1 ½ quart baking dish and bake at 400 degrees F. for 45 minutes. Serves 4 to 6.
Recipe Ten: Corn Light Bread
Our Ingredients are as follows:
2 cups self-rising cornmeal
1 cup self-rising flour
¼ teaspoon soda
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons oil or melted shortening (Lard)
2 ¼ cups buttermilk
Instructions: Combine thoroughly the cornmeal, flour, soda and sugar. Add oil and buttermilk. Stir until well-blended. Spoon mixture into a well-greased and floured 9-inch loaf pan. Let mixture stand in pan for 15 minutes before baking. Bake at 375 degrees F. for about 45 minutes. Cover loosely and let it cool in the pan.

Note: There are many types of skillets on the market that can be used to bake cornbread. Breadsticks are the most common and can be made very simply. The trick to using them is to try to follow the basic rules that we have covered in this very short pamphlet. If possible make sure the skillet is hot when pouring the cornbread mixture into them. It makes for a much better result.

Cornbread has been used for many different types of dressings throughout its use in history. For example it was used as a dressing with Turkey at Thanksgiving. An early settler was trying to get her vegetables to stay in the Turkey she was cooking and decided to use some cornbread mixture to stick it in. Turkey and dressing was the outcome. Now a day’s Stove-top-Stuffing is used to do the same thing. Little did anyone know that is where Stove-top-Stuffing came from?