Cornbread

Ingredients

Batter

• 250 gstone-ground cornmeal
• 60 gplain flour
• 1½ tsp salt
• 2 tspbaking powder
• ½ tspbicarbonate of soda
• 2eggs
• 350 mlbuttermilk
• 60 gbutter, melted
• 1 tbspsugar, optional

For the pan

• 3 tbspbacon fat or butter

To serve

• butter
• honey

Directions

1. Put a cast iron frying pan into the oven with the fat in it and heat to 220°C (425°F) for at least 15 minutes.
2. The pan must be genuinely hot and the fat close to smoking before any batter goes near it. That is what gives the crisp, dark, almost fried crust that separates frying pan cornbread from cornbread baked in a tin.
3. Whisk the cornmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together.
4. Beat the eggs with the buttermilk and the melted butter.
5. Combine the two quickly and do not overmix. A few lumps are perfectly fine; developed gluten is not.
6. Pull the frying pan out, swirl the hot fat up the sides, and pour the batter straight in. It should hiss loudly the moment it lands.
7. Return it to the oven immediately and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until deep golden and firm in the centre.
8. Turn it out of the pan while still hot so the base does not steam soft, and cut it into wedges.
9. Serve hot with butter, and honey if you are north of the argument.

Technique

• On sugar: Southern cornbread traditionally has little or none and is a savoury bread for eating with greens and beans, while Northern versions are sweeter and cakier. Both are real and the argument is not going to be settled here.
• Indigenous peoples of the Southeast baked corn breads in ashes, settlers adapted them, and Civil War wheat shortages fixed cornmeal as the Southern bread.
• Stone-ground cornmeal has far more flavour than degerminated supermarket meal, and it is worth seeking out.

Substitutions

• Milk soured with lemon juice if you have no buttermilk.
• A heavy oven-proof frying pan if you have no cast iron, preheated the same way.

Variations

• With crumbled bacon, jalapeño and cheese folded through.
• Baked as corn sticks in a cast iron mould.
• Crumbled into buttermilk and eaten with a spoon, which is an old Southern supper.

History

A bread made from cornmeal rather than wheat flour, developed through direct contact between European colonists and Indigenous peoples of what is now the southeastern United States, who had cultivated corn for thousands of years before European arrival and taught colonists techniques for grinding and cooking it into bread, since colonists initially lacked reliable access to wheat in many early settlement areas. Its preparation split regionally over the following centuries into genuinely distinct traditions, with Southern cornbread traditionally made without added sugar, often in a cast iron frying pan, contrasted against Northern versions that frequently include sugar, a divide some Southern cooks treat as a matter of real regional pride and correctness rather than simple recipe variation. Cornbread remains closely tied to broader Southern American cooking and identity specifically.

Frequently asked questions

What is Cornbread?

Cornbread is a bread & pastry from United States: frying pan-baked cornmeal bread served with butter or honey. A bread made from cornmeal rather than wheat flour, developed through direct contact between European colonists and Indigenous peoples of what is now the southeastern United States, who had cultivated corn for thousands of years before European arrival and taught colonists techniques for grinding and cooking it into bread, since colonists initially lacked reliable access to wheat in many early settlement areas. Its preparation split regionally over the following centuries into genuinely distinct traditions, with Southern cornbread traditionally made without added sugar, often in a cast iron frying pan, contrasted against Northern versions that frequently include sugar, a divide some Southern cooks treat as a matter of real regional pride and correctness rather than simple recipe variation. Cornbread remains closely tied to broader Southern American cooking and identity specifically.

How long does Cornbread take to make?

Cornbread takes 10 min of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes 1 frying pan, 8 wedges. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Cornbread?

Yes, within limits. Milk soured with lemon juice if you have no buttermilk. A heavy oven-proof frying pan if you have no cast iron, preheated the same way.

What is the most important thing to get right in Cornbread?

The pan must be genuinely hot and the fat close to smoking before any batter goes near it. That is what gives the crisp, dark, almost fried crust that separates frying pan cornbread from cornbread baked in a tin.