Southern Cornbread
Southern cornbread is a plain, unsweetened bread made from just four ingredients and stirred together in one bowl. Self-rising corn meal does the leavening, so there is no flour or baking powder to measure. Heating a cast-iron skillet in the oven before the batter goes in gives the bread a firm, golden crust. Serve it with supper, or do as many Southerners do and crumble it into a glass of cold buttermilk.
Instructions
Heat the oven to 425°F. If you are baking in a cast-iron skillet, put the empty skillet in the oven while it heats. Do not preheat any other kind of skillet or pan.
If you are using a skillet that is not cast iron, or a baking pan, coat it with non-stick spray.
Beat the egg in a mixing bowl, then stir in the buttermilk and the oil.
Add the cornmeal and stir only until it is moistened. The batter should look somewhat lumpy, and overmixing will make the bread tough.
Pour the batter into the skillet or pan and set it in the oven.
Bake until the crust is light golden brown and a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean. An 8-inch skillet takes about 25 to 30 minutes, while a 10-inch skillet or an 8x8-inch pan takes about 20 to 25 minutes.
Let the cornbread cool in the pan for 5 minutes before serving. Leftovers keep for several days in the refrigerator wrapped in a damp towel, or for several months in the freezer, though frozen cornbread turns more crumbly.
Make it personal.
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