Kelly Rossiter
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My challenge to go for four weeks without purchasing any bread is going quite well. Other than my husband's little faux pas last week,all the bread in the house has been made by me and neither my daughter nor I have bought any at all. To be sure there have been a few mornings where I have had oatmeal rather than toast because I didn't feel like baking, but that's also the case when I forget to buy bread.
I've been making a lot of quick breads recently, but in the next and final week of the challenge I think I'll get back to yeast breads. I feel I should end the challenge with a bang and make a variety of breads from different cuisines. I've already made foccaccia and Chinese steamed pork buns so I'm thinking of making some naan or another kind of Indian bread.
This week I made some cornbread. It seems that there are as many corn bread recipes as there are bakers. I went with something that was fast and simple. This is certainly not a sandwich bread but it's a bread that would be great with a soup or stew or as a breakfast bread with bacon. This is best eaten right away, but I've been toasting it for breakfast and it's still quite good. Corn bread is traditionally baked in a cast iron skillet, but I gave mine to my son because it was too heavy for me to work with. I just baked it in a regular pan so I didn't get the crust on the outside, but it was still fine.
Corn Bread
3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 lb unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
1 cup milk
1 egg
1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Place a 9 inch cast iron skillet in the oven from the start of the preheating.
2. In a large bowl, throughly combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and corneal. Put the butter and milk in a small saucepan and heat until the butter is melted.
3. Break the egg into another bowl, beat lightly, and whisk in the milk and butter. Make a well in the flour mixture, pour in the liquid ingredients and stir just until smooth.
3. Take the skilled out of the oven, put in a lump of butter and swirl it around to coat the pan. Pour in the batter. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the corn bread comes out clean.
From Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters
Difficulty Level: Easy
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