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| The Three layered cornbread in all it's glory |
After a very busy weekend full of un-baking related activities, I decided to have a baking/cooking marathon- extravaganza on Sunday evening. Even though it had been a fairly sunny warm day, I was in the mood for chili and cornbread. Native Americans used ground corn for food for thousands of years before Europeans "discovered" the New World. Europeans learned the cornmeal techniques from the Native Americans, and quickly developed bread using the cornmeal in a similar fashion to the grains they were familiar with at home. Chili, or Chili con carne, is taken from Spanish and means "peppers with meat". According to Wikipedia, chili was first invented in San Antonio Texas by the Spanish Canary Islanders. They would pound dried peppers and meat, suet (raw fat), and salt into bricks that could then be reconstituted by boiling water on the trail. I don't know who first decided to pair sweet, mild cornbread with hearty, spicy chili, but they were on to something good.
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Cornbread and chili was one of the meals that I would really look forward to growing up. I pretty much always made my self sickeningly full from the chili and all of the glorious toppings that came along (cheese, sour cream, cilantro, avocado, tortilla chips, and of course cornbread). In the past, as an adult, I have made cornbread and chili several times, but used to rely on the Marie Callender's prepackaged version. This three layer cornbread from the Tassajara bread book is actually just as easy as using the packaged version and the taste is 100 times better. The recipe creates three different layers, the cornmeal settles to the bottom, the wheat bran or germ rises to the top, and in between is an eggy-custard filling. This is hand's down the best cornbread I have ever had.
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| Me looking very official |
The baking/cooking extravaganza included the chili and cornbread (as mentioned before) and a cheese bread that will be my next blog. As you can see in the photo above, my mom and dad got me this very professional looking chef's jacket that is embroidered with my name and the name of this project. I actually cried a little when I opened this jacket up on Christmas morning and I was surprised at how right it felt when I put it on. Sometimes wearing the uniform can make such a difference.
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#53 Three Layer Cornbread
From The Tassajara Bread Book
1 cup cornmeal (coarse ground works best)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1/4 cup wheat bran or wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/4-1/2 cup honey or molasses
1/4 cup oil or melted butter
3 cups milk or buttermilk
Preheat oven to 325.
Combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Mix together. The resulting batter will be quite liquidy. Pour batter into a greased 9-by-9-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until the top is springy when gently touched.
As a variation (which I didn't do) you can add a cup of grated cheese like Jack, provolone, or Parmesan.
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1/4 cup wheat bran or wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/4-1/2 cup honey or molasses
1/4 cup oil or melted butter
3 cups milk or buttermilk
Preheat oven to 325.
Combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Mix together. The resulting batter will be quite liquidy. Pour batter into a greased 9-by-9-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until the top is springy when gently touched.
As a variation (which I didn't do) you can add a cup of grated cheese like Jack, provolone, or Parmesan.
