Corn Bread

Original Recipe from: http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/bakingdesserts/r/cornbread.htm#

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup half and half
• ¼ cup melted butter or shortening
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup sugar

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.


2. Sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.


3. Combine the half and half, eggs, fat, honey and sugar.


4. Thoroughly grease and flour a 9" × 9" baking pan (or use a nonstick baking pan or a flexible silicone pan).


5. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones and mix just until the flour is moistened, no more than ten seconds. The batter should be visibly lumpy — leave it that way! It's extremely important not to overmix the batter.


6. Once the liquid and dry ingredients have been combined, pan and bake the cornbread immediately.
   
   TIP: The dry and wet ingredients, respectively, can be mixed in advance, but as soon as the wet and dry ingredients have been combined with each other, the liquid will activate the baking powder and the batter must be baked right away.


7. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cornbread comes out clean and the edge of the bread starts to separate from the pan.

Notes:

This bread can be modified by adding fresh or canned corn, sour cream, buttermilk, bacon — even dried blueberries!

Cornbread is a member of the quickbread family, which differs from biscuits and scones because it uses butter or shortening that is melted, not solid.

The key to a good corn bread is not overmixing the batter. Once the liquid ingredients are added to the dry, mix the batter by hand just until the flour and corn meal are moistened — no more than about ten seconds. Too much mixing can cause the final product to be dry, tough or misshapen.

Hot Mama Says: The husband wanted cornbread this evening, and I obliged him by making this recipe which was at the top of the Google results.  This recipe is delicious, but next time I would make sure to use *FINE GRAIN* instead of course grain corn meal.  It was still delicious, but the texture was a bit rough.  Also, I did not sift the flour (I am lazy and in a rush).  Additionally, I didn't have any half and half, so I substituted 1T of melted butter added into milk to fill up a cup (see below).  I also made our corn bread into muffins, so while I used the oven at the above temperature, I only baked the muffins for 18 minutes, and that was the perfect amount of time (thank you, cake mix box!).  I used cup cake liners to have less mess.   We will definitely make this recipe again (with fine grain meal)!  Grade: A.  :)