Like the little red hen in the children's story, we like to do things from scratch around here. When we make cornbread we start by planting heirloom corn.
We pick the corn, shuck the corn, shell the corn, and grind the corn. Then we follow the recipe below.
Little Red Hen Bread: makes one eight-inch square
1 cup flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cornmeal
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
4 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons honey
Have all ingredients at room temperature.
Sift together dry ingredients.
Beat together eggs, buttermilk, butter, and honey until well blended. Stir in dry ingredients just until moistened. Spoon into a well buttered 8 inch square baking pan.
Bake in oven preheated to 450 degrees 20 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean and bread has pulled away from the sides of the pan.
Muffins cook 10-12 minutes. Serve hot with butter.
It is a lot of work but the results are worth the effort. The cornbread has great color, texture, and taste.
