As a born and raised Southern girl, my life usually includes cornbread whether it is baked in the oven or cooked on the stove during the hot months. I have many memories of my grandmothers using their iron skillets to whip up a batch of buttery cornbread and many nights with my hands and face plastered to the oven door waiting for that perfect shade of brown. I was blessed to inherit a small iron skillet that I use ONLY for cornbread. Since iron skillets are porous, they can absorb strong flavors. That’s why many a Southern cook has a separate iron pan for fish, vegetables, and cornbread. Obviously cornbread was the top priority for me since that’s the pan I graciously asked for….if I can call begging, pleading, bartering, and promising outlandish things as being “gracious”. 🙂
I have always used a cornmeal mix for making my cornbread. This is a store bought mix that has the cornmeal and the other ingredients like flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt all pre-mixed. All I do is combine my dry mix with whatever wet ingredients I like such as milk or eggs. Nobody ever said homemade had to be hard made.
And of course, now that wheat/white flour makes me extremely ill, I have to improvise. I found a gluten-free cornmeal mix. It’s also easy to find plain ground cornmeal but then you have to figure out the leavening agents. Instead, I’ll depend on Bob and his Red Mill to make it easy for me.
But how did it compare? Did it have that texture that is not too dense, not too squishy, just enough crumb, and the exact level of browning?
It was perfect!
Stephen never had a clue this was gluten-free. After he ate it and I told him, he was very impressed.
Slowly I’m finding ways to make gluten-free versions of those foods I refuse to live without. I can call this one done!