Corn Pone
Awaiting Trial Recipe version 1 · Filed by the Court (seed pool) · Adapted from 'Corn Pone' — Farmers' Bulletin 565, 'Corn Meal as a Food and Ways of Using It,' USDA, issued Jan. 22, 1914, revised Sept. 1917 (public domain, U.S. federal work). Measures and oven temperatures modernized. Conversion: the original's 1/4 cup wheat flour (31 g) is swapped for a gum-containing 1:1 blend at the same weight (USDA basis 125 g/cup); the dish is otherwise cornmeal-dominant and unchanged. Filed as a conversion, not a natural — the deepening pass passed it over only because it prioritized the bulletin's '(Without Wheat)' breads. Category call: side-dish bread, following the Spoon/Soft Corn Bread precedent (Sides).
Hand-formed cornmeal pones with just a little flour in the original, sour milk, and almost no sugar. The meal is scalded first, the pones are handled lightly, and they come out crusty outside and tender inside — a side-dish bread, not a sweet pan bread.
Why this complexity: Meal is scalded before the leavening goes in; Dough is formed by hand and judged by feel.
Ingredients
- 2 cups cornmeal
- 31 g gluten-free 1:1 baking blend (with gum) (about 1/4 cup), for the original 1/4 cup wheat flour (31 g, USDA basis 125 g/cup)
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup sour milk or buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Method
- Pour the water and sour milk over the cornmeal in the top of a double boiler and cook a few minutes (or pour boiling water over the meal, then add the buttermilk). Let cool.
- Sift together the blend, salt, sugar, baking powder, and soda, and stir into the cooled meal. The mixture should be just stiff enough to form into cakes; add a little water if it is stiffer.
- Heat the oven to 425°F (a hot oven). Grease a heavy pan or skillet well.
- Form the mixture lightly into oval cakes (pones) with your hands and place them in the hot pan without pressing them down.
- Make until browned and firm, about 20 minutes. Serve hot.
The verdict so far
No testimony yet. This recipe is Awaiting Trial — the empty docket is the invitation. Make it and file the first report.
Testimony
No testimony on the record yet.