Traditional Baking: The Foxfire Americana Library - Foxfire Students, Foxfire Students (2011)
BREADS
CORN PONES
1 pint corn meal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon lard
milk
Mix together meal, powder, and salt, cut in lard, and add enough milk to make a stiff batter. Form into pones with hands (or add some milk and drop from the end of a spoon), and place in a greased pan. Bake in a hot oven for about half an hour.
CORN CAKES
2 cups corn meal
1 kitchen spoon flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon melted butter or lard
milk
Beat eggs, add meal, flour, salt, baking powder, and butter. Add enough milk to make a thin batter. Pour out onto a hot griddle and flip to other side when brown. Good with butter and syrup.
HUSH PUPPIES—Mix 1 cup flour, 1 cup corn meal, and a pinch of salt and soda. Add 1 egg and buttermilk until it is the right consistency to hold its shape when rolled into a ball. Mix in 1 medium onion chopped up, roll into balls about an inch to 2 inches across, and drop into a couple inches of hot fat. Let them deep fry until they’re brown and crispy; drain a bit on some paper, and serve hot.
LIGHT BREAD
1 cake yeast
3 teaspoons sugar
1 pint warm water
2 medium potatoes
2 teaspoons salt
flour
Dissolve the yeast in 1 cup of the water. Cook the potatoes, mash very fine, and add yeast along with 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, and the rest of the water. Put in a jar and leave in a warm place to rise. Sift flour, and mix it in with the yeast mixture along with 1 more teaspoon salt and 2 more teaspoons sugar. Keep adding flour until it makes a firm dough. Let rise to double, knead, and make into loaves. Let rise for one hour, and then bake at about 350° until it tests done.
BRAN BREAD—Mix together 1 quart each of bran flour, white flour, and buttermilk. Add 1 cup each of seeded raisins and molasses, and last mix in 1 teaspoon each of baking soda and salt. Put into loaf pans and bake until done.
RYE BREAD—Sift together 1 cup of wheat flour, 1 cup rye flour, 1/2 cup of corn meal, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon baking powder.
Add enough buttermilk to make a firm dough, adding 1/2 teaspoon of soda per cup of buttermilk. Cut in 3 tablespoons of shortening, mix thoroughly, and roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut as you would biscuits, place on greased sheet, and bake at 450° for ten to twelve minutes.
CRACKLIN’ BREAD—Prepare corn bread by using 2 cups of corn meal, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 cup of buttermilk, 1 teaspoon of soda, and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder. Mix 1/2 cup of cracklin’s into the mixture. If it is too dry use some lukewarm water to make the right consistency for corn bread. Put in oven and cook until brown.
ASH CAKES—Mix up dough for corn bread, and make sure it’s thick enough to hold its shape. Clean out a corner of the fireplace, put the “cake” in it, and cover it with a clean cloth. Put hot ashes over the cloth, then put hot coals on top of that. It takes about half an hour.
MOLASSES SWEET BREAD—Sift together 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon soda, 2 teaspoons ginger, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Add 1/3 cup melted butter, 1 cup molasses (or 1/2 cup sugar and 2/3 cup molasses), 3/4 cup buttermilk, and 1 egg. Mix well, pour into a loaf pan, and bake at 350° for about fifty minutes.
OLD-FASHIONED GINGERBREAD
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup molasses
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon soda
11/2 teaspoons ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sour milk
nuts or raisins if desired
Mix all ingredients together, put into a large loaf pan, and bake for about an hour. (This recipe is at least a hundred years old.)
SYRUP BREAD
Mix up flour, soda, salt, and buttermilk as you would for a plain bread recipe, and instead of using sugar to sweeten it, use homemade syrup. Bake like any other bread.