Kentucky Corn Light Bread
- 2½ cups unsifted stone-ground cornmeal (yellow or white)
- 2/3 cup sifted all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- ¼ cup lard or butter, melted
Instructions:
First steamed and then baked, it is incredibly light—more angel food than corn bread.
- Grease a 2-quart steamed pudding mold or 8-inch tube pan well, then dust with cornmeal and tap out the excess. Set the pudding mold or tube pan aside.
- Combine the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center.
- Whisk the buttermilk, egg, and melted lard in a small bowl or 1-quart measure until creamy; pour into the well in the dry ingredients and beat hard for about 1 minute.
- Pour the batter into the prepared mold and snap on the lid (or cover the tube pan snugly with foil). Set the mold on a rack over boiling water in a deep kettle (the bottom of the mold should not touch the water), cover the kettle, and steam the bread 35 minutes. Toward the end of steaming, preheat the oven to 375° F.
- Lift the pudding mold from the kettle and remove the lid. Slide the uncovered mold onto the middle oven shelf and bake the bread for about 35 minutes or until it is lightly browned and begins to pull from the sides of the mold.
- Remove the mold from the oven and cool in the upright mold on a wire rack for 2 to 3 minutes; this helps keep the bread from cracking as you unmold it.
- Using a thin-blade spatula, carefully loosen the bread around the edge and central tube, then invert on a heated round plate.
- Cut into wedges and serve hot with plenty of butter.