There are lots of cooks out there who actually know what they are doing. I pretty much taught myself to cook, out of necessity. I haven’t a clue most of the time, but I do love to eat. This is a variation of the cornstick recipe I posted earlier. Cornbread recipes are pretty flexible. You can start with equal parts cornmeal, flour, and sugar Use more cornmeal and less flour for more texture; proportionally more flour than meal yields lighter, more cake-like cornbread. You can use any amount of sugar or no sugar at all. I like to reduce the sugar, but not eliminate it, when I make cornbread. You can substitute corn oil or lard for butter. Add eggs, if you like. Milk, buttermilk or water all work for making the batter. The recipe below is what I used last time we went camping, and it was delicious.
Dutch Oven Cornbread
simple campfire cornbread recipe
Equipment
- Dutch oven
- Lid lifter
- Trivet
- Mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon
- Tongs for coals
- Leather gloves or pot holder
Ingredients
- 1 cup corn meal
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 three-fingered pinch salt
- 2 three-fingered pinches baking powder
- 1 pinch baking soda
- 3/4 cup butter
- 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Get the Dutch oven hot. You are aiming for 425 degrees
- melt butter in Dutch oven.
- In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients. Stir in the buttermilk. Stir in most of the melted butter, leaving enough to coat the sides of the Dutch oven and pool a little in the bottom. Pour batter into Dutch oven
- In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients. Stir in the buttermilk. Stir in most of the melted butter, leaving enough to coat the sides of the Dutch oven and pool a little in the bottom. Pour batter into Dutch oven.
- Use few coals under the oven and more on top. Check at ten minutes. Pay attention for signs of rapid cooking down the edges. If the edges appear to be cooking too rapidly, you are in danger of scorching the bottom - move some coals from beneath the oven to the lid, If renewing coals, add to the top first. Rotate the lid and oven 1/4 turn opposite directions when checking bread at ten and twenty minutes. Cornbread is done when firm, golden and cooked through[; twenty-five minutes or so with a hot oven, but it can be twice that if your heat fails.
