Dennys Low Gluten Southern Cornbread

This cornbread is the lightest you will ever taste! Great for Thanksgiving and Christmas stuffing recipes. Most cornbreads are heavy because of too much wheat flour - which this recipe doesn't have. This is very low-gluten, incredibly moist. Fast and easy for beginner cooks! Vegetarian too!

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons canola oil - you can use others, this is low cholesterol

1 ½ cups Aunt Jemima brand White Corn Meal - you can use yellow cornmeal though it will be a heavier bread

3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 large AA egg - grade AA is fresher than A

2 cups organic buttermilk - usually buttermilk these days is low fat

2 - 4 Tablespoons honey (2 T. makes it moist, sweet taste not noticeable, 4 T. - great!)

2 Tablespoons canola oil for the skillet

(Note: if you don't have any buttermilk, just add 2 Tablespoons lemon juice or 2 Tablespoons white vinegar to 2 cups low fat organic milk and it will curdle and simulate real buttermilk and perform pretty much the same in the cornbread. The taste will be a little bit sharp and not as mellow as real buttermilk.)

Use an 8-inch cast iron skillet or other heavy pan as this size is perfect. (My cast iron pan was handed down for generations and is over 60 years old and still going strong!) For those who don't already know it, make sure you place the cold cast iron skillet in a cold oven before you begin the heating process.

Heat oven to 450° F. before you begin mixing the batter.

In a large bowl, with a wire whisk combine white corn meal, flour, salt and baking soda.

In a small bowl, beat the egg and add the buttermilk, honey and canola oil.

*** Resist the urge to combine the two bowls just yet.

By now your oven and the cast iron skillet should be heated to the high temperature.

Add the 2 Tablespoons canola oil to the hot skillet and place back in the oven for about 2 minutes. While this oil is coming up to temperature in the oven you will now combine the dry and wet ingredients into one bowl.

Pull the VERY HOT skillet out of the oven and place on the stovetop grate that can tolerate the high heat. Pour the hand-mixed soupy batter into the skillet carefully so as to not slosh the hot oil which becomes very thin at this heat level.

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes and the surface cracks some and the edges are desired level of golden-brown and also those edges pull away from the side of the pan.

Serves 8 easily as these are filling wedges of cornbread.

Note: This is low-gluten because there is only a mere 3 Tablespoons of wheat flour in the entire loaf. The good quality buttermilk really carries the flavor and texture. Most cornbread recipes use yellow corn meal which is far heavier, use more flour that makes the loaf heavier and most of all other recipes use way too much refined sugar.

Family Story: My father was from Kentucky and my mother from New York City. When she married him she was clueless about cornbread but soon developed a taste for it as she was also a wonderful and adventurous cook. What ever state or country we found ourselves living in my father made sure he had a source in that state. He was also not shy about tapping the relatives out of state to supply him with "proper" white corn meal for his cornbread when a current source was not available! I still remember those care packages arriving in the mail at a regular rate and my father smiling from ear to ear, delightedly tethered to his Southern food culture. He used to make this cornbread with bacon drippings, a bit more flour and no sweetener at all.

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Other Recipes from Denny Lyon

*** Recipes published exclusively with HubPages ***

Check out this recipe: Dennys Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding - Easy and quick to put together, lower fat, lower sugar version that explodes with enough chocolate flavor to drown in it!

Check out this recipe: Dennys Louisiana Lyon Oven Pancake - Great for a quick supper or brunch with a minimum of fuss mixed in one bowl and baked in one pan - and this pancake is long on presentation!

Check out this recipe: Dennys Oatmeal Pancakes with Cherries - Heart-healthy, easy to make and vegetarian! Here is a wonderful and hearty recipe for cold weather days - and lazy Sundays! This recipe is heart-healthy with lots of oatmeal, cherries for the mineral iron and buttermilk as the American version of yogurt.

Fun Food Blogs by Denny Lyon:

Romancing The Chocolate – yummy photos, recipes and just plain fun.  Quotes illustrated with chocolate photos to make you laugh!

Comfort Food From Louisiana – yummy easy comfort food recipes, photos of New Orleans, history and cultural traditions of south Louisiana. 

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