JOURNEY BREAD (ALSO KNOWN AS JOHNNY BREAD AND JOHNNY CAKE)
2016 © All Rights Reserved by Norman & Janet Van Aken, “My Key West Kitchen”
Yield: One 9-inch square pan.
There are a variety of recipes for this unleavened cornmeal bread. I wondered why there were so many. Finally, a Caribbean native told me he thought it was because the word ‘johnny' was probably a corruption of the word "journey," and naturally, you ate whatever kind of bread was available on open-boated journeys from one island to the next. Whether in the Caribbean or the swamps and marshes of the deep South or on the wide plains of the Amerindians, johnnycakes filled a lot of hungry travelers' bellies.
3/4 Cup self-rising cornmeal
1 Cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons honey
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 + 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 Scotch bonnet chile, seeded and minced
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Generously butter a 8-inch square baking pan.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together the honey, egg, butter, buttermilk, and chile until lightly frothy.
Add the dry ingredients and beat until just blended, about 30 seconds. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and place on the middle rack of the oven.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack and cut into portions as desired.
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