National Dish USA: Buttermilk Skillet Cornbread (Recipe)
In this article
In the American South, cornbread comes to the table in the same pan it was baked in. The edge is crisp and golden brown, the crumb light and slightly gritty from the cornmeal. It needs no yeast and no rising time. From mixing the batter to cutting the first slice takes barely half an hour.
About Buttermilk Skillet Cornbread
Cornbread is a quick bread made from cornflour or fine cornmeal, raised with baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. The batter is runny, like a cake batter, and is poured into a very hot, greased cast iron skillet. This forms a crisp crust straight away. The bread tastes of toasted corn, slightly tangy from the buttermilk and only gently sweet. In the Southern states it is eaten with stews, beans and fried chicken, while in the North and West of the USA it is usually baked sweeter and eaten more like a cake. It is best warm with a knob of butter.
Ingredients (serves 1–2)
- 150 g fine cornmeal (polenta, finely ground)
- 100 g plain wheat flour (Type 405)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 egg (medium)
- 250 ml buttermilk
- 60 g butter
- 1 tbsp butter or lard for the pan
Shopping for the ingredients
The corn matters most. Use fine cornmeal, the kind sold for polenta, or yellow cornflour from a health food shop. Cornflour in the sense of corn starch is something else and will not work here. Coarse cornmeal makes the bread crumbly and hard. Buttermilk is available in every supermarket, and it provides the acid the bicarbonate of soda needs to rise. A cast iron skillet 20 cm across is ideal. If you do not have one, use an ovenproof frying pan or a small metal baking dish.
Preparing the dish
Put the empty pan into the cold oven and heat the oven with the pan inside to 220 °C (conventional, top and bottom heat). The pan needs to heat through for at least 15 minutes. Meanwhile, brown 60 g butter in a small saucepan until it smells nutty and shows light brown flecks, then let it cool briefly. Take the egg and buttermilk out of the fridge early. For a large 30 cm pan, double all the quantities and bake for 5 minutes longer.
Step-by-step instructions
- Mix the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a bowl.
- Whisk the egg and buttermilk in a second bowl and stir in the browned, slightly cooled butter.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir only until no dry flour is visible. Small lumps are fine.
- Take the hot pan out of the oven with oven gloves, add 1 tbsp butter or lard and swirl until the base and sides are coated.
- Pour in the batter straight away. It should sizzle at the edge.
- Bake the cornbread on the middle shelf for 20 to 22 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean.
- Leave it to rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then cut it into wedges.
Gluten-free / lactose-free version
The cornbread becomes gluten-free if you replace the 100 g wheat flour with another 100 g cornmeal or a gluten-free flour blend. Corn itself contains no gluten, but check the label, as some mills also process wheat. With corn alone the crumb is a little more crumbly. For a lactose-free version, use lactose-free buttermilk or 250 ml lactose-free milk plus 1 tbsp lemon juice. The butter can be replaced with lactose-free butter or 50 ml oil.
Tips for vegans and vegetarians
Without lard in the pan, the recipe is vegetarian. For a vegan version, stir 250 ml soya drink with 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar and leave it to stand for 10 minutes; this replaces the buttermilk. Instead of the egg, use 1 tbsp ground linseed soaked in 3 tbsp water. Replace the butter with 50 ml rapeseed oil and grease the pan with plant-based margarine.
More tips and tricks
Do not overmix the batter, or the bread will turn tough and develop holes. The hot pan is what counts: in a cold tin there is no crust. Cornbread dries out quickly. Wrapped in foil it keeps for 2 days, in the fridge for 4 days. Toast slices of day-old cornbread briefly in a pan with butter, or crumble it into a stuffing for poultry, as is the custom in the South at Thanksgiving.
Adapting the recipe to your taste
If you like it sweeter, use 3 tbsp sugar or 2 tbsp honey. For a savoury version, fold in 60 g grated Cheddar, a finely chopped jalapeño and 2 spring onions. Adding 100 g tinned sweetcorn makes the crumb moister. Baked in a muffin tin, the batter makes small corn muffins, which need only 15 minutes.
Ingredient substitutions
Replace the buttermilk with natural yoghurt thinned with 50 ml water. If you have no bicarbonate of soda, use 3 tsp baking powder in total. Instead of butter in the pan, Americans traditionally use bacon fat. White cornmeal works just as well as yellow; the bread will simply be paler. You can leave out the sugar altogether, which is in fact the norm in the Deep South.
Drink pairing ideas
In the Southern states, cornbread is served with sweetened iced tea with lemon, known as sweet tea. Lemonade goes well too. An old Southern habit is to crumble cornbread into a glass of cold buttermilk and eat it with a spoon. With honey at breakfast, a black coffee is a good match.
Serving and presentation ideas
Set the pan on a wooden board right on the table and cut the bread into pieces there. Add a small bowl of soft butter and a little honey alongside. With a Chili con Carne, place a piece at the edge of the plate or straight into the bowl.
A bit of history
Corn was grown in the Americas long before the Europeans arrived, and many Indigenous peoples baked flatbreads and loaves from it in the ashes. The English settlers took up corn because wheat grew poorly in many areas. With baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, which became widespread in the 19th century, the light cornbread of today was born. In the South it remained the everyday bread and is eaten there with beans, greens and Southern Fried Chicken. Whether sugar belongs in it is still argued over today. Many Southern bakers leave it out, while in the North it is usually baked sweeter.
More recipe ideas
For even more ideas, discover more American recipes.
Summary: Buttermilk Skillet Cornbread
Cornbread is ready in half an hour and needs only one bowl and a hot pan. Fine cornmeal, buttermilk and brief mixing keep it light. With Baked Beans or a stew, it takes the place of bread.
