Corn Pone (Old-Fashion Southern Fried Cornmeal Bread Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

What is a cornbread pone? ›

The term "pone" most likely entered English from Native American language terms like apan, oppone or supawn, meaning baked, possibly related to earlier ash cakes baked in hot coals. A "corn pone" is usually a small round loaf of cornbread, about the size of a biscuit, traditionally baked in a round cast iron skillet.

Soaking the cornmeal in buttermilk for a few hours, or even overnight, tenderizes the large grains of cornmeal, making the bread more moist and tender. This step is optional, however, and the bread is still delicious without the soaking step.

The most common theory is a change in cornmeal itself. Until early in the 20th century, Southern cornmeal was made with sweeter white corn and it was water-ground. When industrial milling came along, that changed. The steel-roller mills used yellow corn that was harvested before it was ripe, so it had less sugar.

She notes that Northern cornbread is sweeter, lighter, and more cake-like than Southern cornbread. Not surprisingly, it includes sugar (or molasses, in the earlier centuries), unlike traditional Southern cornbread.

The thing that distinguishes Southern cornbread from, say Yankee cornbread, or any other cornbread one is likely to eat outside of the southern states, is that it is savory, not sweet, and it is made mostly with cornmeal.

corn-pone. [ kawrn-pohn ] show ipa. adjective. of or characteristic of an unsophisticated rural person, especially from the South: a corn-pone accent.

Can I substitute water for milk in cornbread mix? Yes, you can, but it may result in a less rich flavor. If you're out of milk, try using cream or half-and-half, evaporated or powdered milk, or even plain yogurt. If you have dietary restrictions, try soy milk or oat milk.

Yellow cornmeal is the most common, but if you have white cornmeal, that's also fine to use. Can I Bake This in a Skillet? Baking cornbread in a skillet gives it an even heartier, crunchier crust. Bake this in a 9- or 10-inch oven-safe greased skillet at the same temperature for the same amount of time.

Cornmeal gives cornbread its classic color and flavor, but too much can make your bread crumbly. Try replacing a little bit of cornmeal with flour. The specific measurements will depend on how much cornmeal and flour is in your recipe, but you should try to have more flour than cornmeal in your batter.

Cornbread is quite low in fiber, providing only one to two grams per serving. While yellow cornmeal is a whole grain with around 6 grams of fiber per cup, cornbread is often made of a mixture of cornmeal and refined flour, making each serving a low-fiber option.

What makes cornbread unhealthy? ›

Although you can enjoy cornbread in moderation as part of a balanced diet, there are a few downsides to consider. First, each serving of cornbread made from a commercial mix using refined flour contains a high number of carbs — around 33 grams per slice — and just 2 grams of fiber ( 2 ).

Cornbread can help you control your blood sugar levels.

Cornbread is made with whole grain cornmeal, making it an excellent choice for people trying to control their blood sugar levels as eating whole grains has been linked to better blood sugar control.

Among them was a version of Indian bread made of cornmeal, salt and water called pone or corn pone. The name came from the Algonquin word apan, meaning "baked." The Narragansett word for cornbread, nokechick, became no-cake and then hoe-cake.

“Pone” (from the Algonquin apan), as encountered and adapted by Africans and Europeans in the early 1600s in the Chesapeake Bay country, designated bread baked by American Indians. Over time and habit, it acquired more specific reference to cornbread of the American South.

Jiffy cornbread mix, in case you really are standing in the baking aisle wondering, is wheat flour mixed with some cornmeal, a lot of sugar, lard, baking soda, and a handful of preservatives. (Note that because of the wheat flour, it's not gluten-free.) Use it to make creamy, cheesy Corn Pudding.

Pone bread is a Southern-style bread that is either baked or fried. This recipe uses unsweetened cornmeal that is baked in a cast-iron skillet.

And broadly speaking, corn-pone stands for self-approval. Self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of other people. The result is conformity.

The simplest are hoecakes, a mixture of cornmeal, water, and salt, so named because they were originally baked on the flat of a hoe over a wood fire. Johnnycakes and corn pone are somewhat thicker cakes that may have added ingredients such as fat or wheat flour.

Cherokee corn pones, johnny cakes, batter cake, ash cake, journey cakes, hoe cake, mush bread... so many names. This corn pone is a traditional Native American dish, and would have been available in most of the Americas in precontact colonial times, as corn was very widely spread.