'Indian bread' probably reminds of chapati, roti and naan but today's post is not about flatbreads made in the Indian subcontinent. 19th century American housewives called 'Indian' every recipe that used cornmeal and the one featured below is adapted from Miss Leslie's new cookery book (1857). Domesticated by the indigenous people of Mexico 10,000 years ago, maize is the number one grain cultivated worldwide. Apart from cornmeal, it yields animal feed, biofuel as well as corn starch & corn syrup that are widely used in the food industry.
Miss Eliza Leslie from Pennsylvania, whose books sold thousands of copies, devoted an entire chapter to Indian breads, cakes and puddings. She had recipes for Indian bread or pone, Indian rye bread, Indian wheat bread, and Boston rye and Indian bread in which cornmeal is mixed with other flours as well as Egg pone, Indian mush, Indian hasty pudding, Indian meal gruel, Common hoe-cake, Common griddle cake, Plain Johnny cake, Very plain Indian dumplings, Corn meal breakfast cakes, Indian rice cakes, Pumpkin Indian cakes and Aunt Lydia's corn cake that are made with only cornmeal.
Southern corn pone bread is still a great favorite with lovers of traditional recipes. American Indians would bake it on ashes but 19th century housewives used iron pans (griddles). Miss Leslie's collection includes three recipes which are or might be labelled as 'pone':
Indian bread or pone. It's a natural yeast-leavened bread using five parts 'Indian meal' and one part wheat flour. The dough is meticulously kneaded and left to rise at three intervals, after which you shape into loaves. Miss Leslie also insisted on leavening this bread with homemade yeast, preferably using her own recipe.
Common griddle cake. This is exactly the sort of pone bread made by American Indians. It uses just cornmeal, salt and water and is baked on a griddle. Miss Leslie advertised this recipe as the plainest Indian bread. Once ready, the bread is cut into wedges that are usually split in half and filled with butter.
Egg pone. It's the luxurious version of classic pone bread, with added eggs, butter and milk. Miss Leslie suggested baking this lovely cake in a Dutch oven, using an iron pan or tin. It can be served with butter or molasses. As with the other two recipes, egg pone takes longer to cook than breads or cakes using wheat flour.
INDIAN PONE BREAD
This is a combination of all three recipes by Miss Leslie which are or might be labelled as 'pone'. To make the bread a little more filling, I used half cornmeal and half wholegrain wheat flour.
I n g r e d i e n t s
225g cornmeal
225 wholewheat flour
1tbsp baking soda
3 large eggs
100ml sunflower oil
350ml buttermilk
1tbsp molasses sugar (optional)
M e t h o d
Preheat the oven to 180C. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and the liquids in another. Combine and stir or knead very lightly. Transfer into a greased baking tin. (Using heatproof glassware as in the photo means that you'll have to start with a cold oven.) Bake for an hour or so. Leave to cool on a wire rack, then cut into slices or wedges. Accompany with molasses or butter, if liked.
V a r i a t i o n
You can make this into a sweet recipe by adding 200ml molasses, 1tbsp black rum and 1tsp vanilla essence.
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