Is it because the recipe that came with the artisanal cornmeal bag did not include all purpose flour and/or sugar? That is common for many southern cornmeal recipes. I grew up in NC and my personal favorite cornbread recipes include neither. It is an acquired/unexpected taste for many, for sure!
Where did the artisanal cornmeal come from in NC? Sounds like something I’d like to try.
I’m glad you achieved a cornbread you love. It does look delicious!
Looks great! I’ve made the cake many times - always a success (some with errors/mishaps!).
Recipe gives option of coffee or tea as the liquid. I made it once with tea, only one person, a serious tea drinker, noticed and really liked it.
Thank you, everyone! I’m relieved that I can finally bake these. Living in a small community means that there’s often not much choice when it comes to “the good stuff”. Amazon et al are great, but fresh baguette isn’t going to be happening from them any time soon.
@Lectroid your geometry is correct. I have a Simply Bread oven that I’m trying to get the hang of. I cannot say enough good things about it and it has a steam function. It’s a trial and error process right now, but things area coming along.
I do have to give kudos to the All About Baguette book. I’m learning quite a bit and will be working my way through it. I don’t know that I’d recommend it to a beginning baker, but it has helped me a lot.
Very nice! I love cornbread and have known about the Bloody Butcher variety for a while but cannot find it in bulk in this country. The only thing available are the seed packets. There’s another variety that is supposed to be an improved version called Jimmy Red that you might keep your eyes open for. Apparently, it’s even sweeter.
I just went and got the packaging. It is from Red Tail Grains in Orange County, NC. They don’t list bloody butcher as being avail at the moment unless I am misreading, but that could just mean they are out for this year. They discuss the variety on their “the-grains” page.
The cornbread recipe I used the first time is lost to the old packaging, but there is a cornbread recipe on their site, and as you said, there’s no flour in it. When I was making it the first time, the batter was incredibly runny, which is when I picked up the phone and called my friend. We added more dry ingredients until it looked better to him, but I can’t remember if we added only more cornmeal or some flour or both. I expected there to be no sugar btw. It was the consistency of the batter that worried me (and my NC friend agreed.)
Yes, I used the coffee.
That oven - wow! Awesome!
Ha! That’s the county I live in. Never seen or heard anything about these. Will try to keep my eyes open at the farmers market in case it was just me zoning out when I go by places I don’t know.
Oh yea I see they list three farmers markets on their site.
This caught my eye! Went and looked again at the site - for whatever reason, they don’t list the Chapel Hill farmers market, which makes me feel a little better about mot having seen their stuff (but not much). I can easily go to the Carrboro one.
the other bag still in my gift box is rye, which i haven’t opened yet. i’m not a bread maker, so the only way i’ve used rye so far is to make those famous rye chocolate chip cookies, and i didn’t really love them. so i gotta find another use for it.
I wonder how a bit of rye in no-knead bread would work. I have a no-knead book, maybe I will check in it.
What about “ KAVRING” the Swedish rye bread that @MunchkinRedux posted a few times. It’s a baking powder/ soda bread that she was very enthusiastic about…looked delish.
Just bookmarked it in case I suddenly become a person who bakes bread. Thanks!
The Red Tail Anise Cornmeal Biscotti sound like they might be good and they also give their recipe. Theirs’ is a version of a David Lebovitz recipe. I like that they use anise and fennel seeds which I love instead of flax, millet and unsalted nuts I am unlikely to buy. Wondering if anyone has made David’s recipe?
WHOA!! $8500!!! That is serious commitment!
I’ve seen higher-end consumer ovens with built in steam functions but that thing seems WAY past even some of those. If you’re willing to put that much $ into it, no wonder your stuff looks exquisite. You’re clearly putting in the effort!
The Kavring is excellent, as is Sarah Kieffer’s milk chocolate rye loaf from 100 Morning Treats (P. 72). The latter she calls a bread, but really it’s a cake - gently sweet, seriously chocolatey, and with a nice crumb. No yeast required. If it’s of interest but you don’t have the book, I can DM you the recipe (it’s not the same on as on the Vanilla Bean Blog).
And I am seriously committed (or perhaps, should be). Almost all of our food is made at home, so we thought we may as well get good tools. Instead of a vacation, we got this. Works for us 
My kind of reasoning
I like the idea of cornmeal biscotti a lot.
