Or, I ought to say, “A-Cornbread”.
This isn’t a yeast-leavened bread and is not suitable for sandwiches or toast. It is very similar to a basic cornbread recipe which begins as a batter, bakes up in the oven, and is served in crumbly squares fresh out of the pan. Yup, just like regular old cornbread.
That is, except for the fact that is is more than 50% acorn flour made from local wild-grown acorns and processed in my kitchen. So there’s that.
If you haven’t read yesterday’s post about processing acorns into meal or flour, you should do so now. Really, go on. Do it. THEN you can make this.
Acorn Bread
makes one 9×9″ pan
dry:
1 1/4c coarse-ground acorn flour
1 c whole wheat flour (I use bread flour here, but regular whole wheat flour would be fine)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
wet:
1 large egg
1 c milk (I use 1%, anything would be fine provided it’s not TOO fatty – cream would be overkill)
1/4 c evaporated cane juice (regular sugar is fine, too. Honey might be nice, but you’d have to decrease the milk in the recipe to compensate for the added liquid)
1/3 c sunflower (or other vegetable) oil
Combine wet ingredients in a large bowl until fully incorporated. Add dry ingredients and mix until smooth (a rubber spatula works very well for this).
Pour the batter into a greased 9″ x 9″ pan (I use my pyrex casserole dish, but any sheet pan will do provided the dimensions are basically the same). Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until the acorn bread is spongy and light and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The bread will roughly double in size during the baking process.
Allow the bread to cool slightly before serving, but it is never better than when it is still warm.
Serve the acorn bread either plain (it is deliciously moist, nutty, and sweet – it doesn’t need any extra frills or sauces), as an accompaniment to a chili or stew, or simply with a small pat of butter.
If you have leftovers (you won’t; believe me – it’s that good), but if you do (you won’t), you can use them to make a delicious cornbread stuffing…maybe even in a stuffed zucchini or acorn squash.
Yum!!
Hello,
I think, I will try with honey.
Okay, now I am very very determined to cook with acorn flour! My oak tree is not dropping ripe acorns though, but green ones w/ grubs in 'em. Sigh…
I might have to go foraging up around Mt. Diablo.
We have so many oak trees here, and lately have noticed quite a few acorns dropping all over the path to the garden. I really should try making something like this with acorn flour, assuming of course I can compete with the squirrels for the acorns here! I'm sure they won't mind if I take just a few 😛
Last weekend we were down in Gilroy/Hollister and picked about 10 lbs of Valley Oak acorns in an hour. It'll take us watching a couple of movies (while shucking them) to get them ready for processing, but the acorns are large and seem pretty good – not too many bugs or rotten parts.
I'm so excited it's fall!
I'm so glad we got to eat some! It was freakishly delicious.
Give a girl a piece of acorn bread and she'll…dream about it all week? I'm so glad I got to try some of this last weekend (followed by a super sweet singing session)! Awesome and valuable post. Thanks, Jessa!