Hoecakes - Recipes from the White House

2 cups stone-ground white (or yellow) cornmeal

1 ½-2 cups lukewarm water

1 (¼ ounce) package active dry yeast

½ teaspoon salt

1 large egg

Milk vegetable oil, for greasing griddle

Honey for serving (optional)

Butter, for serving (optional)

The night before you plan to eat the corn cakes, combine 1 cup of the cornmeal, 1 ½ cups of the lukewarm water, and the yeast in a medium size nonreactive bowl. Whisk well, the mixture will be thin. Cover bowl tightly and let sit overnight in a warm place.

The next morning, whisk in the remaining 1 cup cornmeal, salt and one egg. Recover in the bowl, let stand 15-20 minutes (allowing the just added cornmeal to absorb some of the liquid and soften a little bit).

Check the consistency, it should be close to a thin pancake batter; not really liquid and not as thick as heavy cream. If you need to, add a little more lukewarm water to achieve this.

Heat a cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium-high heat. Oil lightly with a paper towel dipped in oil, or spray nonstick cooking spray.

Stir batter well, using a ladle, pour 3-4 thin, 3 inch pancakes into the hot skillet. Batter will spread out fairly thin; if it doesn’t sizzle a little as you pour it, skillet isn’t hot enough. If it sizzles a lot, you may need to reduce heat.

Now watch closely. Almost immediately you will see little bubbles appear throughout. When the top surface is completely dry and edges are beginning to curl, flip one cake. It should be golden brown and nicely speckled. Cook about 1 minutes for the first side and 30 seconds on the second side. Repeat with remaining cakes and batter. (Making  sure to stir batter occasionally so it doesn’t separate.)