Braai Corn Bread in a Dutch Oven
Creamed corn cornbread baked over coals, with powdered egg and oil standing in for the fridge.
- calories
- 390
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 71
- protein
- 8 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 55 min
- water
- 90 ml cold
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Self-raising flour | 2 cups | or 2 cups plain flour plus 1 tbsp baking powder |
|---|---|---|
| Tinned creamed sweetcorn | 1 can (about 14 oz) | do not drain it |
| Powdered whole egg | 3 tbsp | reconstituted, stands in for 2 eggs |
| Water | 6 tbsp | for the egg powder |
| Sugar | 2 tbsp | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Cooking oil | 1/4 cup | plus a little to grease the pot |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down. You want coals, not flame.
- Whisk the egg powder into 6 tbsp of cold water and let it sit two minutes.
- Stir the flour, sugar, and salt together in the pot's lid or a bowl.
- Add the creamed corn, the reconstituted egg, and the oil. Stir until the dry flour disappears and then stop. Lumps are fine; overworked batter bakes dense.
- Grease the dutch oven, scrape the batter in, and level it.
- Put the lid on. Set the oven on a thin bed of coals and pile more coals on the lid, roughly twice as many on top as underneath. You are aiming for around 350F.
- Bake 45 minutes without lifting the lid more than once. Rotate the pot a quarter turn every ten minutes to even out hot spots.
- Test with a skewer or a clean twig through the middle. Clean means done. Wet means another ten minutes.
- Let it sit five minutes before cutting or it tears.
Mealie bread is a braai side from South Africa, and the version that works over a fire is the one built around a tin of creamed corn. The corn is the liquid, the starch, and the sweetness all at once, which is why this holds together without milk or buttermilk. That matters in camp: nothing here needs a cooler.
The two ways to ruin it are overmixing and direct heat. Stir past the point where the flour vanishes and the gluten tightens into something rubbery. Set the pot over live flame and the bottom is charcoal while the middle is still batter. Coals under, more coals on the lid, quarter turns, and a skewer test at 45 minutes.
Dried whole egg replaces the two fresh eggs and oil replaces the butter. Both are straight swaps and neither changes the crumb much.
Packing
Combine flour, sugar, salt, and egg powder in one bag at home so camp is two wet additions and a stir. The can rides on the bottom of the food bin. Oil goes in a screw-top bottle inside a second bag.
Variations
- A cup of shelf-stable grated hard cheese stirred in makes it a meal instead of a side.
- Chopped dried chile or a spoon of chili powder cuts the sweetness.
- No dutch oven: bake it in a foil pan inside a covered kettle grill over indirect heat, same time and temperature.
https://braaiculture.com/mealie-bread-recipe