Dear Home Ec 101,
Do you have a good cornbread recipe or tips on baking cornbread? I
generally use a corn meal mix and it always comes out too dry and
“crummy”. I like for the outside to be crisp but for the inside to be
soft and to stay together instead of falling apart when slicing or
buttering it.
Signed,
~Feelin’ Crummy
Heather says:
Excellent timing. I needed to bake a couple batches for my cornbread and andouille sausage dressing. This is a plain rather than a sweet cornbread and holds together nicely.
Basic Cornbread
- 1/2 TBSP Butter or bacon grease (for your 9×13 pan)
- 8 TBSP (1 stick) Butter
- 4 large eggs
- 3 cups buttermilk
- 3 cups yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 TBSP + 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 TBSP sugar
- 2 tsps salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
Preheat the oven to 375 F. (I put the butter in a heatproof cup – not plastic!- and let the oven melt it while I combine the dry ingredients).
Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Stir with a fork until thoroughly mixed.
In another bowl briefly mix the eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter. Whisk to mix.
Place your 9 x 13 baking dish in the oven with the 1/2 TBSP butter or bacon grease.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined.
Remove the pan from the oven when the butter has melted and tilt the pan to coat the bottom.
Place the pan on a heatproof surface (it just came out of the oven) and pour the batter into the very center. The batter will push the grease to the edges and prevent sticking.
Bake at 375 for 30 – 40 minutes. The top will be golden and the edges will pull away from the sides of the pan. Set on a baking rack to cool for five minutes before cutting and serving.
Enjoy!
Submit your question by sending an email to helpme@home-ec101.com
This cornbread is plain. It would take much more than 1 TBSP of sugar to impart a sweet flavor. One TBSP in 4 cups of dry ingredients doesn’t have much impact.
Excellent! Thanks so much!!
I know you like your cornbread sweetened but can the sugar be left out?
I have a smaller recipe and I like to bake it in my iron skillet. Also, when I saw buttermilk in the recipe, it jogged my memory to suggest keeping buttermilk powder on hand. It’s in my grocery store with the other dried/canned milk and it has to be refrigerated after opening, but keeps forever. Well, practically!
Also, I think my recipe is very similar to Heather’s, and I’m able to use whole wheat flour in mine and it’s still moist, not dry and crumbly. It is probably a bit heavier, though.
I am not ashamed to admit to using and loving Jiffy Mix Cornbread Mix. An old trick my dad taught me to sweeten and soften the bread is to double the egg and double the milk and add 1 TBS of sugar. To make it really sweet, mix sugar & cinnamon and coat the pan before you add the batter.
Also, let the batter “rest” about 5 minutes before pouring into the baking dish. This helps to soften the bread.
My cornbread is easy, super moist, and super crunchy and crip on the outside… a few must have’s to make it are 1) an iron skillet and 2) buttermilk, not sweet milk..as my grandmother calls it. My problem with giving this recipe out is it’s not really a measured recipe. I just add until I know it’s right, but here goes a “guestimate” at the amouts.
2 cups white self rising cornmeal (I like martha white’s for this)
2 eggs
*2 cups buttermilk
2-3 tbsp oil (don’t use EVVO, it adds that olive flavor.. use vegetable oil or butter) You want to coat the pan plus pool a little on the entire surface of the pan. You want your batter to sizzle in the oil when it hits it for the crisp outside of the bread.
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place oil in seasoned iron skillet. Let skillet heat for about 5-8 minutes. It is very important to the bread coming out good for the oil to be super hot when you pour the batter in the pan. Mix ingredients in bowl right before you plan to pour it in. It gets too thick if it sits out for long before baking. Pour semi-thin batter into pan and let cook for 30-45 mins or util the top is golden.
* the milk is approximate. It may take more. You want it to be thin, not thick. You should be able to place a spoon in it and pour it out of the spoon.
For variation, mexican cornbread can be made with this recipe by simply adding canned corn, jalopenos, and cheese right in. It’s YUMMY!!