Oprah's Skinny Cornbread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between New York cornbread and southern cornbread? ›

Northern cornbread isn't very sweet and is made with fewer eggs and yellow cornmeal to achieve a crumbly texture. Southern-style cornbread can be made with white or yellow cornmeal, has a buttery finish and calls for more eggs, which produces a cakelike texture.

However, if you're in a pinch, the substitution is one teaspoon baking soda equals three teaspoons baking powder. Baking soda is also much stronger than baking powder and, by trying to provide enough leavening, you may wind up with an unpleasant metallic, salty taste in the final baked product.

The consistency of the batter should be a bit like pancake batter—a little on the thin side. Thick batter can result in dry texture and cornbread that crumbles easily after baking. If you feel your batter is too thick, simply add a splash of extra milk.

Add in some Flour

If you use straight cornmeal, it will tend to be dryer. Adding in flour will help to keep the cornbread moist. I like to use a 50/50 ratio of cornmeal to flour in my recipe. I feel this gives a moist and fluffier texture.

The most common theory is a change in cornmeal itself. Until early in the 20th century, Southern cornmeal was made with sweeter white corn and it was water-ground. When industrial milling came along, that changed. The steel-roller mills used yellow corn that was harvested before it was ripe, so it had less sugar.

Sugar Is Optional

Whether to include sugar or not in a southern cornbread recipe is an issue for debate. We've included as an option a tablespoon which just intensifies the flavor of the cornmeal; it doesn't make the cornbread sweet. The choice is yours as to whether or not to include it.

Using too much baking soda or baking powder can really mess up a recipe, causing it to rise uncontrollably and taste terrible.

Answers: The cake will be bitter as heating baking soda forms sodium carbonate which results in this bitter taste. By the addition of an edible weak acid such as tartaric acid will convert baking soda into baking powder. The role of tartaric acid is to make the cake fluffy.

Can I Use Baking Powder Instead of Yeast? Let's get straight to the point. Don't use those two things interchangeably unless you don't want your baking to turn out as intended. Both these ingredients are included in different types of recipes for good reasons.

Let the batter sit before baking.

We found that if you leave the batter to sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before baking it, the cornmeal has some extra time to absorb flavor from the other ingredients and the leaveners (baking powder and baking soda) get a head start.

Should cornbread batter sit before baking? ›

LET the batter sit for 15-20 minutes before baking. This allows the baking powder to activate and incorporate more air.

Adding about 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of extra butter or vegetable oil can increase the moistness of your cornbread. You can do this even if your recipe doesn't call for butter or oil. Replace milk or water with creamed corn. If your recipe calls for milk or water, try replacing it with creamed corn.

For those who don't like their cornbread to be "crumbly," member Jeremy Joseph suggests adding one additional egg white and only two teaspoons of baking powder. Some members had success with substituting alternative flours for the white flour, such as Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Baking Flour.

Pour batter into prepared pan. The batter will be lumpy. Overcome the urge to mix until smooth. Overmixing can cause the corn bread to peak and have tunnels, resulting in a tough texture.

While not a professional chef, my experience with corn bread, be it packaged or made from scratch is if you over mix it, it's gonna fall! Also, let it sit for 4-5 minutes after gently scraping it into the pan and let the ingredients start their magic reactions. No peeking while baking!! That can make it fall too.

Over time, people started adding more ingredients to the corn pone, including eggs, buttermilk, baking soda/powder, and even wheat flour. Despite these changes, two things have remained relatively constant: Southern cornbread has always been made in a cast-iron skillet, and it has always included little to no sugar.

There are some basic differences between Southern corn-bread and what many people call "Yankee" cornbread. Southern cornbread, besides being made from white corn meal, has very little sugar in it - between a teaspoon and a tablespoon. And it is made with buttermilk.

Hot water cornbread

This type of cornbread is often known as "hot water" or "scald meal" cornbread and is unique to the American South.

In a large bowl mix together the corn meal, flour, salt, and baking powder. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs, butter, and buttermilk. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until well blended. Heat a dry 12 inch cast iron skillet over high heat for 2 minutes.