Cornbread - Sweet or Not?

I usually just use the cornbread recipe in my cookbook, and it's not bad, but the other day I went searching online for a 'buttermilk' cornbread recipe, because I had some soured milk I wanted to use.  I used some for waffles, and I needed a recipe to use the rest.

I found this recipe - I used a bit less sugar and used whole wheat flour, also didn't follow the original directions, because this made more sense to me.

Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (or soured milk)
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Place butter in 9 or 10-inch cast iron skillet and put the skillet into the oven.  Preheat oven, with skillet, to 375°
2. In medium bowl, lightly beat eggs; stir in sugar and buttermilk
3. Measure cornmeal, flour, baking soda, and salt into bowl; Using measuring spoon, lightly mix dry ingredients together without mixing them into the liquid ingredients, then mix the dry ingredients into the liquid until well blended
4. Remove skillet from oven and mix melted butter into batter
5. Pour batter into the hot buttered skillet; bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

My husband said he liked this cornbread better than the usual cornbread, so I definitely need to keep this recipe.

Tonight I thought I'd try something a bit different and made this Southern Cornbread recipe.

Southern Cornbread

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbsp butter
• 1 egg (optional)
• 1-1/4 cups buttermilk
• 2 cups cornmeal OR 1 1/2 cups cornmeal and 1/2 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tbsp sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Place butter in 9 or 10-inch cast iron skillet and put the skillet into the oven.  Preheat oven, with skillet, to 400°
2. In medium bowl, lightly beat egg; stir in buttermilk
3. Measure cornmeal, flour, baking soda, salt and sugar into bowl; Using measuring spoon, lightly mix dry ingredients together without mixing them into the liquid ingredients, then mix the dry ingredients into the liquid until well blended
4. Remove skillet from oven and mix melted butter into batter
5. Pour batter into the hot buttered skillet; bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Let the bread rest for 10-30 minutes in the skillet before cutting it into wedges and serving

I used 1-1/2 cups cornmeal and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.  I also used the egg and the 2 Tablespoons sugar.  I liked it, especially in my soup.  It is definitely not sweet, so I'm sure my husband will still prefer the other recipe.  It's also quite crumbly - good when you're putting it in soup, but not so great if you just want to eat cornbread with butter.  Now, cornbread with butter and molasses that you eat with a fork - it works quite well for that.

How do you like your cornbread?  Sweet or not?

Related articles

• Pumpkin Cornbread or Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins
• Bona Fide Black Skillet Cornbread