# Why did my corn bread come out flat as a pancake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309 "2011-12-15T16:31:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BeaMyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/21 "2011-12-16T11:00:01Z")
I found it’s pretty hard to screw up cornbread out of a box. How about the eggs? I found the more eggs the fluffier it is. I always put in at least one more than the recipe or box requires ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/22 "2011-12-16T14:00:34Z")
I’m a corn bread newbie since it’s not very common here in the great white north. I’ve been playing around with soaking the corn meal in milk prior to mixing as it makes it fluffier and a little more cake like. Is that common down south or would it get me funny looks and mutterings of “that boy ain’t right”… However I do use a cast iron skillet so that should get me some cred, right? Also my cornbread never rises much either. I’ll try some of the advice here. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/23 "2011-12-16T14:17:19Z")
> [@Anonymous\_Coward](#): > > I’m a corn bread newbie since it’s not very common here in the great white north. **I’ve been playing around with soaking the corn meal in milk prior to mixing** as it makes it fluffier and a little more cake like. Is that common down south or would it get me funny looks and mutterings of “that boy ain’t right”… However I do use a cast iron skillet so that should get me some cred, right? > \*\* > Also my cornbread never rises much either.\*\* I’ll try some of the advice here. Probably because you are soaking the cornmeal in milk beforehand. 🙂 All that bubbly goodness that makes cornbread rise is liable to bubble right out during that process. Eggs are what makes cornbread moist. Use them if you haven’t been. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/24 "2011-12-16T14:37:28Z")
It is not supposed to be fluffy or cakelike. It is supposed to be _cornbread_. And it is DEFINITELY not supposed to be sweet, just to cut you off at the pass there. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/25 "2011-12-16T15:54:09Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Seriously, I had no idea people bought cornbread mix. It’s soooo easy to make from scratch, and then you have cornmeal around for stuff like dusting your pizza stone. Just out of curiosity, do you buy pancake mix? You probably don’t, but pancakes are just like cornbread, in that people have been somehow convinced that they can’t make it without a mix, when making them from scratch is almost just as easy, requiring almost the same amount of ingredients and work. People like mixes because everything’s already in the right proportions and amounts, they just need to measure it. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/26 "2011-12-16T16:23:26Z")
Of course I don’t buy pancake mix. I have flour and salt and leaveners. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/27 "2011-12-16T18:30:27Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Of course I don’t buy pancake mix. I have flour and salt and leaveners. Yeah, it’s always perplexed me a little bit. I mean, pancakes from scratch are flour + eggs + milk + salt +leavener (and optional butter/shortening/oil and/or sugar). Pancakes from the box are mix + eggs + milk. There’s really not that much more work involved in making them from scatch, other than having baking powder and salt around. It’s not like pancake mix is “just add water.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/28 "2011-12-16T19:35:22Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, it’s always perplexed me a little bit. I mean, pancakes from scratch are flour + eggs + milk + salt +leavener (and optional butter/shortening/oil and/or sugar). Pancakes from the box are mix + eggs + milk. There’s really not that much more work involved in making them from scatch, other than having baking powder and salt around. It’s not like pancake mix is “just add water.” Well some are. I keep little plastic bottles of Bisquick pancake mix around. You just add water to the bottle, shake, and pour out pancake batter. They’re pretty ordinary pancakes, but you can wake up and make breakfast in a hurry. But white flour pancakes are pretty dull anyway. When my kids were still around we made pancakes every Sunday morning and tried out every variation, buckwheat, wholewheat, cornmeal, matzo meal, potatoes, yeast raised, egg white types, and then there’s all the things you can add, fruit, candy, bacon, nuts, and so on. Of course there is a huge market for pancake mixes for people who don’t regularly keep flour+eggs+milk+salt+leavener around. People cook less and less and don’t tend to keep basic ingredients available, or even have a measuring cup around. Our grocery sells pre-made microwave pancakes. The people buying those probably consider using the mixes as ‘made from scratch’. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/29 "2011-12-16T19:48:23Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Well some are. I keep little plastic bottles of Bisquick pancake mix around. You just add water to the bottle, shake, and pour out pancake batter. OK, that makes more sense to me. But the type I was most used to until I discovered that it’s really just flour and baking powder is the type where you need to add eggs and milk anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/30 "2011-12-16T19:48:24Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > It is not supposed to be fluffy or cakelike. It is supposed to be _cornbread_. **And it is DEFINITELY not supposed to be sweet,** just to cut you off at the pass there. Hey! Easy now. Thems fight’n words! 🙂 In case anybody is wondering; I used a preheated cast iron skillet, threw in a pinch of BP and mixed it way less. (BTW, NOT mixing it until all the lumps were out was very hard on my OCD.) I had much better results. Thanks for your help guys. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/31 "2011-12-16T20:10:51Z")
Agreed, cornbread needs a little sweetness. It’s a Southern tradition. Not cake or candy sweet. Just a little sweet. Same way that I like ice tea. A touch of sweetness please. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/32 "2011-12-16T20:13:42Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Agreed, cornbread needs a little sweetness. It’s a Southern tradition. I thought sugar, at least in the case of cornbread (as opposed to iced tea), was a Yankee thing. Do I have it backwards? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/33 "2011-12-16T20:20:11Z")
No, you don’t. Cornbread shouldn’t have sugar in it. Now, the cornmeal does have a _corn_ taste, which is a teeny bit sweet, but sugar is an abomination. I don’t know what the hell they’re doing down in Arkansas. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/34 "2011-12-16T20:42:19Z")
Not sugar, _molasses_. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/35 "2011-12-16T20:53:31Z")
Sugar (or syrup) in cornbread is an abomination unto Martha White. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/36 "2011-12-16T23:27:50Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Sugar (or syrup) in cornbread is an abomination unto Martha White. And this attitude is why I use storebought cornbread. “Did you put any sugar in it?” No, I did not. “I just don’t know why it’s so much richer than mine.” You don’t say? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/37 "2011-12-17T00:41:53Z")
No, YOUR cornbread is supposed to be unsweetened. MY cornbread demands it. Feel free to not have any. (I will never understand this attitude of, “That’s not how I do something, therefore it’s wrong.” One of my great joys is learning how other people do things that I do so that I can improve my own techniques and learn variations that will widen my knowledge base.) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309/38 "2012-04-01T21:08:01Z")
Corn Zombie [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-my-corn-bread-come-out-flat-as-a-pancake/606309.md?page=1)