I asked ChatGPT to give me the world’s best cornbread recipe. Here is what it gave me. (Note: the feature image is AI generated).
Classic Cornbread
Ingredients
- 1 C cornmeal
- 1 C all-purpose flour
- 1/4 C granulated sugar (see notes)
- 1 T baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 C buttermilk
- 1/3 C unsalted butter melted
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C) and grease an 8-inch square baking dish or a similar-sized ovenproof skillet.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.
- In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, melted unsalted butter, and eggs.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Be careful not to overmix; a few lumps are okay.
- Pour the cornbread batter into the greased baking dish or skillet.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes before cutting into squares or wedges.
Review of ChatGPT’s Classic Cornbread Recipe.
I have a large family, so when I doubled the recipe. I probably didn’t need to do that because it made enough for dinner and I added some cornbread to the kids’ lunches the next day. I also added 1/2 a can of corn. My mom used to do that and I liked it, so I do it too.
It needs to be sweeter
Everyone thought that the cornbread was not that sweet. And by “everyone,” I mean even my wife. If you know my wife, you would know that if she says something could be a little sweeter, that’s a big deal. She doesn’t even add sweetener to her oatmeal. So I asked ChatGPT, “Can you make the cornbread a little sweeter?”
It suggested that I increase the sugar from 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup.
Adding more sugar seems to be in line with other recipes I see, such as the cornbread recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction (1/3 C packed brown sugar) or from Bless this Mess (2/3 C). If I made this again, I would probably add 1/3 C sugar and 1/3 C packed brown sugar. But that might be an overreaction.
It had a somewhat rubbery texture
I do quite a bit of baking. It seems most bread recipes (like our go-to Sunday Morning Muffin Cake) only require one egg if you use a square dish. I wondered if adding two eggs was too much.
According to Tasting Table, adding too many eggs results in the exact type of rubbery texture we experienced with ChatGPT’s cornbread recipe.
Given this, I think this recipe would be better served by adding only one egg.
Since I doubled the recipe, I added four eggs. Next time, I would only do two eggs.
How to replace buttermilk (because who has it on hand?)
To substitute for buttermilk, add 1 T of vinegar to each cup of milk. To do that, add the tablespoon of vinegar to the measuring cup. Then top off the measuring cup with regular milk.
Add this to a small bowl and gently stir it around to get a good mix.
Let the vinegar and milk mixture rest for about 5 minutes. It will start to curdle (i.e. get a little chunky).
