Grandma added sugar to corn bread to make the texture more tender and also to offset the tartness of the buttermilk. She told us that Southern cooks traditionally avoided using sugar when making their corn bread. If Grandma didn’t have any buttermilk on hand, she substituted soured fresh milk. She simply placed 4 teaspoons lemon juice plus enough milk to equal 1⅓ cups in a 2-cup measure and stirred. She let the mixture stand 5 minutes before using.
| 1½ | cups all-purpose flour |
| 1 | cup yellow cornmeal |
| ⅓ | cup granulated sugar |
| 2 | teaspoons baking powder |
| 1 | teaspoon salt |
| ½ | teaspoon baking soda |
| ½ | cup vegetable shortening |
| 1⅓ | cups buttermilk |
| 2 | large eggs |
1.Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease an 8½ × 4½-inch loaf pan; set aside.
2.Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in large bowl. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or 2 knives until flour mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3.Whisk buttermilk and eggs in small bowl. Make a well in center of the dry ingredients. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients; stir until mixture forms stiff batter. (Batter will be lumpy.) Spread in prepared pan; spread batter evenly, removing any air bubbles.
4.Bake loaf until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool on rack for 10 minutes more. Serve warm.