Sour Cream Is The Secret To Incredibly Moist Cornbread

A little sweet and a little savory, traditional cornbread is the perfect comfort food side dish. Its rich sweetness can cut through the heat of chili, complement some tangy barbecue, or pair perfectly with a hearty soup or roast chicken. However, when you've got a comforting menu planned out — and you're ready to dig in — there's nothing more disappointing than finding out your cornbread came out dry and crumbly. 

Luckily, there's an easy way to ensure that the final dish is moist and soft every time — and it's all about the dairy you choose. Many cornbread recipes will call for milk, but sour cream is one ingredient that will seriously upgrade your cornbread. In terms of flavor, sour cream adds some natural tartness and offers a bit of complexity to the sweetness of the cornbread. That said, substituting sour cream is about more than just taste; this ingredient creates a chemical reaction that results in an incredibly moist bake.

Sour cream is made by fermenting high-pasteurized cream with lactic acid-producing bacteria; this lactic acid does most of the moisturizing work in baking. The lactic acid in sour cream reacts with gluten strands — which create the dough's structure — by breaking them down and softening them. This chemical reaction and the high fat content of sour cream help make cornbread incredibly moist and tender.

Cornbread is also a quick bread, which means that it uses a leavening agent like baking soda rather than yeast and can be baked immediately without proofing time. Alkaline baking soda needs an acidic ingredient to create carbon dioxide, which lightens the cornbread and causes it to rise. Sour cream's high acidity activates the baking soda to kickstart this leavening.

You might also see buttermilk suggested as a dairy tip for cornbread because it contains the same lactic acid needed for getting a moist bake. Even though the acidic qualities exist to help moisten, sour cream's thicker texture and fatty richness tend to make the batter less runny and the cornbread creamier.

Sour cream's moisturizing powers will up your cornbread game, but it doesn't have to stop at the cast iron skillet. Sour cream will quickly become a secret ingredient for all of your baking projects. Use it as a substitution for other dairy products, like whole milk, to give cakes, cheesecakes, and similar desserts a more tangy flavor and moister texture. In many cases, the substitution will be an easy 1-to-1 ratio, so with little effort, you'll be on your way to perfecting your favorite baked goods. 

Sour cream doesn't even always need to be a dairy substitute or used for its lactic acid. It's the secret ingredient for a better pie crust: Use some full-fat sour cream instead of water to prevent excess gluten development as you roll out the dough. No matter what you plan to put in the oven, if baking is a regular pastime, we recommend keeping your refrigerator well-stocked with sour cream.