Yield: 8 wedges from one 10-inch skillet

1 Tsp Baking Soda in Grams: Why Sources Differ

One teaspoon of baking soda is 4.6 g, 4.8 g or 6 g depending on the source. Here is why, the sodium per spoon, and a buttermilk skillet cornbread written in grams.

Prep Time10 minutes

Cook Time20 minutes

Total Time30 minutes

Ingredients

Dry ingredients

• 1 cup (150 g) yellow cornmeal, 150 g; weigh it, grind size changes the volume
• 1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour, 125 g
• 1 tablespoon (12 g) sugar, 12 g
• 1/2 tsp (2.3 g) baking soda, food-grade and aluminum-free, 2.3 g, our math from 4.6 g per teaspoon; level spoon
• 1/2 tsp (3 g) table salt, about 3 g, standard conversion

Wet ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups (305 g) buttermilk, 305 g; the acid that reacts with the soda
• 1 large egg, about 50 g, typical reference weight
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, 43 g, for the batter

For the skillet

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, 14 g, melted in the hot skillet

Instructions

Heat the skillet

1. Preheat the oven and skillet. Put the skillet in the oven and heat the oven to 425 degrees F (our setting). Add the 1 tablespoon of skillet butter for the last few minutes so it melts and coats the pan.

Mix and bake

1. Whisk the dry ingredients. Weigh the cornmeal, flour and sugar into a bowl. Add the level 1/2 tsp of baking soda and the salt, then whisk well so the soda is spread evenly through the dry mix.
2. Whisk the wet ingredients. Whisk the buttermilk, the egg and the 3 tablespoons of melted butter together until smooth.
3. Combine just until mixed. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir just until no dry cornmeal shows. The soda starts making gas on contact with the buttermilk, so move straight to the pan.
4. Pour into the hot skillet. Carefully pour the batter into the hot, buttered skillet. It should sizzle at the edges. Level the top with a spatula.
5. Bake and check doneness. Bake until the top is golden and a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Our estimate is about 20 minutes, but ovens and pans differ, so check doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Cool and serve

1. Cool before slicing. Let it cool in the skillet for a few minutes, then cut it into 8 wedges and serve warm.

Notes

Source for the soda weight: our working value is 4.6 g per teaspoon, a USDA-based figure. King Arthur's chart implies 6 g and the Arm & Hammer label implies 4.8 g. The table on this page shows all three.

The recipe is ours: the quantities, the times and the oven setting are our estimates, not from a source recipe. For reference only, America's Test Kitchen's Southern-style buttermilk cornbread (a different batter, 10-inch cast-iron skillet) bakes 16 to 18 minutes at 450 degrees F, and its authors advise weighing the cornmeal because grind size changes volume.

Soda dose: 1/2 teaspoon for 1 cup of flour plus 1 cup of cornmeal is 1/4 teaspoon per cup of dry mix. Arm & Hammer says recipes typically use 1/4 teaspoon of soda per cup of flour.

Nutrition values are estimates calculated from typical USDA FoodData Central values, with whole-grain yellow cornmeal, all-purpose flour, lowfat cultured buttermilk, unsalted butter (including the skillet butter), a large egg and table salt. Salt gives most of the sodium. The soda adds about 630 mg to the whole pan, our math.