Anaja's & Cierrah's Astonishing Crumbly Cornbread

For our project we decided to look into the science of cornbread and the effect of temperature on cornbread while it cooks. We made cornbread before, separately, but never knew what made the bread fluffy.

The Science of Cornbread

In liquid ingredients, when the baking powder dissolves the baking soda reacts with two other important acids(sodium aluminum sulfate and mono-calcium phosphate). A product of this chemical is carbon dioxide gas, which is also the leavening for the baked product. While the batter is baking, the carbon dioxide produced by the baking powder causes these bubbles to form. Baking soda reacts with those acids to make carbon dioxide, eventually leading to helping the dough rise. Baking powder is baking soda but with a slight acidic twist. With that additional acidic salt, baking powder is able to release carbon dioxide twice during this process. Once when it hits the water, and again when it reaches a certain temperature. The temperature plays a big part in this process. The carbon dioxide is what makes the “cake” fluffy and light. Heat is that push you need to ensure this, it helps the baking powder produce those bubbles or air spaces of carbon dioxide. They're the source of its texture, appearance, and taste. Without a reasonable amount of heat, all three of those things would be affected. Which is why the temperature has so much of an impact.

Experiment and Results

In this experiment the temperature that the cornbread cooked at was the independent variable, everything else like the ingredients, time and etc stayed the same.

Recipe and Result

1. Preheat oven first trial (250 degrees) second trial(400 degrees) third trial(450 degrees)
2. Put cupcake cups in muffin pan
3. Pour cornbread mix in nice size bowl
4. Add 1 egg
5. Add ⅓ cup of milk
6. Stir until mixed together
7. Let batter rest

Trial One- 250 degrees In this trial the corn bread batter didn't really cook all the way. It was light and raw, wasn't edible at all. It didn't have the smell of well done corn bread, of the butter inside of it.

Trial Two- 400 degrees

In this trial the cornbread was well cooked because 400 degrees is the time that the direction prefer the reader to use. The corn bread was golden brown, perfectly cooked corn bread. Trial Three- 450 degrees In this trial the cornbread was cooked well but was dark around the edges, making it hard around the edges. But in the inside it was moist and warm. To summarize, there were three major differences to the cornbread based on the temperature. First, the cornbread was super light(color) and raw, it didn't seem edible. With rising the temperature, it forms fully. Baking powder is allowed to release carbon dioxide twice, once when it hits the water and once when it reaches a certain temperature. The carbon dioxide is what makes the texture, taste, and appearance correct. Next, the temperature was set to the correct temperature and it had the correct texture, taste, and appearance. This was all due to the carbon dioxide being able to be released twice. Lastly, the outside of the cupcake was burnt when risen to 450 degrees. This affected the appearance, taste, and texture of the temperature. The carbon dioxide is what held the most control in this experiment.