I've had my corn bread recipe since I was a newly-wed (49 1/2 years & counting to 50 years), in the 1960's. I think it was in a Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. I cut it out.
Perfect Corn Bread
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup shortening (melted)
Sift flour with sugar, baking powder and salt; stir in cornmeal. Add eggs, milk and shortening. Beat until just smooth (do not overbeat). Pour into a greased iron skillet (I melt the shortening in a #8 iron skillet as the oven warms, then pour nearly all the shortening into the mix). Bake at 425* until done, 20-25 minutes. I put butter/margarine on it as soon as I take it out of the oven so that it melts into the cornbread.
It looks and tastes just like the German moms made at our school cafeteria in the 1950's, so it is good to us. I didn't know that yellow cornmeal and sugar were wrong. I do remember my mom breaking up a piece of cornbread and putting it into her buttermilk for a nighttime treat. Thanks for the memory!
Recently, as I hurried to make it, I forgot the sugar. It did not rise or brown. We tasted a small bit, didn't like it, so I had to make another pan full to take. Needless to say, it was steaming hot as we took it to a winter lunch with our daughter.