Food - Drink
Why You May Want To Avoid Baking Cornbread In A Pyrex Dish
By LENA BECK
Pyrex containers are super useful for both baking and storing foods, but they're not the best choice for traditional cornbread, which is meant to have a crispy, crunchy exterior.
Glass baking dishes like Pyrex aren't good enough at browning to give southern cornbread a crisp, caramelized crust. The resulting bread will be soft and pillowy throughout.
Glass is an insulator, but it’s not a great conductor of heat. It’s slow to warm up, and a super hot dish is needed to form cornbread's signature crust while achieving an even bake.
While a Pyrex dish can be preheated, it’s still not well-suited for high-temperature baking, and it can break when exposed to sudden temperature changes in a hot oven.
Glass dishes still work well for casseroles and soft baked goods like zucchini bread. For cornbread, use a cast iron pan or other vessel that can hold onto very high heat.