The Muffin Method and You! How to get light and fluffy muffins.
Mmmmmm muffins.... One of the first recipes I ever learned to bake was muffins. A simple little quick bread, that comes in the perfect snack size. Now what is a quick bread you ask? Quite simply, a bread that requires neither kneading or time to rise before baking. Biscuits, muffins, cupcakes, and popovers are a few other pastries that fall in the quick bread category.
Now on to the main event! What is the Muffin Method, and why should you care? The Muffin Method is just a series of steps to ensure that your muffins turn out light and fluffy every time.
Now the basic steps are as following:
- Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
- Thoroughly whisk all wet ingredients in mixing bowl.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredient bowl. (Personally I pour 1/3 the wet mix into the dry mix at a time)
- Fold the wet mix into the dry mix using a spatula. Usually 3-4 times after each addition of the wet ingredients.
Additional tips to great muffins!
- Only fold ingredients together until just combined, lumps are ok! Do not use a hand mixer, you will cause your muffins to become a lot tougher due to the over development of gluten.
- Use room temperature ingredients to prevent the butter from seizing up when mixed into your cold milk or eggs.
- Mix your add-ins such as raisins, nuts and chocolate to the dry ingredients before adding the wet mix to prevent your delicious morsels from settling to the bottom.
- Preheat that oven! Before you just pop your muffins into the oven, make sure that it is up to temp to ensure a full and even baking process. Don't even think about opening the oven to peek at them during baking either! Just turn on the over light and look in through the glass. You can lose between 20 and 30 degrees every time you open the door.
- For easy removal of muffins from muffin tin, line your tin with paper cups or grease your muffin tray before hand. Also allowing for a 5 minute cooling period after they come out of the oven will make removal easier.