1 Batter for Infinite Muffin Recipes - Sally's Baking Addiction (2024)

FAQs

What does over mixing muffin batters cause? ›

Realize that overmixing can cause muffins to be tough, bake unevenly, create elongated holes (or tunnels) and/or form peaked tops.

As muffin batter rests, the starches in the flour have more time to absorb the moisture from the eggs and liquid in the batter.

The idea here is to start the muffins in a very hot oven for just a short amount of time. This activates the baking powder and allows the muffins to shoot up in height quickly. We then turn the heat down and continue to cook for longer. This is done to avoid over-browning and overbaking.

Overmixed muffins will have peaked, smooth-textured tops and long, tunnel-shaped air pockets in the interior, and will be tough in texture. It is also essential to spoon the batter gently into the muffin cups without stirring, in order not to reduce the leavening action of the baking powder.

Overmixing the batter.

When you overmix the batter, it crushes the air bubbles and ruins the fluffy texture. → Follow this tip: To ensure a batch of light, fluffy muffins, mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until just barely combined, and no more dry flour is visible.

The best bakery-style crumb muffins start with cake flour

Cake flour is more finely ground and has less protein, which leaves the muffins with a fine, light crumb and soft texture. Using cake flour is an easy way to avoid heavy, dense muffins even if you end up stirring just a bit too much. What is this?

So let your muffin batter rest, up to 24 hours if possible. I know, that sounds like a big ask. But thinking ahead, even just making your batter the night before, means fresh-baked muffins in the morning. You'll be a hero.

Rest the Muffin Batter

The first, most hands-off way to make your muffins pop (literally) is to let the batter rest. Make the batter, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let the batter rest at room temperature for about 1 hour. If you're short on time, just 30 minutes can make a difference.

If there isn't enough egg, your batter or dough may not be able to hold its structure or could end up overly dry or dense. On the other hand, if there is too much egg, your baked goods could lose their shape due to excess liquid, or have a rubbery (or even overly cakey) texture depending on the recipe.

According to O. Corriher, the way to get a perfectly puffed up dome on your muffins is to increase your oven heat. She says that 400° should do it, no matter what the recipe says. The higher baking temperature means that the the outside edges of the muffin will set while the middle is still liquidy.

What does adding more eggs do to muffins? ›

Eggs are responsible for giving baked goods structure, which means the amount you use directly affects the resulting texture. Using too few eggs will make your desserts dense, but using too many will make them rubbery.

Use good quality flour and sugar. Don't overmix: Overmixing the batter can result in tough and dry muffins. Mix the batter until the dry ingredients are just incorporated. Use the right temperature: Preheat your oven to the correct temperature and bake the muffins in the center of the oven.

Many muffin recipes use cooking oil instead of butter. Oil, being a liquid, distributes easily in the quick-mix batter and is readily absorbed into the baked muffin, producing a light non-greasy texture. Vegetable oil is ideal because its mild flavour doesn't compete with the main flavour of the muffin.

The baker had forgotten to add baking powder. Baking powder is a mixture of baking soda (sodium hydrogencarbonate) and a mild edible acid such as tartaric acid.

If your muffin batter is too smooth, it probably means you have overmixed it. What happens if you over-mix muffin batter? Overmixed muffins will bake up dense and chewy. They may also have lots of little “tunnels” in them.

The batter will have some lumps and dry spots. If its completely smooth you've overdone it. Over mixing will make the muffins less tender and affect the rise. This batter is often over-mixed so look up a good video on “the muffin method” for mixing tips.

What are the characteristics of an over mixed muffin? Peaked top and tunnels on the inside.

Too much baking powder can cause the batter to be bitter tasting. It can also cause the batter to rise rapidly and then collapse. (i.e. The air bubbles in the batter grow too large and break causing the batter to fall.) Cakes will have a coarse, fragile crumb with a fallen center.