the perfect muffin!
Hi,
This is my very first post.
I am trying to make the perfect chocolate muffin - light & fluffy with an attractive dome.
So i am trying to going to a period of trial & error to find the optimal ingredients and wondered whether TFL community could assist. In short the ingredients are as follows;
100g plain flour, cocoa powder, egg, 50ml oil, 50g caster sugar, 100ml milk, 1/2 tsp baking powder, pinch cinammon and choc chips. Gas mark 200deg for 20mins.
Can someone advise whether they would change any of the above to achieve the perfect muffin. For instance, i have increased to 1 tsp baking powder. But recently tried bicarbonate soda instead which made the muffins look good.
But what switching to self-raising flour, or leaving the mixture to rest before placing in the oven?
Thanks, Jay
... in order to do its work. Right now I guess you are relying on the ingredients in this particular recipe to be acidic enough on their own to react with all of the baking soda, to produce bubbles. (I'm assuming that if your recipe is not acidic enough, that will leave baking soda un-reacted, and that if there's much of it left, your muffins will taste like baking soda.)
So consider (if necessary) bringing back the baking powder, OR adding the right amount of something acidic (sour milk, vinegar, lemon juice, whatever is both edible and acidic).
Baking powder is (in practical terms) nothing but baking soda with some edible acidic powder added.
Clarification: "Baking soda" means sodium bicarbonate with nothing added.
If there was one perfect chocolate muffin recipe, everyone would be using it already, and all the others would be long forgotten.
Not sure I’ve come across recipes for cakes, muffins that suggest adding vinegar, lemon. But I do recall comments on seeing bubbles and that happened when I used bicarbonate of soda instead of baking powder - though not much difference between the two.
Sure, when I say the perfect muffin I meant the staple ingredients to achieve a light and fluffy cake and not the perfect taste
Same bubbles but at different times. The baking powder ones bubble less at first, but more when heated. It's all the same bubbles - only the timing is different. Watching it bubble means those bubbles you see will likely burst or collapse, before baking!
Well, the muffins looked better using bos than bp. That may not be the only answer and the method of making - how much you stir the mixture I guess will also have a bearing.
As well as how quickly you can get them mixed and shoved into the oven. With plain bicarbonate, you have to work fast, because usually that reaction happens as soon as the mixture is first wet, and it doesn't last long at all.
Part of your "secret" with bicarbonate is that cocoa powder is naturally acidic. If your muffins were another flavour, the bicarbonate alone might not raise them much, or at all.
Thanks for the helpful comments
Try 1/2 tsp of Baking Soda and 1tsp of Cream of Tartar. Also replace half of the milk with Greek Yoghurt or Creme Fraiche (or a mix of both).
These changes will give you the acid you need (and probably more taste!)
When using Soda (or baking powder) work light and fast, do not over handle and do not take more that a few minutes after adding the wet ingredients.
Sounds fun!, I might have a go :)
Good tip on Greek yoghurt. Thanks,
By the way, would you need to dilute the yoghurt with water to maintain the same consistency had milk been used?
I think you're right that you would want to maintain the same over-all proportion of liquid to dry. But certain ingredients can behave a bit oddly, appearing drier or wetter than their final effect on the results would indicate. When you change a recipe, it's always a bit of an experiment, and you make little notes like "50 ml less water next time" or whatever.
Any change you make, let it be for a considered reason. "I want more chocolate taste" or "The last ones were too dry" are good types of reasons. Be suspicious of "I think I'll change from baking powder to bicarbonate" type of changes - that one sounded like messing about with no particular aim.
(I mean, messing about is valuable, in terms of raw experience - but when you're in search of the perfect muffin, you change your recipe only in ways that you have reason to believe will bring them closer to what you had in mind.)
TL;DR: Focus on how you want the muffins to turn out, not on which ingredients sound interesting.
Nice, small-batch recipe. Good amount for recipe development. Easy enough to scale up.
It looks elegant to say "greek" yogurt is an ingredient but you really don't need that high a protein content. It may make for a denser muffin. Unless, of course, that is what you want. More of a tea bread than cupcake.
Buttermilk would work nicely for a touch of acid to activate the BS , as would just "soured" milk or even kefir. When buttermilk was not available, I just add add 1-2 tsp vinegar,lemon juice,or acid whey to a cup of milk. Let stand for 10-15 minutes and you have a nice acidulated milk.
If you have an acid ingredient, you could do BS and BP. BS gives an immediate rise and the BP boosts it in the oven. Not too much or they will overdevelop and sink before they set.
Coco powder works but the muffin is much more chocolatey if you use melted bittersweet baking chocolate.Even putting the coco powder in slightly warmed oil will help the flavor "bloom".
Rather than a pinch of cinnamon, I prefer a teaspoon of instant coffee powder or even use espresso as the liquid. It seems to heighten the chocolate flavor.
Sugar is really to taste and you don't have amounts of several other ingredients.
Texture-if you want a cakey muffin, use a chocolate dump cake recipe but add high amount of oil. If you want a dense muffin, find a chocolate tea bread recipe and try it out.
As for oven temp, try THIS link for some great info.
Have fun!
This is a helpful link. The recipe published by this well renowned cook suggests mixing the wet and dry separately. This means adding the sugar to the flour, BP, and separately mixing the oil, milk and egg. But I think I’ll try your creaming method and mixing butter and sugar.
also makes a difference. Natural (normally comes in a lighter color) cocoa powder is slightly acidic therefore works well in recipes calling for baking soda. Or vice versa, if you use natural cocoa powder, you can use baking soda as the leavening agent. Dutch-processed cocoa (has a deeper color) is treated with alkaline therefore does not have the acidity required to work with baking soda and is more suitable to pair with baking powder, which usually contains tartaric acid (cream of tartar) as a source of acid.
Of course, like others suggested before, you can always use a source of acid in the form of buttermilk, kefir, yoghurt, etc.
My preference for BS over BP was based on the size of the dome of the muffin once baked. Using BS gave a better dome signifying a better rise in the batter and hopefully a lighter muffin.
I thinks it’s an iterative process and so may add a TSP of lemon juice to milk and so any difference. Was also thinking of switching from plain flour to self raising - again to gain a better rise, but now not sure with this and BP included.
By the way, I’m not into sweet chocolate and lots of sugar, so my recipe cuts back to 25g sugar and dark (85%) chocolate.
... that your baking powder was old, or that you need a different brand. If it doesn't work just as well or better compared to baking soda, something is not right.
Baking powder has to be fresh to work; more than a couple of months old, and you need to buy a new container. (I'm not sure how long you can wait on an unopened container, but after opening, it certainly deteriorates quickly.)
Different baking-powder brands contain different acidic substances; that's why some work better for certain recipes, or taste better in other recipes, or whatever.
BUT - most importantly, do what works!
my BP is definitely more than 2 months old and the BS i recently bought.
Plain baking soda lasts a LONG time. It's baking POWDER that has the aging problem.
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/black-bottom-cupcakes/
Seriously good! If you like chocolate cake and cream cheese frosting you will love this.
Muffins not as sweet as cake but very good!
https://www.salon.com/2018/12/09/these-muffins-pack-a-rich-and-fortifying-taste-of-cocoa-to-satisfy-the-morning-appetite/
And simmer soda with sour cream? That's how I make air muffins.
Probably going to complicate things by asking...
you want a MUFFIN...not a cupcake?? Some people use it interchangeable...but there is a difference at least to cake bakers.
AND plain flour...hummm...another thing to wonder about cause you used the term caster sugar...
Why I mention this...is I have 3 different US brands of all purpose flours...in my pantry. They all have different levels of protein...3g, 4 g, 5 g and then self rising...is a softer flour...similar to a store bough cake flour usually at 3gm.
I personally do NOT want to use the all purpose 5 g protein for cupcakes...while I might do so with a muffin if I use the biscuit method of mixing *(which coats the gluten strands).
Temperature of your ingredients can affect whether muffins mound in my experience.
I found letting eggs sit in a cup of warm water while I start measuring other ingredients and milk not be straight cold helps.
FOR muffins...(not cupcakes) I fold by hand to mix...either the biscuit or the wet method...I do not beat, I fold until blended and then perhaps a few good turns.
IF batter is coldish cause you added cold ingredients...and you put it into a blazing oven...it will peak more than mound usually.
What if a recipe only calls for ‘cocoa powder’? This happens all the time, right ? Take a look at the recipe. Does it call for a majority of baking powder or baking soda. If the recipe is mostly leavened by baking powder, reach for the Dutch-processed cocoa. If it’s a baking soda heavy recipe, go for natural cocoa powder!
In my experience, most American recipes that call for ‘cocoa powder’ are generally referring to natural cocoa powder.
Are Dutch-processed and natural cocoa powder interchangeable in a recipe? Well… not exactly. As with any baking recipe, it’s best to follow it as written. When we make substitutions, we start fussing with the taste and texture. In a pinch, you can substitute natural cocoa powder if you’re out of Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Although, it’s not a good idea to substitute Dutch-processed cocoa when you’re out of natural cocoa powder. We’d be missing those precious acids!