Question For The Expert Bakers

[Mango04]

I'll preface this by saying when I comes to baking, I obviously don't know what I'm doing. I just made some muffins, which are surprisingly really good. I want to make them again, but I want to modify the recipe a bit to try and make them less dense and chewy. So, my question is this:

What is it that causes that dense texture? Does it have to do with the type of flour, or just the general combination of ingredients? My batter was really really moist, so maybe that had something to do with it as well? I used a recipe that called for oat bran, so I just simply left that out and didn't substitute anything (another possible culprit?)

The ingredients I used were Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour, flax meal, apple and carrot pulp from my juicer and a little bit of the juice, walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, xantham gum, baking soda, baking powder and rice milk.

Okay after typing that all out, I guess these muffins are just going to be dense no matter what, but is there any particular ingredient I would add more or less of to make the texture a bit more "normal", or would I use an entirely different flour combo? I mean, they're really pretty good, but just need to be tweaked a little tiny bit.

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this

[2Boys4Me]

Hmmm. I wish I knew. I look forward to the answer. I made chocolate chip muffins one time and the bottoms were pretty good because all the chocolate chips sank. The tops tasted kind of blah.

The problem I have with muffins is that when I pour the batter into the tins they look fine, but while they're cooking weird things happen and they come out all weirdly shaped. My son liked the blueberry muffins I made last time, they came out with "handles". That's how he described them. They rise nicely but have this bizarre growth on the tops that you can use for a handle. I wish I had a picture of them.

[lonewolf]

Are you allergic to eggs? If not, they would definitely help. If you are, try some Ener-G Egg Replacer. I usually sift a tsp. in with the dry ingredients and then stir a tsp. in with water to add to the wet stuff. Also, a teaspoon of lemon juice will react with the baking soda to make bubbles, which will make a lighter texture.

[jerseyangel]

Another thing that may help--try taking out 2 tbsp. of the flour mix, and replace it with potato starch. I found it lightened up the batter somewhat.

[Mango04]

Oh yeah I forgot, there were eggs in there too.

Thanks for the tips!

[pamelaD]

Here is a tip to help any batter based bread/muffin a bit lighter:

follow the recipe, but only use the egg yolks in the batter, then whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them in gently to the batter just before you spoon it into the pan/muffin tin.

Good Luck,

Pam

[eKatherine]

I would increase the flour to make it a bit drier, cut back on the vegetable/fruit pulp or eliminate it entirely, add butter if you do dairy or some oil if you do not - probably a quarter of a cup of oil or fat, substracting this from the rice milk quantity. Then lower your oven temperature by 25°.

[Guest mmc]

I would increase the flour to make it a bit drier, cut back on the vegetable/fruit pulp or eliminate it entirely, add butter if you do dairy or some oil if you do not - probably a quarter of a cup of oil or fat, substracting this from the rice milk quantity. Then lower your oven temperature by 25°.

I agree. The trick about baking is it is just not cooking...it is science. There is actually a mathematical formula chefs use in baking...kind of hard to explain, but basically it has to do with percentages and flour is 100%. (If you'd like more info, pm me and I'll send it.) But baking is entirely about ratios and if you mess with the formula too much...(like leaving an ingredient out w/o substituting)...it will not work.

If you sent me the exact recipe, I could probably formulate it out for you, making the necessary corrections. (I was a pastry chef for 10 years). OR pm me and I can show you how to do it on your own.

Hope it helps!

[nursestherapies]

I agree. The trick about baking is it is just not cooking...it is science. There is actually a mathematical formula chefs use in baking...kind of hard to explain, but basically it has to do with percentages and flour is 100%. (If you'd like more info, pm me and I'll send it.) But baking is entirely about ratios and if you mess with the formula too much...(like leaving an ingredient out w/o substituting)...it will not work.

If you sent me the exact recipe, I could probably formulate it out for you, making the necessary corrections. (I was a pastry chef for 10 years). OR pm me and I can show you how to do it on your own.

Hope it helps!

Katherine, I am just beginning too and would love a recipe for a good muffin as you have described. Thanks!! Karen

[eKatherine]

Katherine, I am just beginning too and would love a recipe for a good muffin as you have described. Thanks!! Karen

I will work out a recipe or two in the next week.

[Guest nini]

I use mixes to make my muffins... not brave enough to try baking those from scratch yet. I did make my first from scratch birthday cake, for my flour mix I used The Gluten Free Pantry's All Purpose Flour Mix. It was really really good, but it didn't hold together as well as I would have liked. When I was transferring the top layer to the cake, I broke it in half .

[dionnek]

I use mixes to make my muffins... not brave enough to try baking those from scratch yet. I did make my first from scratch birthday cake, for my flour mix I used The Gluten Free Pantry's All Purpose Flour Mix. It was really really good, but it didn't hold together as well as I would have liked. When I was transferring the top layer to the cake, I broke it in half .

Did you use a "regular" recipe and just substitute the gluten-free flour mix for the regular flour, or do you have a specific recipy you used? I am new to this too and I love to bake - just bought the gluten-free all purpose flour and was going to try some baking soon, but not sure if I can use my normal recipes. Would you still add baking soda/powder per the recipe, or take that out?

[Guest nini]

it was a regular recipe for a basic cake and I just substituted the GFP all purpose gluten-free flour for the regular flour. I kept the baking soda in the recipe.

[VydorScope]

I agree. The trick about baking is it is just not cooking...it is science. There is actually a mathematical formula chefs use in baking...kind of hard to explain, but basically it has to do with percentages and flour is 100%. (If you'd like more info, pm me and I'll send it.) But baking is entirely about ratios and if you mess with the formula too much...(like leaving an ingredient out w/o substituting)...it will not work.

If you sent me the exact recipe, I could probably formulate it out for you, making the necessary corrections. (I was a pastry chef for 10 years). OR pm me and I can show you how to do it on your own.

Hope it helps!

Ive been baking for for decades, since I was a little child. I also was a short order cook for a while, I have absloutly no formal training... but I can not agree with the concept there is an over powering "formula" to baking. I rarely measure with any degree of reproduciblity, and I add/remove ingredients on the fly based on mood and what I have in my house. Baking, IMO is an art, not a science.

Please dont take this wrong, not realy disagreeing, Im sure there are "forumals'" that help, just in my experence it more of art and feel then numbers and ratios

[Guest nini]

I too have been baking and cooking since I was a small child, and I very rarely follow recipes exactly. I'm always "futzing" with it dependent on what I have in the house, what I'm in the mood for, and how complicated I want to make things. Baking requires a little more thought than regular cooking, but I also agree that it is an art, not a science.

[Mango04]

Okay so I made these last night (for like the fourth time) and I think I finally got it right this time. They are good. I used:

2 cups Bob's Red Mill gluten-free Flour

3/4 cup flax meal

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon xantham gum

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 carrots shredded

2 apples peeled and chopped

3/4 cup rice milk

1/2 cup raw sugar

2 eggs

chopped walnuts and raisins can be added as well

mix dry ingredients

stir in apples and carrots

mix wet ingredients

mix it all together

pour into muffin pan and bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes.

I'm sure there's still room for improvement, but hey, compared to my first attempt, I'm not complaining haha

yay!