Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Question For The Expert Bakers

Mango04

Recommended Posts

Mango04 Enthusiast
Mango04
Posted

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 :)

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


2Boys4Me Enthusiast
2Boys4Me
Posted

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 Collaborator
lonewolf
Posted

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 Proficient
jerseyangel
Posted

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 Enthusiast
Mango04
Posted
  • Author

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

Thanks for the tips!

pamelaD Apprentice
pamelaD
Posted

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 Apprentice
eKatherine
Posted

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°.

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


  • 2 weeks later...
Guest mmc
Guest mmc
Posted
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!

:D

  • 3 weeks later...
nursestherapies Rookie
nursestherapies
Posted
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!

:D

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

eKatherine Apprentice
eKatherine
Posted
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
Guest nini
Posted

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 :huh: .

dionnek Enthusiast
dionnek
Posted
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 :huh: .

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
Guest nini
Posted

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 Proficient
VydorScope
Posted
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!

:D

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 :D

Guest nini
Guest nini
Posted

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 Enthusiast
Mango04
Posted
  • Author

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!

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      131,956
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    ramonaja
    Newest Member
    ramonaja
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Jacki Espo
      Covid caused reoccurrence of DH without eating gluten

      By Jacki Espo · Posted

      This happened to me as well. What’s weirder is that within a couple hours of taking paxlovid it subsided. I thought maybe I got glutened but after reading your post not so sure. 
    • Mari
      New Celiac Mama in My 30s

      By Mari · Posted

      Hi Tiffany. Thank you for writing your dituation and  circumstancesin such detail and so well writte, too. I particularly noticed what you wrote about brain for and feeling like your brain is swelling and I know from my own experiences that's how it feel and your brain really does swell and you get migraines.    Way back when I was in my 20s I read a book by 2 MD allergist and they described their patient who came in complaining that her brain, inside her cranium, was swelling  and it happened when she smelled a certain chemical she used in her home. She kept coming back and insisting her brain actually swelled in her head. The Drs couldn't explain this problem so they, with her permission, performed an operation where they made a small opening through her cranium, exposed her to the chemical then watched as she brain did swell into the opening. The DRs were amazed but then were able to advise her to avoid chemicals that made her brain swell. I remember that because I occasionally had brain fog then but it was not a serious problem. I also realized that I was becoming more sensitive to chemicals I used in my work in medical laboratories. By my mid forties the brain fog and chemicals forced me to leave my  profession and move to a rural area with little pollution. I did not have migraines. I was told a little later that I had a more porous blood brain barrier than other people. Chemicals in the air would go up into my sinused and leak through the blood brain barrier into my brain. We have 2 arteries  in our neck that carry blood with the nutrients and oxygen into the brain. To remove the fluids and used blood from the brain there are only capillaries and no large veins to carry it away so all those fluids ooze out much more slowly than they came in and since the small capillaries can't take care of extra fluid it results in swelling in the face, especially around the eyes. My blood flow into my brain is different from most other people as I have an arterial ischema, adefectiveartery on one side.   I have to go forward about 20 or more years when I learned that I had glaucoma, an eye problem that causes blindness and more years until I learned I had celiac disease.  The eye Dr described my glaucoma as a very slow loss of vision that I wouldn't  notice until had noticeable loss of sight.  I could have my eye pressure checked regularly or it would be best to have the cataracts removed from both eyes. I kept putting off the surgery then just overnight lost most of the vision in my left eye. I thought at the I had been exposed to some chemical and found out a little later the person who livedbehind me was using some chemicals to build kayaks in a shed behind my house. I did not realize the signifance  of this until I started having appointments with a Dr. in a new building. New buildings give me brain fog, loss of balance and other problems I know about this time I experienced visual disturbances very similar to those experienced by people with migraines. I looked further online and read that people with glaucoma can suffer rapid loss of sight if they have silent migraines (no headache). The remedy for migraines is to identify and avoid the triggers. I already know most of my triggers - aromatic chemicals, some cleaning materials, gasoline and exhaust and mold toxins. I am very careful about using cleaning agents using mostly borax and baking powder. Anything that has any fragrance or smell I avoid. There is one brand of dishwashing detergent that I can use and several brands of  scouring powder. I hope you find some of this helpful and useful. I have not seen any evidence that Celiac Disease is involved with migraines or glaucoma. Please come back if you have questions or if what I wrote doesn't make senseto you. We sometimes haveto learn by experience and finding out why we have some problems. Take care.       The report did not mention migraines. 
    • Mari
      My only proof

      By Mari · Posted

      Hi Jmartes71 That is so much like my story! You probably know where Laytonville is and that's where I was living just before my 60th birthday when the new Dr. suggested I could have Celiacs. I didn't go on a gluten challange diet before having the Celiac panel blood test drawn. The results came back as equivical as one antibody level was very high but another, tissue transaminasewas normal. Itdid show I was  allergic to cows milk and I think hot peppers. I immediately went gluten free but did not go in for an endoscopy. I found an online lab online that would do the test to show if I had a main celiac gene (enterolab.com). The report came back that I had inherited a main celiac gene, DQ8, from one parent and a D!6 from the other parent. That combination is knows to sym[tons of celiac worse than just inheriting one main celiac gene. With my version of celiac disease I was mostly constipated but after going gluten-free I would have diarrhea the few times I was glutened either by cross contamination or eating some food containing gluten. I have stayed gluten-free for almost 20 years now and knew within a few days that it was right for me although my recovery has been slow.   When I go to see a  medical provide and tell them I have celiacs they don't believe me. The same when I tell them that I carry a main celiac gene, the DQ8. It is only when I tell them that I get diarrhea after eating gluten that they realize that I might have celiac disease. Then they will order th Vitamin B12 and D3 that I need to monitor as my B12 levels can go down very fast if I'm not taking enough of it. Medical providers haven't been much help in my recovery. They are not well trained in this problem. I really hope this helps ypu. Take care.      
    • knitty kitty
      Does anyone here also have Afib

      By knitty kitty · Posted

      Fascinating.
    • DebJ14
      Does anyone here also have Afib

      By DebJ14 · Posted

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.