Muffins...help!

liney

My muffins didn't rise like shop bought ones. Is this normal, or am i doing something wrong? I used the basic muffin recipie with some banana.

Anyone else got flat(ish) muffins?

Gingham_Ribbon

I did when I used the food mixer. (Eek!) I think you need to be quite gentle with them. Do you think you might have over mixed it?

MrsKing

Are you using bicarb and baking powder?

Queenie

Apologies in advance if I state anything obvious, but I wanted to cover all bases.

1. Did you put enough of the muffin batter into each muffin tin? E.g. if you made up a recipe for say 6 but divided the amount between 12 cases?

2. Did you cook them too quickly, or open the oven door before they were due to be cooked fully?

3. Whichever recipe you follow, all ovens have their quirks and although all recipes give a guide to oven temp., it can only be a guide, so you need to know how *your* oven works. You can base this on other recipes, like cakes and adjust timing/temp for your own oven.

4. Muffin mix is meant to be a batter and not overly mixed like you would a cake. When you add the fluid component, you really only want to stir it through and a few lumpy bits in the batter are ok. It doesn't need to be fully beaten/incorporated like a pancake batter or a cake.

5. Did you measure everything accurately or did you guestimate/round up or used a heaped spoon measure when a level spoon was needed?

Finally, do persevere and don't be dispondent. Even the best chefs in the world can have recipe disasters ... on Great British Menu, I think it was Anthony Worrel Thompson who burnt his meat

Best of luck with your next attempt.

thriftlady_2

Shop muffins aren't natural! They have extra raising agents in them to make them that big and I would imagine extra other stuff to correct the odd taste too much raising agent causes.

The main cause of flat muffins is overbeating as has already been mentioned.
NEVER EVER use electric beaters.Just mix gently until all the dry ingredients are wet.

liney

I did mix by hand, but ill try again and restrain myself a little this time. They tasted nice, just looked abit scone like on the top IYKWIM.

Thanks all, ill report back.

bargainbetty

Agreeing with thriftlady here - you'll never get the shop-bought look at home, 'cos you don't have the means to pump them full of extra air.

Lumpy batter makes the best muffins too - just a fork to mix, none of that blender lark!

bigmuffins

Hiya!
Are you looking for big muffins? Well you can have them! Get a hold of "Muffins - fast and fantastic" by Susan Reimer and you will never look back! Can get from Amazon if your library doesn't have a copy! And DO read the introduction - she explains why muffins work and you understand what is happening and can adapt recipes to suit your taste!

My recipe for raspberry and white choc muffins is adapted from hers.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=144986&highlight=white+choc

I would agree with all the comments above and just add that if your muffins are a bit grainy on top - try adding the sugar to the liquid rather than with the flour! I do this and it dissolves better in the liquid giving a more tender crumb.
HTH

It is that time of year again - I have to make 8 -10 batches of muffins next Saturday morning for the school summer fair! I like to bake them on the day so that they are fresh so I am hoping it will be a lot cooler next week!

Cheers
bigmuffins

Swan_2

bigmuffins wrote:

Hiya!
Are you looking for big muffins? Well you can have them! Get a hold of "Muffins - fast and fantastic" by Susan Reimer and you will never look back! Can get from Amazon if your library doesn't have a copy! And DO read the introduction - she explains why muffins work and you understand what is happening

I'll second that. I spent years trying, & failing, to make decent muffins. but since I got the book from Lakeland a few years back, they've been wonderful & in fact are better than shop-bought

Gers

My tip, gleaned from the internet, is to pre-heat the oven to a higher temperature than the baking temperature and turn it down immediately, to the baking temperature, when you put the muffins into the oven. Since I've been doing this I've not had a flat topped muffin again.

Oh, that and not beating them too hard as others have said.

misty

Why is it your not supposed to use an electric whisk - it overbeats them? I always use an electric whisk for my choc chip muffins and they are delicious. I'll bare it mind though for any others - I love muffins but we tend to have choc chip everytime - they do taste a million times better than the shop bought ones. I was quite happy with shop bought ones until I made my own - the difference is amazing.

Incidentally,a while ago I was looking for a thread I knew I had posted on so searched using my name. Anyway a number of threads came up and one(not the one I was looking for)looked interesting - posted in OS on cooking from scratch. Anyway somebody had posted about HM cakes and how good they taste - somebody else had posted saying they couldn't be bothered with cake making because of the faff and how cheaply you can buy cakes these days. What a Numpty I thought and then realised it was ME that had said it!!!!!Shows what an influence OS has had on me as I would never buy cakes now. Also, shows how friendly OS is that nobody posted what a numpty I was. In my defence I have always cooked meals but I did buy cakes. I didn't realise how much an influence this board has had. It also always friendly and helpful.