Just realized most people are overmixing their muffin batter

I was at a bake sale last Saturday and tried 4 different blueberry muffins from different people. Every single one was tough and had those tunnels inside. My wife bakes muffins every Sunday and hers are always light and fluffy. She told me she just stirs until the flour disappears and stops. I tried her way after years of the standard mix for 2 minutes method and the difference is night and day. Anyone else notice this at community bake sales or am I being picky?

2 comments

2 Comments

mark_hernandez1216d ago

Not sure I totally agree on this one. I've been baking muffins for years (probably 15 or so) and I find a gentle folding method works way better than just stopping when the flour disappears. My blueberry muffins come out tender every time, but if I stop mixing that early I end up with random dry pockets of flour in the batter. Maybe it depends on the recipe though - my wife's go-to recipe is pretty wet compared to standard ones, so hers might need that quick mix.

patricia90516d ago

You said "random dry pockets of flour" and that's exactly what happened to my friend Sarah last week. She was making banana muffins for her kid's school bake sale and got in a hurry, barely mixed it like the recipe said. Ended up serving a bunch of muffins to parents that had these little white flour clumps inside, real embarrassing for her. She's been baking for maybe 5 years now and she told me she'll never do the "barely mix" trick again.