The Mighty Muffin

It has been awhile since I've posted to the blog. You know how it goes, blah blah blah excuse excuse busy-pants.
Now that that's out of the way... I've come to the blog today to talk about muffins. There is indeed a basic methodology and platonic ideal muffin to which we create endless variations. We then seem to try to present each of these as it's own unique recipe rather than, as a composer would, variations on a theme. I really feel that we could all be more confident, competent, complex cooks if we understood better that when we bake especially, we deal mainly in methodology with variants rather than myriad unique recipes. So, today, I offer the Mighty Muffin in it's raw, unvarnished form.
Here's the straight skinny on Muffins:
Muffins belong to the Quick-Bread family. They are chemically leavened by baking powder and/or baking soda, mixed and baked immediately rather than created with yeast and a glutinization (kneading) process like standard breads. Specifically, muffins belong to the drop-batter subset of quick-breads. Another example of a drop-batter quick-bread are fritters.
Drop batters do not pour readily, but drop in a soft moist mass from a spoon or much be shaken or helped free of the bowl. Drop batters typically use 1 cup of liquid with 1 1/2 to 2 cups of flour, approximately 1 tablespoon of leavening agent, a small amount (1/2 tsp) salt, one to two eggs, a small amount (1-2 Tbsp.) of fat such as shortening, oil or butter, and a small amount of sweetener depending upon whether a savory or sweet product is desired or if additives, such as fruit or nuts are present. Muffins bake in moderate to hot ovens ranging from 350-425F usually for 20-30 minutes.
Muffins are mixed using, not surprisingly, the Muffin Method. In the Muffin Method, dry ingredients are sifted together, wet ingredients and eggs (if using) are combined and added to the dry till just moistened. Muffin mixtures should be stirred and beaten only enough to combine ingredients and baked immediately. the chemical begin acting as soon as the wet and dry ingredients come together and tunneling and/or toughness can occur in the finished product in the batter is over-mixed or allowed to sit before baking.

Basic Muffin:
2C Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
1Tbsp. Sugar
1Tbsp. Baking Powder
1C Liquid
1 Egg
2Tbsp. Melted Butter

Basic Muffin Method:
Sift flour, salt sugar and baking powder together. Combine remaining ingredients and add to dry ingredients. Stir just enough to dampen the flour. Pour into greased pans, filling 2/3 full. Bake at 425F for 20-25 min.

To vary this with pineapple:
Add 1/2C flour ( soaks up added moisture from pineapple), 2 T sugar (now producing a sweet rather than neutral or savory muffin), 2T shortening (slows down carmelization in pineapple, helping to prevent burning), and 14oz can of crushed pineapple. Bake as directed for basic muffin.

Here are another pair of interesting variants on the muffin:
Corn-Meal Muffin
1C Corn Meal
1C flour
1/2t salt
1T baking powder
1C milk
1 egg
2t Butter

Sift dry, add wet, then egg, then melted butter bake at 400 for 20-25minutes.
Notice how the corn meal and flour are totaled together to make 2C of flours.

Raisin Bran Muffin
1C Bran
1/2C Flour
1T baking powder
1/2t salt
1 1/2T molasses
1T melted butter
1/2C raisins
1/2milk
1 egg, well-beaten

Sift dry, add remaining ingredients one at a time, bake at 400 for 30 minutes.
Notice how the bran affects the cooking time and need for blending. The addition of molasses will act as a color, flavor, browning agent and liquid in this recipe. Quite a work horse that molasses no?

I hope this gets you thinking and gets you cooking and helps you to understand that underneath each recipe there is an underlying set of rules, a science that makes it go. The rest is just window dressing, and cinnamon. Enjoy.