Blueberry muffins continued....

This is now my 4th attempt at muffins and it has been a learning experience so far.  So here is what I have learned......

Wheat flour is hard..... I think that is what is creating a heavy and dense muffin.  I went back and remade muffin number two today with a few changes:

1. Used whole wheat flour
2. Used all of the new fresh ingredients
3. I filled the muffin tin to the top in attempt to get a prettier more full muffin.  This resulted in only getting 10 muffins in this batch instead of 12.
4. I baked them on the lowest rack – I read somewhere last week that baking on the lowest rack can help the muffin rise better.  

Results:

I still really like this recipe but by using 100% whole wheat flour I did not get as much rise in the muffins as I wanted.  The dough was pretty dry and didn't stick together as well as I would have liked – also, the muffins weren't all that pretty.

A view of the muffins

Marcus looking at the muffins and waiting for them to cool down!

You can see they were pretty crumbly!

They were a bit dry and Marcus thought they needed butter.

Getting ready to add his butter!

I have also learned that I am not the only person on this quest.  Although it appears that most people are looking for a more decadent muffin than I am, it is still interesting to share this journey.  My goal is to find a more healthy alternative to store-bought muffin mix and not necessarily the yummiest muffin.

The below link is to Becky Rosenthal's Huffington Post blog.  She is an actual foodie, so I am going to try her recipe in the next few weeks.

Muffins

Makes a dozen muffins

Ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup raw sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups all purpose flour
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups blueberries (I like frozen so they don't bleed when mixed in)

Instructions
Cream together butter, sugar, and salt. Add eggs, vanilla, and milk. Add dry ingredients. Stir in blueberries. Sprinkle with raw sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 min.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/becky-rosenthal/blueberry-muffins-recipe_b_1875713.html

The other thing I looked at this week is the book, "The Science of Good Cooking," by America's Test Kitchen.  If you have never looked at this cookbook, it is awesome and helps breakdown in a scientific manner what happens when cooking (after all, when you are cooking you are actually changing matter, i.e. science is occurring [Luke added this point]), like what is really happening and why/how it happens.  I read the sections with the topics on whole wheat flour and folding versus mixing the dough for muffins and quick breads.  I learned a lot and it changed my future plans.  I am no longer going to add just plain wheat flour – instead I am going to try for a 50/50 mix of wheat and all-purpose flour.  I am hoping that this will make the muffin lighter and rise more easily.  The problem with whole wheat flour is that is contains all three parts of the wheat kernel and the presence of the germ and bran are what make it both more nutritious and more dense, therefore not rising as well.

I can admit that I am not a great cook or baker for that matter.  I just want to be able to make food for my family that is both yummy and good for them.  I will NEVER be the person whose food always looks awesome and I am OK with that.  I will, however, at the end of this be the person with the most tried-and-true blueberry muffin recipe.  The way I figure it, I have a lot of years ahead of me to serve it!