Muffins: Baking and muffins

Have you seen the muffin man? Don't go looking - make your own instead

These days when we think of muffins, we tend to think of the American version, usually blueberry, bran or any number of sugar and fruit combinations. They seem to be everywhere – the supermarket, the coffee house, the corner shop. And with good reason. These quirky little cakes are the perfect quick breakfast, ‘elevenses’ treat or four o’clock teatime snack. Add a green salad or soup to a savoury muffin and you have a light lunch or starter.

The term muffin is thought to have come from an old French word ‘moufflet’, meaning ‘soft’ when referring to bread. There are references to English muffins as early as 1747 when the first recipes appeared in print, but they enjoyed most of their popularity during the nineteenth century. In the Victorian era, muffin men would carry trays of muffins balanced on their heads through the streets at teatime, ringing a handbell to draw attention to their wares.

The modern English muffin is made from a yeast dough containing milk and butter. It is cooked on a griddle or hotplate, which gives it a flat top and bottom. They are usually quite plain and rely on fresh butter and jam for flavour. Not so their brash American cousins.

The American Muffin

No one is exactly sure when the muffin migrated across the Atlantic, but there is no doubt it went through its share of changes in doing so. Most of the American-style muffins are a type of ‘quick bread’, which means their main raising agent is baking powder or bicarbonate of soda, and they are cooked in the oven instead of on a griddle. They’re really more like small cakes, but usually not as sweet. Muffin tins come in a variety of sizes, but the standard size has 6 or 12 cup-shaped depressions, each about 6cm/2 ½ in diameter and about the same in depth. Smaller muffin tins, sometimes called ‘gem pans’ make smaller, bite-size muffins which work well as accompaniments to soup or in place of bread rolls.

Commercially available muffins are usually sweet and contain fruit, nuts, even chocolate, but if you’re making some at home, try a savoury version instead. You don’t have to stick to plain white flour – wholemeal, buckwheat, besan (or gram) flour, bran and cornmeal (or polenta) can all be used for baking muffins. What you add next will give the muffin its character – grated or crumbled cheese, bacon or bits of sausage, finely diced or grated vegetables like courgettes, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, sweetcorn, olives, herbs and spices – the possibilities are endless.

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