The Muffin Method

No it’s not some odd, pastry-based form of birth control. It’s one of the simpler of the Big Five mixing methods, something every baker should know. Simply put, the Muffin Method is a technique whereby two mixes are created: a mix of wet ingredients (eggs, soft or liquid fat, milk and sugar) and a mix of dry ingredients (flour, leavening and flavorings like cocoa powder). Once they are prepared — and the oven is preheated — the two are combined and stirred together very briefly before the finished batter is panned and baked.

So what are the advantages of the Muffin Method for making things like muffins? Chiefly tenderness, since so little blending leads very little activated gluten, as well as larger pockets of fat which tend to make a crumb, well…crumble.