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Dessert

Pillsbury’s Bran Muffins

A quick bran muffin made with Pillsbury Health Bran, Pillsbury Best Flour, and sour milk or buttermilk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Pillsbury’s Bran Muffins

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Beat together the shortening, egg, and sugar until creamy.

  2. Dissolve the baking soda in boiling water and add to the sour milk or buttermilk.

  3. Mix in the Health Bran, flour, salt, and baking powder thoroughly with the egg and sugar mixture.

  4. If using sweet milk, omit the baking soda and add 2 additional teaspoons of baking powder.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased muffin tin.

  2. Bake for 20 minutes at 400°F (200°C).

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk or buttermilk acid to produce gas that makes the muffins rise.
Sour milk or buttermilk
Provides acidity that activates the baking soda and adds moisture and tenderness.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness.
Pillsbury's best flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the muffins their structure.
Pillsbury's health bran
Absorbs liquid and adds fiber, bulk, and a coarser texture.
Baking powder
Provides additional leavening so the muffins rise in the oven.

The step that matters

Mix in the dry ingredients thoroughly. Overmixing once the flour is added develops too much gluten, which makes muffins tough. Mix just until combined, and keep the batter evenly blended so the leavening spreads through it.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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