French Muffins
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Dissolve the yeast in warm water and mix in enough flour to make a stiff batter.
Set the batter in a warm place for 4 hours.
Stir the batter down and divide it into pieces weighing ¼ pound each.
Shape and rise
Mold each piece with your hands and place them in wooden trays with a round bed of flour.
Let them stand in a warm place for 2 hours.
Cook and bake
Cook on an iron griddle, turning them over when nicely risen.
Bake for about 10 minutes in a hot stove.
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
What each ingredient does
- Hard yeast
- Ferments the batter, producing gas that makes the muffins rise and turn light.
- Flour
- Provides the starch and gluten network that gives the muffins their structure.
- Warm water
- Hydrates the flour and activates the yeast so fermentation can begin.
The step that matters
Letting the shaped pieces rise before cooking. The second warm rise lets the yeast build gas in the shaped pieces; cooking them too early leaves them dense, while proper rising gives an airy crumb.
“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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