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Graham Muffins

A quick yeast muffin made with graham and wheat flour, molasses, and brown sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Graham Muffins

Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Graham Muffins

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. Sift baking soda and salt with the graham and wheat flour.

  2. Add brown sugar, molasses, and melted butter.

  3. Stir in the yeast and hot milk or water to form a stiff sponge.

  4. Mix in the evening and let rise overnight.

Shape and bake

  1. In the morning, butter the pan and rings.

  2. Fill the rings three-fourths full and let the muffins rise for nearly 1 hour.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven until golden.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Graham flour
Its coarse bran gives the muffins a nutty flavour and a more open, hearty crumb.
Wheat flour
Its gluten forms the network that holds the muffins' structure as they rise.
Yeast
Produces carbon dioxide during the long rise, which leavens the dough and makes it airy.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the muffins set and hold their shape.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity in molasses to release gas, adding lift and helping the crumb brown.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, and deep flavour, and helps the crust turn golden.

The step that matters

Fill the rings three-fourths full and let them rise nearly 1 hour. Filling only three-fourths full leaves room for the dough to expand. Overfilling or overproofing can cause the muffins to collapse or become dense and uneven.

“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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