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Dessert

Buttermilk Bran Muffins

A quick oven baked muffin made with bran, flour, buttermilk, molasses, dates, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Buttermilk Bran Muffins

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix the bran, salt, flour, and baking soda.

  2. Dissolve the baking soda in 1 tablespoon of hot water and add it to the mixture.

  3. Stir in the buttermilk and molasses until combined.

  4. Dredge the chopped dates in a little flour and fold them into the batter.

Bake

  1. Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins.

  2. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

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. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Buttermilk + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together526 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Flour + datestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Molasses + datestop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together114 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Bran
Adds fibre and a hearty texture, absorbing liquid and giving the muffins body.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the muffins together as they bake.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic buttermilk and molasses to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity that tenderises the crumb and activates the baking soda.
Molasses
Contributes sweetness, moisture and a deep colour to the muffins.
Chopped dates
Add pockets of sweetness and moisture throughout the muffins.

The step that matters

Dissolve the baking soda in hot water before adding it. Baking soda must be evenly dispersed in the batter to react with the acidic buttermilk and molasses; dissolving it first helps it spread evenly so the muffins rise uniformly rather than in patches.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, buttermilk, molasses):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, buttermilk, molasses. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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