Skip to main content
Dessert

Rye Muffins

Rye muffins made with rye and all-purpose flour, yeast, molasses, salt, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Rye Muffins

Why it works: Rye and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Rye 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the dough

  1. Combine rye flour and all-purpose flour in a large bowl.

  2. Mix yeast, molasses, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl until well combined.

  3. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and stir until a dough forms.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough into muffins and place them on a baking sheet.

  2. Let the muffins rise for about 30 minutes.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) 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.

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. Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together804 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

Rye flour
Provides the main structure and a dense, hearty crumb with its own flavor.
All-purpose flour
Adds gluten-forming structure so the dough holds its shape and rises.
Yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, causing the muffins to rise and become lighter.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crust brown during baking.
Baking soda
Reacts with acidic ingredients to release gas, helping the muffins rise.

The step that matters

Let the muffins rise for about 30 minutes. Yeast needs time to ferment and produce gas; underproofed muffins stay dense, while overproofed ones may collapse or turn flat and sour.

“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.

You might also like

Molasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipesMolasses Sponge CakeMolasses Sponge Cake9 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipes