UPDATE: for Round 2, scroll to the end.
I decided to try a new recipe for gluten-free, dairy-free blueberry muffins, but was making some substitutions along the way. These are, in part a test for our friend, who as of yesterday was told by his naturopath to stick to honey, but is still cutting out gluten and dairy…
… So, starting with a basic gluten-free muffin recipe, I decided to make lemon-blueberry muffins. As you can see below, they didn’t quite turn out as planned!
Some things turned out right with these:
- despite the alarming crater in the middle, they do have pretty good texture in the areas that rose — pretty fluffy
- the batter itself is pretty tasty: nice and lemony with a hint of vanilla.
- the parts that rose had a pretty good mouthfeel
But obviously, some things went horribly wrong:
- I’ll have to play around a little more with the liquid/flour ratios, as the substitution of honey definitely reduced the structural integrity of these.
- a little too much coconut oil to help reduce the ooze factor of the batter! Don’t want to reduce too much, however, as that is what is giving them a nice mouthfeel.
Stay tuned as I try to make a second batch of not-so-deformed muffins!
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UPDATE: Round 2 later in the afternoon, much more successful, as you can see. Changes I made include
- switching back to agave syrup instead of honey (agave is on the approved list after all!)
- Switched from AP gluten free flour, which is mostly rice + tapioca to a mix I made up with garfava flour, arrowroot and potato starch
- added a 1/4 tsp more xantham gum
- cut back the coconut oil by a couple of tablespoons
- upped the flour by about 2 tablespoons
- I also ended up using dried blueberries in these, as I ran out of frozen (fresh not in season yet)
The structural integrity is much better, plus I think the bean flours have a less crumbly texture than the rice flour — better suited to a muffin. One thing I have discovered with baking gluten-free, is that it requires a willingness to experiment, as different flours and flour combos yield different results, quite a bit different than just pulling out the bag of AP flour that I’m used to. Overall though, the more I test, the more intiutive some of this stuff seems.
Until the next baked good!
i have been in a gluten free diet ever since last year because i have food allergy.