I've been on a bit of a muffin kick lately, and by lately I mean the past 30 years. But for some reason this week I've been really fixated on them and trying new and different recipes. Since I had some King Arthur Gluten-Free Bread Flour in the pantry, I tested it in this dairy-rich muffin recipe. The gluten-free bread flour is intended for yeast breads but it actually works in muffins too. Or at least in these.
What is Gluten-Free Bread Flour?
Gluten-free bread flour, specifically King Arthur's, is different from gluten-free blends such as Measure for Measure, Cup4Cup and Bob's. The gluten-free bread flour blend is designed specifically for making yeast breads and includes ingredients to support loaf structure including a cellulose, psyllium and pea protein. Maybe it's these ingredients that help the muffins have such a nice shape.
Flavor and Texture
The muffins are rich and moist. Thanks to the sour cream and cream they don't have the grittiness or rice flour feel of some gluten-free baked goods. If you follow the directions, they should bake up with nicely rounded tops. If you do make substitutions or improvise, they'll probably still be good. As far as using something other than gluten-free bread flour, I've tested with regular bread flour and it works well too.
Recipe
Gluten-Free Bread Flour Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup King Arthur gluten-free bread flour or equivalent weight of regular bread flour if not making gluten-free (140 grams)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened (56 grams)
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (125 grams) -- see note
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- ⅛ teaspoon lemon or orange zest or a mix (optional)**
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup sour cream (56 grams)
- ¼ cup heavy cream (56 grams)
- ½ cup chocolate chips or use blueberries or fruit
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 6 muffins cups with paper liners or grease thoroughly.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; mix well.
- With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in the egg, lemon or orange zest (if using) and vanilla.
- Mix together the sour cream and heavy cream.
- Add the flour mixture and the cream mixture alternately, stirring until mixed. Do not overbeat. The batter will be thick and lumpy. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Spoon batter into muffin cups piling toward the center. If making with regular bread flour and not gluten-free, just fill to the top.
- Bake for about 22 minutes. Let cool in muffin tin for 10 minutes, then carefully loosen and let cool completely.
Anna says
Thanks for trying it and leaving me a message, Jolie! It makes sense you got 8 because I often use slightly larger (taller) muffin liners. Glad to hear they would be good with reduced sugar as well, so I'll add a note.
Jolie says
ABSOLUTELY delish! I’ve tried many gluten free muffin recipes and this is the FIRST that is actually good! We are not gluten free, but have several friends who do not eat gluten. These muffins are so good, we ate and enjoyed them, too!!
This recipe made 8 regular sized muffins and 22 mins was perfect to bake. I used the King Arthur Gluten free Flour 1:1 and used the scale weighing all ingredients per the recipe. The only thing I’ll change when I make them again (very soon) is to cut the sugar a little. I used chocolate chips and they were plenty sweet.
Thank you for the fantastic recipe!!