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(Sourdough Optional) Carrot Muffins

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Okay! I’ve been eyeing making these carrot muffins for a while now and I have to admit that the thought of shredding carrots has kept me away from this recipe. But the ten pound bag of Costco carrots kept my mind coming back to this recipe. This morning, I finally got out the shredder. Honestly, sometimes (well, probably most of the time) I avoid certain recipes or steps because of the thought of doing extra dishes. Dishes are done now and the muffins are out of the oven. And these carrot muffins were worth the extra dishes.

These muffins have a great balance of flavor and spice. However, based on my kid’s responses to them, they may have more of an appeal to an adult palate. Next time, I may try to back off on some of the spices to see if that helps the boys. Maybe.

I made this recipe with discarded sourdough starter. You can’t really taste that the starter is in the muffins – it is mainly there as the liquid. If you don’t have sourdough starter, you can substitute with buttermilk or greek yogurt. Make the substitute on a 1:1 basis.

The batter may seem a little dry – that’s okay.

While I have your attention, let’s spend a quick minute talking about flour. You can absolutely make these muffins using regular all-purpose flour; however, upgrading to a good whole grain flour will really enhance the flavor. The key here is good whole grain flour. I mill my own flour, which is at the far end of the flour spectrum as far as freshness, quality and taste. But you can also find good whole grain flours from local mills, farmers markets or even on-line. If you are at the grocery store, brands like Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Flour are easy to find and provide a quality product. If you are near to me, feel free to reach out and ask me for a sample of flour. I think you’ll be surprised at what a difference fresh whole grain flours can make in your baking.

The crumble topping on the muffin is completely optional. I honestly put it on because I was hoping it would hide the carrot from my discerning teenager – it didn’t work. The topping did add a little extra sweetness to the muffin. Per my usual approach, I kept the sugar pretty low in the muffins. In my world, if I want a cupcake, then I’m going to eat a cupcake, not a cupcake disguised as a muffin. But… if you like your muffins a little sweeter, you can either add a bit more sugar to the recipe or you can include the topping. Own it and feel free to make this recipe work for you.

Carrot Muffins – No crumble topping (left) and with crumble (right)

(Sourdough) Carrot Muffins

Serving Size:
12-15 muffins
Time:
35 min
Difficulty:
easy

Dry Ingredients

  • 2 cups (240 g) whole wheat or AP flour (freshly ground soft white or spelt works well here)
  • 1 1/2 t baking powder
  • 1/2 t baking soda
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1 1/2 t cinnamon
  • 1/2 t nutmeg
  • 1/4 t ginger
  • 1/4 t allspice

Wet Ingredients

  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup sunflower or olive oil
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup sourdough starter (can substitute with buttermilk or Greek yogurt)

Fold-In Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups (160 g) grated carrot (about 3-4 carrots)
  • 1/2 cup of finely chopped walnuts (optional)
  • 1/2 cup of raisins (optional)

Crumble (optional)

  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 T whole wheat or all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup rolled oats
  • 1/4 t cinnamon
  • 2 T butter, room temperature

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 F with the rack in the upper third of the oven. Spray or line 12-15 muffin tins.
  2. Prepare your shredded carrots. Peel the carrots and shred using a box grater or your food processor. If you have a little extra carrot (up to 200 grams or 2 cups), just use them in the recipe.
  3. Prepare the crumble topping, if you are using it. Combine the crumble ingredients in a small bowl. Using your fingers, massage the butter into the dry ingredients until it is nice and crumbly. Set the topping aside.
  4. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk.
  5. Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and stir until they are mixed evenly.
  6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold in until the flour is almost entirely dissolved. Don’t overmix, just gently stir. Add the carrots and nuts or raisins, if you are using. Gently fold the mixture until the carrots are distributed throughout. If you made the batter with sourdough starter, the batter will seem pretty dry.
  7. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin and fill tins about 3/4 full. Top with a tablespoon of the crumble topping, if using.
  8. Bake at 425 for 5 minutes. Turn down the heat on the oven to 350 F (don’t open the door) and cook for 15 minutes longer until the muffins are lightly browned and cooked throughout.
  9. Turn the muffins out onto a cooling rack and enjoy.
A quick shot of my grater attachment on my mixer – it really makes quick work out of a couple carrots and does not add many dishes. I’m not sure why I think twice about getting it out of the cupboard and hooking it up.

Sourdough English Muffins

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Sourdough English Muffins

A fresh batch of sourdough English muffins

I believe that these Sourdough English Muffins are reason enough to maintain a jar of sourdough starter in your fridge. They are not super difficult to make, but they do take a little bit of time and love. But they are so delicious and so much healthier for you than the store bought version. Once you get spoiled with homemade breads, it really gets hard to go back to the mass produced stuff.

Sourdough English Muffins

Sourdough Starter

Like most sourdough recipes, you’ll need to do a little planning for these muffins. You’ll make your dough the night before and it should rest in the fridge overnight (8-12 hours). Make sure you put the dough in the fridge during the rest period. If you leave it on the counter, they won’t have any rise left in them for baking and you’ll end up with hockey pucks. And along that line, be sure to use instant yeast in your recipe. I use SAF red instant yeast – it has a different lifespan that the normal quick rise yeast that you typically find in the grocery store. the quick rise will die off by the time your long rise is over and you’ll end up with the hockey puck problem again.

In the morning, you pull the dough out of the fridge, shape your muffins, and “bake” them off. You could also start the process in the morning and finish off that evening – but you’d loose the beauty of fresh English muffins for breakfast. And, really, what’s the point of that?

Once you pull the muffins out of the fridge, I divide the dough into muffin sized portion. The engineer in me always weighs each portion to make sure they are all about the same size. Normal people probably don’t do this. But, I find that 1.7 ounces of dough makes a nice, small muffin that is still big enough to hold an egg sandwich. 2 ounces is a medium sized muffin and 2.3 ounces would be a monster size around our house. When I do 1.7 ounce portions, I usually end up with about 2 and half dozen muffins. Once I have the dough portioned out, I shape them into flat rounds. This is one of the best parts of the recipe. There is just something about handling a nice bread dough. Place the rounds onto a parchment lined baking sheet. You can sprinkle course ground corn meal or semolina on the parchment so you have a little crunch to your final muffin. It is a nice touch, but my corn meal usually ends up burning on the cast iron skillet. I guess its a little give and take that way.

Sourdough English Muffins

Muffins cooking on stovetop

And speaking of baking, English muffins aren’t really baked. They are cooked on the stovetop – kind of like tortillas. I cook mine on a cast iron skillet. They will puff up as they hit the heat and it’s a pretty fun thing for the kids (and grownups) to watch. Sometimes mine brown too quickly and aren’t quite done in the centers. If that happens you, can finish them off in  a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes until the centers reach 190 degrees. I don’t really ever stress about the centers being done. I usually end up splitting most of the muffins and freezing them. When I’m ready to eat the muffins, I toast them – so the centers get finished that way.

As written, this recipe for English Muffins does not rely entirely on the sourdough to give the rise to the muffins. It is kind of a cheater recipe for sourdough. Which makes it a great recipe for anyone who is just starting out with sourdough and is working at gaining confidence in their skills. If you want to convert it to 100% sourdough, then you should 1) make sure your starter is fed and active and 2) eliminate the instant yeast and optional citric acid.

I hope you enjoy these sourdough English muffins!

Sourdough English Muffins
Author: Andrea
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 30 muffins
As with all things whole wheat, if you aren’t using freshly milled whole wheat flour, you can substitute a high quality store a combination of 1/2 store bought white whole wheat flour and white flour, but your final product will be slightly different than mine in taste, texture, and nutrition.
Ingredients
  • 2 T sugar
  • 1 cup warm water (110-115 degree F)
  • 1 cup warm milk
  • 1 T instant yeast (optional if you are using active, fed sourdough starter)
  • 1 c sourdough starter, fed or unfed; fed will give you a more vigorous rise
  • 7-8 cups white whole wheat flour – freshly milled flour strongly recommended!
  • 1/4 c (4 T) butter, at room temperature
  • 1 T salt
  • 1/4 t citric acid (optional, for added sour flavor)
  • semolina or course corn meal, for coating
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients, except, flour and semolina, in the bowl of a stand mixer.
  2. Add flour until dough is soft and at the right consistency for kneading. If using a Bosch universal, you should add flour until the dough just cleans the sides of the bowl. If using an Ankarsrum the dough should pull from the sides of the bowl and form a donut around the kneading arm. The dough can be a little sticky – it will continue to absorb moisture as it rises.
  3. Knead using the mixer for 6-12 minutes (Bosch or Ankarsrum mixers will need 6 minutes while other mixers may need 12 or more minutes) until the dough is smooth and slightly tacky.
  4. Oil dough, place in bowl and cover with plastic wrap or lid. Refrigerate over night or 8-12 hours.
  5. About 1-2 hours before you are ready to make muffins, take dough out of fridge and let come to room temperature. This step can be skipped, if you don’t have time.
  6. Portion dough out for muffins (1.7-2.3 ounces, depending on size preference) and shape into flat rounds.
  7. Warm cast iron skillet on stovetop to a low or medium low setting.
  8. Rest muffins on a cookie pan coated with course ground semolina.
  9. Cook muffins in pan about 5 minutes each side until dark brown. Internal temperature should be 190 degrees. If the muffins brown before being done, they can be finished in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes on a baking sheet.
  10. Split using a fork. Extra muffins freeze perfectly and are perfect for toasting for breakfast.