Assortment of Muffins
By Cat, Jun 2008; updated Jan 2012 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)
- See also: 1. Breads & Muffins Menu; 2. Grains, Flours & Starches (About) Menu; 3. Crumb or Nut-Crumble Topping for Muffins; 4. Sugar and Other Sweeteners Menu; 5. Spelt vs Wheat in Baked Goods & Pasta
- Inclues: 1. Rye Muffins, Scandinavian Style; 2. Rye Muffins, Version II (Wheat, Spelt, Oat, and Barley-Free)
Rye breads are very common in Scandinavia, the home of my ancestors, and they have long been a favorite of mine. So I was excited to find recipes for a quick bread version of Swedish Limpa, as muffins. especially if you add the “Scandinavian flavors”.
I include a wheat, spelt, oat and barley-free version that uses the presoak method. The flours used in this version are rye, quinoa, and bulgur or kasha (buckwheat) flour.
Rye Muffins, Scandinavian Style
There is just something special about the sweetness of rye combined with caraway seeds, as in this recipe.
I’ve adapted this recipe from a package of Bob’s Red Mill Organic Dark Rye Flour (1), originally titled “Hearthside Rye Muffins”. The original includes both whole wheat pastry flour and dark rye flour, but I’m avoiding wheat so have modified to use an optional mix of spelt, barley and oat, instead of wheat. If using spelt, you may need less liquid or more flour.
Coconut oil is my preferred oil for this type of baked product; however it is solid at cooler room temperatures, so you need to melt it first and then stir into the batter before it has a chance to solidify again.
Makes 12 muffins.
Ingredients & Equipment:
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or whole spelt flour (or mix of 1/2 cup whole spelt & 1/4 cup each whole oat and barley flours)
- 1 cup dark rye flour
- 2 Tbsp Rapadura sugar (or light brown cane sugar)
- 1 tsp unrefined sea salt
- 1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp whole caraway seeds (or less if also adding ‘Scandinavian flavors’ below)
- 1 cup whole milk (raw preferred)
- 1 egg
- ½ cup olive oil or melted coconut oil; see also Good Fats for Cooking
- Scandinavian flavor options:
- 1 ½ tsp finely grated fresh orange zest, added to wet mix
- ¼ tsp anise seeds (add these to the presoak mix)
- ¾ tsp caraway seeds (instead of 2 tsp) added to presoak mix
- ¼ tsp ground cumin or cardamom added to dry mix
- Other options:
- about ⅓ cup fresh or dried berries, with or after adding the liquids. If using sweetened dried cranberries, skip or reduce the sugar; if using dried blueberries, use only 1 Tbsp sugar.
- Equipment:
- 2 ea. 6-muffin baking pans
- 12 muffin papers
- flour sifter
- 2 medium bowls
- large bowl
Method:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease and flour 12 muffin cups (or fill cups with muffin papers).
- Sift together dry ingredients (excluding seeds) into medium bowl. Stir in seeds.
- Combine liquids (milk, egg and oil) in other medium bowl and whisk until combined, then stir into dry ingredients.
- Spoon into prepared muffin cups (fill empty cups with water) and bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, until done according to toothpick test.
Rye Muffins Version II (Wheat-Spelt-Oat-Barley & Dairy Free)
Jan 2012: For a short time, I’m avoiding wheat, spelt, oat & barley because I muscle-tested sensitive to these; rye was OK; also avoiding dairy. So I developed this version that avoids these problem foods.
You may not be familiar with bulgur flour; it is made by grinding bulgur (sprouted or roasted wheat). Strangely enough, I don’t have a problem with bulgur even tho I do with wheat. If bulgur is a problem for you, grind up some kasha (sprouted or roasted buckwheat).
If you like a Scandinavian flavor, add the optional spices to the next-day flour mix, the seeds to the presoak, and the zest to the egg mix (idea from Gourmet (2).
I’ve adapted this recipe for a presoak, but if you don’t want to do that, sift all dry ingredients together, then stir in seeds. Combine all liquids and whisk to combine, then stir into dry ingredients. Bake.
Ingredients
- Presoak:
- 1 cup dark rye flour
- ⅓ cup quinoa flour
- ⅓ cup bulgur or kasha flour
- 2 tsp whole caraway seeds
- 1 Tbsp coconut yogurt (or regular yogurt if not avoiding dairy)
- 1 cup almond milk or diluted coconut milk (or raw milk, if not avoiding dairy)
- Next day, Wet mix:
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp Rapadura sugar (or light brown cane sugar)
- ½ cup olive oil or melted coconut oil; see also Good Fats for Cooking
- Dry mix:
- ⅓ cup light rye flour
- 1 Tbsp coconut flour (used to absorb the liquids used in the presoak).
- 1 tsp unrefined sea salt
- 1 tsp baking powder (aluminum free)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- Scandinavian flavor options:
- 1 ½ tsp finely grated fresh orange zest, added to wet mix
- ¼ tsp anise seeds (add these to the presoak mix)
- ¾ tsp caraway seeds (instead of 2 tsp) added to presoak mix
- ¼ tsp ground cumin or cardamom added to dry mix
- Other options:
- Add fresh or dried berries, about ⅓ cup to the dry mix, to dredge. If you use sweetened dried cranberries, skip or reduce the sugar; if you use dried blueberries, use only 1 Tbsp sugar.
Method:
- Presoak: Combine presoak flours and caraway seeds together. Stir coconut yogurt into almond/coconut milk, then stir into flour/seed mix. Cover and let rest on counter overnight.
- Next day: Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease and flour 12 muffin cups (or fill cups with muffin papers).
- Combine wet mix in medium bowl and whisk until combined, then stir into presoak mixture.
- Sift together dry mix, then stir into batter, but don’t over-mix.
- Spoon into prepared muffin cups (fill any empty cups with water) and bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes.
Testing 1/13/12: made as written except I added about ¼ cup damp almond meal left over from making almond milk to the presoak mixture. I used almond milk and coconut yogurt. I did not add the Scandinavian flavor options this time. 1/14/12: batter was nice and soft this AM when I mixed it up with the remaining ingredients. However, after adding the dry mix, it was a bit too stiff so I added another ⅓ cup water to get a muffin-batter texture. Next time, if I use almond meal, I won’t add coconut flour; if no almond meal, I’ll try just ½ Tbsp coconut flour. Greased tins with coconut oil and the batter just filled 12 muffin cups about ⅔ full. Baked at 400 F for 15 minutes; they seemed to need a bit more time, so I rotated the muffin tins and baked another 5 minutes. Perfect. Result: very tasty – I love rye and caraway. But they would have been even better with butter (but I’m avoiding dairy) or jam. The texture was nice – soft and not heavy/dense, even tho they only rose a tad above the top of the tin. They were done just right – I’m glad I gave them that extra 5 minutes.
References:
- Bob’s Red Mill, Hearthside Rye Muffins recipe no longer available on Bob’s Red Mill site, but is available on vendselscook.blogspot.com/2007/02/hearthside-rye-muffins.html
- Gourmet recipe ideas: epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Scandinavian-Rye-Muffins-235781#ixzz1jLvY9DMn
