I finally caught myself overmixing muffin batter for 15 years

Was making blueberry muffins last Sunday and noticed they came out tough again. My mom watched me and said "you're beating the hell out of that batter, stop." Turns out I was mixing until smooth when you're only supposed to mix until the flour just disappears. Has anyone else had a basic technique totally flip on them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamesroberts11d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, same here for way too long! I used to think mixing batter until it looked perfectly smooth was the right thing to do because that's how my grandma always did it. Then a few years ago a friend who works in a bakery told me I was basically making hockey pucks. I tried her method of just folding until the flour disappears and it changed everything. Now my muffins actually come out fluffy instead of dense and chewy. What kind of muffins do you usually make?

elliot_patel10d ago

Oh boy, this reminds me of the time I tried to make cornbread for a potluck and followed the recipe exactly, only to realize I used baking powder that expired in 2019. Everyone just stared at this sad little brick on the table, and I had to pretend it was a new "dense" style I was trying out. Never made that mistake again, now I check dates on everything before I even start mixing.