Muffin Mix

I realized the other day that it had been since classes started since I had posted anything.  Time sure does fly.   I love my new job, and feel like most days I do a pretty good job of it.  Yesterday I had 35 students staring at me blankly as I tried to explain how increasing the number of contributing resonance structures can actually lower the acidity of a proton.   I want them to realize when they are confused about a concept; if it intuitively makes sense whenever I am talking, they will think they know it when really they don't.   However, I don't want to be the one confusing them.  Yesterday I felt like I accidently stepped over the line a bit.

 

Sunday morning we needed a snack to take to church with us, so I decided to make muffins.  As I was getting out the mixing bowl, Riley asked me if I was sure I wanted to do that, because we needed to start out the door in an hour.   By the time she had finished the question I had all my dry ingredients in the bowl, and just needed to add oil and water.  From start to finish, I had muffins baked in 25 minutes.   I have finally, after a year of needing to get to it, figured out a basic muffin mix.  I wish I had pictures for you, but our camera went belly up a few weeks before the move.

 

25 minute Muffins

 

2 ¾ cups dry muffin mix

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4cup water

 

Mix, and Bake, 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.

 

So, what is in the mix? .

 

4 cups Sorghum Flour

2 cups Tapioca Starch

1 ½ cups Rice Flour

½ Cup Amaranth Flour (You may substitute more rice flour, I suppose)

1 ½ cups Sugar

8 tsp Baking Powder

6 tsp Xanthan Gum

4 tsp Salt

3 Tbsp Soy Powder

 

The Soy Powder is so that I don't have to include eggs with the wet ingredients.  For someone with a soy sensitivity, feel free to leave it out, add two eggs and reduce the amount of water when you want get ready to bake.  

 

I'm still thinking about the problem of egg sensitivity AND soy sensitivity, but haven't come up with anything yet.   The problem is that both eggs and soy have high concentrations of an emulsifier called lecithin, which is structurally similar to soap in some ways but tastes a lot better.  Lecithin is a great emulsifier, meaning that it holds the oil and the water together in one phase, like fat free Italian dressing, instead of allowing them to separate like normal dressing does.   One question I need to find the answer to, I suppose is whether someone with egg and soy sensitivity can use purified lecithin, or if it is the lecithin itself that is a problem.  Has anyone who can't eat soy tried purified Soy Lecithin in baking?

 

Using soy powder or soy flour instead of egg works fairly well in most things that I've baked.  It's really only since we moved that I've been able to experiment with soy in Gluten free baking because Hildegard, for whom I did some baking, couldn't handle soy.   1 ½ tsp soy with some extra water, like a Tbsp or so, is a pretty good egg substitute in muffins and cakes, but it doesn't work as well in bread and works horribly with waffles.   It may be the lack of cholesterol, I don't know, but they stick something awful in the waffle iron.  It may be that if I added extra oil to compensate, it would go better.