Most sourdough muffins simply use some discard in them, so I called these a “quickie sourdough.” While they use up some of the ever-present discard jar in my fridge…the flour in them is not truly fermented, so when one has a sensitive tummy, these don't have the benefit of fermentation to keep that tummy happy.
This recipe is the best of both worlds, you can mix and bake right away when you are short on time, OR ferment part of the dough overnight (or all day) and then mix and bake to make the muffins a true sourdough.
While muffins are fun, when one is feeding many children…one can get tired of scooping and baking muffins. I’m happy to tell you that you can bake this recipe in a 9x13 pan, for just a few minutes longer, and then just slice and cut like a cake.
You can bake the batter as is, or we like to dress up in two different ways. If you plan to freeze them, I do not suggest topping them, the toppings get soggy in the freezer. One way is some organic cane sugar sprinkled on top before baking- it makes a lovely sweet crunch that makes this muffin skirt the line on a cupcake. Which is how I like my muffins…
The other way is a quick lemon glaze after they come out of the oven, which works best on a 9x13 pan. If you planned to freeze it, you could take it out of the freezer, fully thaw and then top with a lemon glaze and be on your way!
Mixing up the dough does take a little elbow grease by hand, so feel free to use your mixer, but I find a Danish dough whisk makes short work of mixing by hand. They work well on any batter and are super easy cleaning - stuff doesn't get stuck like it would in a regular whisk.
Baking in a casserole dish makes it easy for you to bulk bake and freeze for another day because muffins freeze so well! Definitely give it a try when your discard is starting to take over the fridge.
Lemon Poppy Seed Sourdough Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups sugar OR ¾ cup honey
- 1 cup buttermilk or milk kefir*
- 2 cups sourdough starter discard
- 3 cups flour all-purpose, whole wheat, or a mix
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest optional but terrific
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup melted butter or liquid oil such as olive or sunflower oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
Glaze (optional)
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1-2 tablespoons water to desired consistency
Instructions
To ferment ahead of time for true sourdough:
- Mix sugar, flour, buttermilk and sourdough discard together in a bowl. Cover and let sit on the counter 6 hours, up to overnight.
To make now:
- Mix the sugar, flour, buttermilk and sourdough discard up and then immediately move onto the next step.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F. Mix in the vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest, poppy seeds, eggs, melted butter, and salt. Mix well. Its going to be a little gloppy/hard to mix, but use your elbow grease!
- Sprinkle the baking soda and baking powder over the whole dough, and mix well for 10-20 seconds. Let sit while you line your muffin pans or grease your 9x13 pan. The chemical reaction with the sourdough and the baking powder/baking soda with change the consistency of the dough to be more like a normal muffin batter.
- Scoop ¼ cup scoops into muffin papers/greased muffin pans or pour the whole bowl in a 9x13 pan.
- If desired, sprinkle with coarse sugar such as organic cane sugar, maybe ½-1 teaspoon per muffin.
To bake:
- Muffin tins take 20 minutes, turning halfway. Check with knife to make sure they are done
- A 9x13 pan takes 30-35 minutes, turning halfway, check with a knife to make sure it is done.
To glaze:
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla, 2 tablespoon lemon juice and then if you want it thinner, 1-2 tablespoon water. Pour over the 9x13 pan.
Notes
- *You can also ‘water’ down plain yogurt to make it buttermilk consistency, roughly half plain yogurt with half milk or water.
- These muffins/loaf really need to cool down to being just warm. If you eat them when they're still hot, they will stick to the papers and be gummy. Sourdough needs to cool down a bit to set up its ‘crumb structure.’
- Nutrition is calculated without glaze.
Wendy
I'm assuming that you would add the flour with the first ferment? I'm looking forward to trying them once I've woken up my sourdough starter.
kateschat
ack sorry, typo! edited now
Melinda
So yummy! My family devoured this. For anyone interested, I substituted coconut sugar for the muffins, and I also made powdered sugar with coconut sugar. It turned out great!
kateschat
Thank you for sharing your substitutes! That really helps
Alison
I just made these with GF starter and just random GF flours (sorghum, tapioca, arrowroot). 1. such an easy recipe (i didn't sour them and literally dumped all the ingredients in a big bowl and used a hand mixer). 2. I appreciate that its a larger recipe, i think i'll use this as the base for all my muffins from now on. Kate, I love every recipe of yours i've tried! Any of the regular ones so far have been easy for me to convert to GF (we have celiac). Thanks so much!
kateschat
That is so awesome!!
Heather_Cavinder
Oh my this recipe is a keeper! My family devoured these so fast! Will definitely be adding to my breakfast rotation!!
freedomberryfarm
This was an awesome recipe as a cake!! Delicious
Kendra
I really had to trust the process while making these and I am so happy I did! They turned out amazing. Very flavourful and definitely a recipe to keep. Both my kids, even my super picky eater, LOVED these.
kateschat
I am so glad you loved them!!!
Emily
This recipe is wonderful! I omitted the poppy seeds and added blueberries to make our Christmas morning muffins. It was flawless! It made 9 muffins and two loaf pans. I added cranberries to one of the loaf pans... SO good! This is now saved as my go to for Christmas morning!
christine knecht
Two whole cups of sourdough discard!? You have outdone yourself haha. I just got done mixing, will let it ferment overnight, and I'm so excited for the end result. Thanks!
[email protected]
The wait will be worth it!
Blair
I don't have baking powder only baking soda so can I just use self rising flour instead of all purpose since it has those in it already? I've done that for other recipes but never for anything that involves sourdough as I'm new to making sourdough and learning what all I can make with it.
[email protected]
Not sure on the self rising flour, but you can make baking powder using baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. I use the Joy of Cooking recipe for that.
Kathy
Mine turned out sunken, any idea why?
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This could happen if your discard is super runny.
Jenny
If you're using active starter, do you still use 2 cups or is it better to use discard?
[email protected]
Yes you still need the two cups or the recipe won't work out.
Christine
One of my favourite sourdough recipes! I’m really tempted to fiddle with it and try making it a banana bread! I love that it’s really soured and not overly sweet (without the glaze).