Aren’t these little muffins just so cute? It makes me really happy just to look at them. So poofy, and plump, with shiny little sesame seeds on top. What else can you do, but smile?
Plump and poofy – so cute!
Well, to tell you the truth. They’re great. They taste ahh-mazing. They have a distinct sourdough flavor, compensated with a nutty flavor from the sunflower seeds and a hint of liquorice from the anise seeds. Soft and moist inside, with a nice crust as you can see. But. Because there is a but.
Don’t do what I did and put them in baking cups. It’s a nightmare.
Don’t let the baking cups fool you.
I mean, they’re pretty to look at. But you’ll never be able to get the muffins out of the baking cup, without leaving the bottom of the muffin in it. I ended up cutting off the sides and the bottom of the baking cups with a sharp knife. It was very annoying. Seemed like a lot of work for an impulse that just meant to make the muffins look cuter. Baah. I’m never making anything look cute again.
But you should totally make these muffins. Without the baking cups.
One of the better sourdough rolls I’ve ever made. Love the sunflower seed/anise combination.
Sunflower anise sourdough muffins
Total time: 12 hours to let the pre-dough get active. Then another 6 hours to let the dough rise and baking the muffins. Makes 12 muffins.
Ingredients
Day 1
- 90 g (3.2 oz) rye starter
- 362 g (12.8 oz, not fluid!) filtered water
- 235 g (8.3 oz) bread flour
Day 2
- 1 tbsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp honey
- 0.5 tbsp anise seeds
- 0.5 cup sunflower seeds
- 215 g (7.6 oz) whole wheat flour
- 145 g (5.1 oz) bread flour
Toppings
wheat germ
1 egg
sesame seeds
Instructions
Mix starter, water and flour in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in room temperature for 12 hours, until the pre-dough is active and bubbly.
Dinner rolls perhaps?
Add sea salt, honey, anise seeds, sunflower seeds, whole wheat flour and bread flour until you have a firm dough. Let the dough rise in the bowl, covered with a kitchen towel, for 3 hours. Take out the dough on a floured surface and divide it in 12 pieces. Roll each piece to a round ball, roll them in wheat germ, and put in a greased oven tray (you don’t want to use baking cups like I did – they will stick to the bread). Let the muffins rise for 2-3 hours.
Too bad that the baking cups didn’t work. I really liked them.
Preheat the oven to 500°F. Brush the muffins with eggwash and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Spray some water on the bottom of the oven and bake the muffins for about 10 minutes at 500°F. Lower the temperature to 390°F and bake another 10 minutes, until the muffins are golden brown and sound hollow when you knock on the bottom.
Remove from the muffin pan and let cool on a rack.
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This post has been submitted to YeastSpotting.