These sourdough lemon poppy seed muffins are next level. If you haven’t seen the other posts in this series (and especially if you feel the teensiest bit intimidated by sourdough – start here.
While we usually think of sourdough in terms of bread, sourdough fermentation can be applied to a number of different flour-based goods, such as pancakes and muffins, like these sourdough lemon poppy seed muffins.
Using slow fermentation always makes me feel like I am doing less work because the work is divided up. For example, you can mix up these muffins at night, add in a few more ingredients in the morning, and pop them in the oven to bake as you get ready for the day. The result is a lemon poppy seed muffin that is both delicious and good for you.
What are the healthy benefits of sourdough?
With a traditional sourdough starter, flour and water combine and the mixture takes on the wild yeasts in the air and ferments, colonizing healthy bacteria and yeast. This makes the resulting baked good healthier, easier to digest, and decidedly more delicious.
Some of the benefits of sourdough fermentation include:
- Sourdough reduces phytates in grains, making the bake good more digestible and allowing your body to better access the nutrients in the grains.
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Fermentation helps the body digest protein
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Fermentation makes gluten easier to digest
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Sourdough stabilizes blood sugar levels
- Despite baking, sourdough baked goods still have probiotic benefits
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Fermentation protects against mold
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Sourdough keeps you feeling full more than quick fermented bread items
How are sourdough muffins different?
The texture of a sourdough muffin is a little different from conventional muffins, mainly because it doesn’t have a sticky sugar-laden soft outside. They are sweet enough to be a treat but not so sweet as to send you into a sugar coma.
The sourdough taste factor is controlled by how sour your starter is to begin with (more frequent feedings equals sweeter starter) and how long you leave the dough to ferment. To make the muffins still acceptable to non-sourdough eating tastebuds, I usually leave the batter about 8 hrs, although you can leave yours longer of course.
The easiest flour to use is (organic) all-purpose wheat flour. I’ve made muffins with rye flour before, and while they taste good they are softer and don’t hold the classic muffin dome shape. Spelt flour is also possible, but you’ll want to cut the fermentation to about four hours, as spelt retains water differently than wheat and becomes gooey if fermented too long.
Warning: Highly addictive. You may not be able to eat just one.
Sourdough Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- 2.0 stars
- 8h 10m
- 30m
- 8h 40m
- 12 muffins
Ingredients
- 1/2 c sourdough starter
- 1/2 c honey
- 2 tsp. lemon zest, grated
- 4 tbsp. lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1/3 c melted butter, ghee, or coconut oil
- 2 tbsp. poppy seeds
- 2 c all purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 c water, or milk
Instructions
- The day or evening before, stir together sourdough starter, honey, melted butter, juice and rind of two lemons, and poppy seeds. Add flour and mix. Cover from the air (I find a large plate the sits within a large mixing bowl works well). Let sit 8-12 hrs.
- When ready to make the muffins, preheat oven to 350F/180C. Whisk eggs. Sprinkle salt and baking soda into the water or milk and whisk, then add to eggs.
- Pour egg mixture into flour mixture and stir until smooth.
- Spoon batter into a greased or lined muffin tin. I filled mine more than 3/4 full – pretty much to the top of silicone liners.
- Bake for half an hour or until golden brown. Take out of oven and allow to cool. Enjoy!
Savannah Larson
I followed this recipe exactly, the flour mixture made the night before is so thick and dry, is there supposed to be some liquid added the night before a side from the oil and lemon juice? Follows recipe exactly and did not turn out. I think it needs more liquid?
Real Plans
Hi Savannah,
Did you add the honey? We’re so sorry this didn’t work out well for you.