My son Jacob has started milling grains the old-fashioned way using a stone flour mill. You can purchase flour, wheat bran, and other goodies from him at the Roaring Fork Mill.
I made the bran muffins from The Grand Central Baking Book. The only addition I made was a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar and a half pecan to the top of each muffin. The only thing I forgot to add was the buttermilk! I didn’t follow my own “Baking 101 Rule” which is to read the ingredient list out loud after mixing to make sure I remembered everything.
Maybe the super dry batter should have given me a hint that the buttermilk was missing! My baker intuition gave me pause, but I hadn’t added the grated apple and figured that would add another layer of moisture. Moral: trust your intuition!
Surprisingly, the muffins still turned out OK. They are dense and don’t have the light crumb that would have resulted from the addition of buttermilk. The grated apple and golden raisins did provide enough moisture to make them palatable and the molasses gives them a robust flavor. The good news is that I have plenty more bran (and buttermilk!) so I’ll be making them again soon.
If you find yourself in Portland, OR be sure to stop at one of the Grand Central Bakery locations. Try one of everything, you won’t have a moment of regret!
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