Secrets of the Domes
How to Muffins with Big Tall Domes
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Dennis Weaver

It’s really easy to make nice, high-domed muffins. Follow these guidelines and your muffins will be the envy of the neighborhood.

1. Fill your muffin tins. Time and again, we see recipes that direct you to fill your muffin tins 2/3’s full. That’s not enough batter for high-domed muffins. Fill your muffin tins nearly full. Your favorite recipe that calls for 12 muffins may only make nine or ten high-domed muffins. Fill any empty tins half full of water.
2. Make sure that your batter is thick. In a full tin, a thin batter will flow all over your oven before setting. Your batter should be “spoonable” not pourable.
3. Get your oven hot enough. Set your oven temperature to 425 degrees. Yes, we know, most recipes list a temperature of 350 or 375 degrees Fahrenheit. You need a high temperature to create a burst of steam which will lift the top of the muffin and quickly set the starches and proteins in the muffin. After six or eight minutes, set the temperature back to the lower setting. If you leave it on the high temperature, the muffins will bake too rapidly and will likely be crusty.

There it is—three simple rules to make very attractive muffins.

Thanks for reading this article.   Dennis Weaver is the founder (with his wife Merri Ann) and president of The Prepared Pantry.  He has worked as a baker and has written extensively about baking.  Don’t forget to get his free downloadable 250 page baking book, How to Bake.  It contains the information that culinary schools teach professional bakers and will improve your baking.