when you don't dash out anymore just to get an ingredient

July 28, 2020 8:28 AM

I am going to make Smitten Kitchen's blueberry muffins right now, and in the age of Covid I limit trips to the store.

So, I have buttermilk here but no yogurt or sour cream as called for. I am sure the flavor will be great with a buttermilk substitution, but should I cut back on the flour? If so how much? I don't want to go to the trouble of baking and have less than scrumptious muffins.
(Yes I could wait til I have the yogurt but that's not practical because... we don't want to. )

posted by nantucket to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

Best answer: ETA after examining recipes: this recipe appears to be the original one, made with only buttermilk. she modified it for yogurt. I'd use this one rather than messing with the other's proportions.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:33 AM on July 28, 2020 [4 favorites]

Best answer: If you wanted to use the SK recipe you would probably need a lot less buttermilk. Buttermilk is basically a liquid you can pour/drink and yogurt or sour cream are not. Note how your recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of flour and 3/4 cup of yogurt and the one fingersandtoes found calls for 2 1/2 cups of flour and a cup of buttermilk - that’s 2/3 more flour but only 1/3 more buttermilk. So I‘d definitely not reduce the flour but I’d use less buttermilk than yogurt to avoid making the mix too wet. So start with a third or half the amount and then incorporate the dry ingredients. If that feels too thick add a bit more buttermilk. Incorporate fully every time before adding more until the consistency seems right - look at the pic where the blueberries are scattered on top of the mix - it’s a pretty thick mix. If you picked some up with a spoon it wouldn’t drip.
posted by koahiatamadl at 9:10 AM on July 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I would just use the buttermilk and half the amount of the measured buttermilk to add in by little if the mix seems too dry. Muffins are pretty flexible. I wouldn’t use less flour, buttermilk has more water than yogurt, so the problem you could run in to is too loose of a batter... but in my experience the range of wetness for muffin batter is wide.
posted by Swisstine at 9:12 AM on July 28, 2020

Response by poster: Thank you all for your input. I used half the buttermilk and they had the same taste and texture they always do.
posted by nantucket at 11:12 AM on July 28, 2020 [1 favorite]