The Muffin Rise Test

Big question: What does baking powder really do in a muffin?

Bake muffins from one batter with none, the right amount and double the baking powder, then compare height and taste.

What you need

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• A muffin pan with 6 paper liners
• A large mixing bowl
• 3 small bowls
• A ruler
• Paper and a pencil
• A toothpick

What to do

1. Mix one batterWash your hands first and check every ingredient with your grown-up, who heats the oven to 375 F (190 C). Stir the flour, sugar and salt in the large bowl. Crack the egg into one of the small bowls, then wash your hands, because raw egg can carry germs. Stir the egg, milk and oil into the flour until no dry flour shows. No tasting the raw batter.
2. Split itDivide the batter evenly between the three small bowls. Label them none, right and double. Stir no baking powder into the none bowl, 1/2 teaspoon into the right bowl and 1 teaspoon into the double bowl. Stir well so no lumps of powder are left.
3. Fill and bakeSpoon each bowl into two liners. Draw a pan map, a quick picture of the pan that shows which muffins are none, right and double. Your grown-up bakes them for 15 to 18 minutes, until a toothpick poked into the middle comes out clean.
4. MeasureWhen cool, measure how tall each muffin is. Break one of each in half. Big holes, small holes or hardly any?
5. TasteTaste a bite of each. Which is dense, which is light, and which tastes a little bitter?

What is happening?

Baking powder is baking soda mixed with a dry acid. Wet batter and oven heat make it give off carbon dioxide bubbles, which lift the batter before the heat sets it. With none, the muffin stays flat and dense, and the right amount makes it tall and fluffy. Double makes big bubbles that can burst, so the muffin may sink, and the extra leaves a bitter taste.

The oven and hot pan are grown-up jobs. No tasting the raw batter, because it has raw flour and raw egg. Wash your hands after touching raw egg or batter.

Try it

• 
  Junior Bakers

  Vanilla Brown Sugar Muffins

• 
  Little Helpers

  Vanilla Blueberry Muffins

Check yourself