In the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Oklahoma!,” the signature song opens with:
Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain / And the wavin’ wheat can sure smell sweet / When the wind comes right behind the rain.
Those lyrics capture wheat bran at its best — earthy, sweet, invigorating — but even the shimmer of that tune can’t lighten bran’s heavy image. It’s rightfully associated with fiber, but often wrongly assumed to be as scratchy as twine. By extension, bran muffins are vilified both as a form of good-for-you breakfast torture and as a Trojan horse for unhealthy heaps of sugar.
They can, of course, be both. But they can also be exceptional, a morning underdog to blueberry’s obvious appeal and banana’s brazen charm. Done right, they beat them all. Not only do they taste more complex, they feel like fortitude because, well, they are, slowly doling out energy for hours.
These mahogany treats deliver the toasted nuttiness and hearty chew of wheat bran and avoid whole wheat’s common afflictions of heaviness and bitterness in baked goods. The depth of dates and molasses highlight bran’s natural sweetness, and oil and buttermilk lend a touch of richness.
But the key technique that makes these muffins special, glossy with a floral aroma and fresh burst of citrus, is infusing them with an orange-honey blend right out of the oven. This trick of poking toothpick holes in baked goods, then brushing them with syrup while warm is usually applied to cakes, and it transforms bran muffins, ensuring they stay soft and moist for days.
Another insurance against a cardboard finish is simply adding liquid — a lot of it — to the batter. Soaking the bran before baking not only keeps the muffins from drying out, it also ensures that they end up tender.
Infusing the muffins with an orange-honey blend makes these muffins special, glossy with a floral aroma and a fresh burst of citrus.Credit…Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.
To understand how wheat bran arrives at that optimal state is to understand the wheat berry from which it comes. Also known as wheat kernels, wheat berries are encased in husks zipped along the tops of stalks and removed in a process known as threshing. Once the inedible chaff and stalks are removed, the wheat berries remain, each composed of three parts: a hard, thin sheath of bran, which surround a large endosperm and little germ. Grinding the berries, trinity and all, yields whole wheat flour. But the parts can be separated when the berries are milled: The endosperm alone becomes all-purpose (white) flour, and the bran and germ are sold on their own.
Wheat bran is primarily insoluble fiber with a little protein, fat and phenolic compounds. Those compounds give bran its tannic edge, its signature complexity with the dark roast notes of coffee and the deep purple of red wine. In excess, that tannic flavor can lead to the sandpaper mouth feel you get when you drink oversteeped black tea or the dregs of a wine bottle. Acidic liquids can tame that bitterness. In these muffins, orange juice does just that, while the fruit’s zest perfumes the batter.
Orange juice tames the bran’s tannic edge before and after baking.Credit…Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.
Unlike all-purpose flour, bran can absorb two to three times its weight in liquid. Some recipes call for soaking bran in boiling or hot water to speed the grain’s softening, but liquid at any temperature works as well. A good proportion of water is ideal for thoroughly hydrating the bran.
In this recipe, orange juice also douses the bran before and after baking. It makes these muffins just sweet enough to balance robust tannins and just special enough so their healthy fiber content is secondary to how great they taste.
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