mmarks

Thank you so much for all the responses. I'm limited in freezer space as well as space in general so the baking and defrosting doesn't work for me. I read the Fine Cooking article and took it to suggest that with a little additional baking powder, batters will stay good for quite some time. I emailed King Arthur flour because they have a blueberry muffin recipe on their site that is supposed to keep as batter for up to a week. They suggested that any baking powder based recipe will keep. So I used my typical muffin recipe, added just an extra tsp baking powder for a test batch of 12 that I baked 4 of each day. They baked up just as high on the third day as the first and the taste seemed the same to me. I left out the add ins because I didn't want them to get mushy in the fridge, so it's still a little bit of work right before baking. I am really intrigued by the Master Mix idea. I did a quick search and noticed all the use of shortening so I'm glad to hear that it can be done with butter. I'm going to play around with formulas; if anyone would be willing to share a formula that works for a variety of applications, that would be great. When I find one I like, I'll definitely post it.

I run a very small teahouse and offer a few home-baked goods to accompany the tea. The kitchen is tiny and I can only bake a few items at a time, and I don't sell very much. Nevertheless, my customers like the fact that the items are fresh and home-baked, and it's important to me to continue to offer the stuff, and to have a variety of choices available. Problem has been that I spend several hours baking each day even though it's only a very small percentage of my revenue. The solution has been to find recipes where I can prepare dough/batter a couple of times a week, and then pop in the oven as needed. It works great for chocolate chip cookies and madeleines, and I'd like to expand into muffins and cupcakes. I've read the threads and it seems like some people believe batter can last a few days, while others prefer to bake and then freeze. I would prefer not to bake and freeze. So, I'm seeking your expertise, please. I imagine that the issue is leavening (maybe there are other issues like mixing method, I don't know), and that the use of double acting baking powder should help, but does anyone have guidance on great base recipes for muffins and/or cupcakes that will last as batter in the fridge for a few days and bake up great. Thank you so much!