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I make mini muffins maybe twice a year using my sourdough discard muffin recipe. That’s it. We love them and they’re so fun, but I do not have the patience to make tiny muffins and clean the dang silicone molds. It’s not hard… but my brain says nahhhhh. Today was the day to make some and I’m so glad I did. They sounded good and it was rainy and dreary outside and I wanted make my kids a fun and quick snack, plus a quick breakfast tomorrow morning. I have my own sourdough starter and had recently given it a very big feed and forgot to put it in the fridge, so I had some discard to use up. Some of my very favorite sourdough recipes are discard recipes! I honestly think most times I keep my starter going just to discard! I don’t think this recipe makes a lot of mini muffins honestly, but then I look at the servings and it says 60 muffins… which still doesn’t seem like that many.. but then my brain says THAT’S FIVE DOZEN and all of the sudden it seems excessive :D

Now. You’ll see people call these little bites dupes and I’m telling you… you ain’t getting a muffin like that at home. So don’t even expect it. If you expect to bake these up and they taste exactly like opening a pack of little bite muffins, you’re nuts. The beauty of making homemade food is that it doesn’t contain the crazy poison ingredients they add in store bought to make it hyperpalatable and addicting.

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Just read this ingredients list from the Little Bites website:

[Enriched wheat flour, Liquid whole eggs, Water, Sugars (sugar, fructose), Chocolate chips [sugars (sugar, dextrose), unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural flavour], Vegetable oil, Glycerin, Modified milk ingredients, Modified corn starch, Baking powder, Mono and diglycerides, Potassium sorbate, Salt, Sorbitan monostearate, Xanthan gum, Sodium stearoyl lactylate, Polysorbate 60, Cellulose gum, Corn flour, Phosphoric acid, Sodium propionate, Soy lecithin, Natural flavour.]

Now, read the ingredients list for my recipe. The store bought version has gums and dough conditioners and NaTuRaL flavors to help enhance and make everything taste absolutely amazing so we buy more. You’re not going to get that texture nor flavor at home. So when you try these and you’re like “those taste nothing like little bites,” THAT’S THE POINT. If you’re used to highly processed foods, going cold turkey to homemade is going to be an adventure training your tongue and brain to like more wholesome, bland, and simple food. But trust me, once you give it up, you won’t go back. We recently tried eating doritos for NYE and they don’t even taste good anymore… I could have demolished a whole bag years ago. They taste fake and strange. Disappointing! But that’s what happens when you detox from highly processed food. There are so many health benefits to ditching these awful ingredients and moving to more wholesome food… yeah it’s more work, but you won’t regret it. And making my own muffins every once in a while for a fun snack? A welcome addition to my household.

These muffins use simple ingredients and are very rich and filling with a lovely soft texture. The fresh milled flour adds delicious flavor, texture, and a healthy twist of protein you wont’ get form store-bought flour all purpose flour, or even whole wheat flour. They whip up quick and bake quick, too, so it doesn’t take much time at all to have a bowl full of muffins to nosh on for the rest of the week. Sourdough discard muffins are a great way to use sourdough starter, second only to cheese crackers. Sourdough starter discard makes so many great things with a nice subtle tang!

Milling Flour

Yeah, to get fresh milled flour it’s easiest to use a grain mill. There’s a bunch on the market and they aren’t cheap, so do your research and find one that’ll fit your needs. I like having one that can handle milling even popcorn so that was a huge plus for the one I have (which is linked in the recipe card section of this blog post if you’re interested). Aim for the best model you can afford that doesn’t overheat your grains (reducing the nutritional value) and that is durable and will work well for your needs. Milling flour has become second nature after exclusively using it for over a year now, so you do get used to just another extra step when baking. It’s not THAT bad, don’t be dramatic. While fresh milled flour wasn’t a necessary switch for my homesteading journey, I’m really glad now that I did it, because we couldn’t imagine going back to dead flour.

Equipment You Might Want:

mini muffin tin / silicone molds
mixing bowl
dough whisk
grain mill
melon baller scoop

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups fresh milled soft white wheat (I mill 2 1/3 cups soft white wheat berries to get this)
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup raw unrefined sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup kefir, buttermilk, or whey
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Let’s make some mini sourdough muffins!

Step 1: Make the Batter

Start by milling the wheat berries. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together active starter or sourdough discard, melted butter, sugar, eggs, kefir, and vanilla extract.

Add the dry ingredients to a separate bowl and stir to combine: fresh milled flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir to combine, being careful not to overmix. Some streaks of unmixed flour are perfectly fine.

Cover the bowl and allow the muffin batter to sit 30 minutes to 4 hours to let the fresh milled flour rehydrate and some of the fermentation process to happen.

Step 2: Baking

Preheat oven to 375F.

Once rested, fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Spoon 1 Tablespoon scoops using a spoon or a melon baller into each cavity of your mini muffin tin or silicone mold (placed on a cookie sheet for ease in transferring).

Place tins in the oven and bake for about 13 minutes, or til muffins are set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a couple crumbs. Baking time varies between ovens.

Remove muffins from the oven and allow to cool almost completely on a cooling rack in molds before removing. Fresh milled flour makes these muffins really tender and they’re sometimes really difficult to remove from the molds without them crumbling when they’re hot. I tend to underbake them slightly so they can finish cooking as they cool in the molds.

Step 3: Storage

Remove from molds and store in an airtight container. They also freeze well. I flash freeze them in a single layer on a baking tray and then vacuum seal them in portions, but I rarely have to do that since we normally eat all 60+ in 24 hours LOL.

Notes:

You can sub the butter for melted coconut oil, lard, or tallow successfully.

You can use hard white wheat, just use less, and plan on not having the same texture and tender crumb as with soft, but they’ll turn out pretty good!

I hope you enjoy some sourdough chocolate chip muffins! They’re really delicious.

Fresh Milled Sourdough Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Servings: muffins

Author: Ruby – Red Feather Farm

Equipment

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups fresh milled soft white wheat I mill 2 1/3 cups soft white wheat berries to get this
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup butter melted
1 cup raw unrefined sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup kefir buttermilk, or whey
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

Start by milling the wheat berries. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together active starter or sourdough discard, melted butter, sugar, eggs, kefir, and vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients to a separate bowl and stir to combine: fresh milled flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir to combine, being careful not to overmix. Some streaks of unmixed flour are perfectly fine.
Cover the bowl and allow the muffin batter to sit 30 minutes to 4 hours to let the fresh milled flour rehydrate and some of the fermentation process to happen.
Preheat oven to 375F.
Once rested, fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.
Spoon 1 Tablespoon scoops using a spoon or a melon baller into each cavity of your mini muffin tin or silicone mold (placed on a cookie sheet for ease in transferring).
Place tins in the oven and bake for about 13 minutes, or til muffins are set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a couple crumbs. Baking time varies between ovens.
Remove muffins from the oven and allow to cool almost completely on a cooling rack in molds before removing. Fresh milled flour makes these muffins really tender and they’re sometimes really difficult to remove from the molds without them crumbling when they’re hot. I tend to underbake them slightly so they can finish cooking as they cool in the molds.
Remove from molds and store in an airtight container. They also freeze well. I flash freeze them in a single layer on a baking tray and then vacuum seal them in portions, but I rarely have to do that since we normally eat all 60+ in 24 hours.

Notes