KAF recipe for bb muffins

John, just as a slight side-track. You keep asking about cost effectiveness and your baked goods. That, by itself, is a meaningless term.

In general, cost-effective would be a balance between what it costs you in time, ingredients, and overhead (and amortization of capital goods) vs. what you can sell it for. Thus, if a muffin cost you 10 cents to make, and you sold it for 11 cents, it wouldn't be cost effective. But if you sold it for 20 cents, it would be.

But it goes a lot further, because with foodstuffs in particular there are intangible marketing considerations. F'rinstance, what is the value of you're being able to proclaim, "all (muffins), (cake), (bread), (whatever) baked fresh daily on premisis?"

Now, let's say it costs you 10 cents to make, and you can buy it for 10 cents. Objectively, baking your own would not be cost effective. But what if, because of the "fresh daily" concept, your business improved 20, or 25, or 50%? Wouldn't it make sense for you to keep offering those non-cost-effective baked goods?

The whole cost-effectiveness thing makes a lot of sense to me -- maybe not in its econ techno-jargon meaning -- but in the normal sense of time, trouble, and expense.  Afterall, you are a business -- and if it doesn't make money there are better things on which to spend time. 

And... Speaking of business, you might want to repost this in the pro baking forum.

I'm not much of a muffin baker.  To the extent that I have any professional baking perspective at all, it comes from catering -- and in that context you tend to look at things more as a gestalt than by breaking everything down into individual profit potential. 

Getting back to cost effectiveness.  I think you have to make a decision as to whether it's worth it to you to make the best you possibly can regardless of expense -- which is what "bread basket" pretty much means -- or whether you're going to make compromises.  And if so, exactly which corners you're willing to cut.

My advice is to cut no corner.  Use the best possible ingredients.  If I had to point to one particular pitfall, it would be using less than optimal fat -- and butter especially.  Use fresh, high quality butter.  It makes a difference.  Another sensitive spot, especially with muffins, is berries.  It's not always feasible to use fresh berries, but they weep a lot less than frozen.    

If you're working in very small quantities -- a couple of dozen say -- you can't have too much variety.  It's just not worth the time in cleaning mixing bowls to make batches of three or four.  I'd suggest keeping it down to no less than 1/2 doz per batch, and a selection of two or three:  either a sweet and a whole meal or bran; or, two sweets -- a berry and a citrus or a nut -- and some sort of whole meal or bran.  That way you can present a choice of texures as well as flavors.

Keep fooling around until your customers dictate the particular choices.  I suggest baking minis and giving them away as samples in order to get feedback.

Luck,
BDL



 

If you use a cream cake batter (you ca probably get it from a commercial supplier in a 50lb bag) It's easy to make a large batch and store in a 5 gallon bucket (if you have the room for it) in a fridge. then when you make muffins i the morning you start with standard Blueberry by scooping out into tins and adding berries to the top and do the same with a cranberry and orange zest. Then measure out a portion (for at least a dozen) into another bowl add some almondine (very little it's potent) and some poppy seeds and voila! poppy seed muffins,  can also make a banana nut with a little flavoring and some walnuts.

For bran muffins I would look for a good bran muffin recipe from someone, any of the commercial ones I have tried always seemed very heavy.