Soft Strawberry Muffins with 00 Flour

These soft strawberry muffins are probably the closest I’ve ever come to proper bakery-style muffins at home.

Not giant American bakery muffins piled dramatically high with strawberries balanced on top for Instagram purposes. Actual soft, delicate, fluffy muffins that stay lovely and tender even the next day.

And the reason is the flour.

I started making these with 00 flour almost by accident after having some left from pizza dough, and the texture difference was amazing. The crumb is much lighter and more delicate than standard strawberry muffins – almost like the cross between a muffin and a really good sponge cake.

The strawberries work especially well in this softer style of muffin too because they almost melt slightly into the sponge as they bake, giving little pockets of jammy fruit all the way through. It’s the same reason I love using strawberries in my wild strawberry and polenta cake – softer bakes seem to suit them particularly well. These barely last 24 hours in our house!

Why strawberry muffins can sometimes become dense or soggy

Fruit muffins can actually be quite difficult to get right. Fresh strawberries release loads of moisture while baking, which is why strawberry muffins sometimes end up dense in the middle and wet around the fruit.

That’s also why I’m quite careful about texture in other fruit bakes like my gooseberry muffins too – once fruit starts releasing liquid into batter, things can go downhill quite quickly if the recipe isn’t balanced properly.

Using 00 flour helps massively here because the lighter flour keeps the crumb soft.

A few other things make a big difference too:

• keeping the strawberry pieces fairly small
• not overmixing the batter
• using ripe strawberries, but not very soft ones
• letting the butter cool slightly before mixing

The ingredients that make these muffins work

• Type 00 flour – The ingredient that completely changes the texture. It creates that ultra-soft crumb that makes these muffins feel much more bakery-style than standard homemade muffins. If you can’t find 00 flour, use a finely milled plain flour instead, though the texture won’t be quite the same.
• Strawberries – Use ripe, sweet strawberries with plenty of flavour. Very soft strawberries can release too much liquid, so slightly firmer ones actually work better here.
• Light brown sugar – I love light brown sugar in fruit muffins because it adds a gentle caramel flavour that works beautifully with strawberries. It gives the muffins a warmer flavour overall than caster sugar alone.
• Melted butter – Butter gives richness and helps keep the muffins soft. Just make sure it’s cooled slightly before adding it to the eggs.
• Baking powder – Essential for getting a good rise while still keeping the texture light.

Top Tips

1. Don’t over mix your batter. Just mix until everything is combined, then stop, otherwise the muffins may be dense. The batter is best mixed by hand so that you don’t mix too much.
2. To check whether the muffins are cooked, insert a skewer into the middle. If the skewer comes out clean, they are cooked – otherwise, give them 5 more minutes.
3. You can serve these muffins on their own as a snack, or as a breakfast with yoghurt and fresh fruit on their own side.

How to Cook Strawberry Muffins