That Boxed Muffin Mix Can Also Be Used For A Delicious Breakfast Bread

Sometimes you just really want to start the day off with something sweet. Muffins get all the morning glory, but there's a lot to be said about a good breakfast bread. A banana bread or tasty zucchini loaf is sharable with a whole family or group of brunchers, and they're perfect as small gifts. Those sweet loaves have a secret, too — they're really just giant muffins in disguise. Muffin batter and breakfast bread batter are so similar, in fact, that you can use a box of store-bought muffin mix to make a delicious breakfast bread and nobody will be the wiser.

Let's face it, baking from scratch is great but store-bought mixes really come in handy. You can have a sweet treat on the table in less than half an hour, and all you need to measure is water, oil, and eggs. If your pantry is full of muffin mix but you're feeling more like a breakfast bread, don't stress. Most mixes already have directions for both muffins and loaves printed right on the box, but if not, all you have to do is use the right-sized loaf pan and turn the oven down a notch.

The most important conversion if you're using a boxed muffin mix to make a breakfast loaf is, of course, the cake pan itself. You've probably never thought too much about the size of a batch of batter but it's important to know how much volume can fit into a certain pan. If you undershoot it you'll end up with a super flat loaf. If the pan is too small, the batter will overflow and make a big mess of the oven.

Most normal-sized (not family-sized) boxed muffin mixes make about eight cups of muffin mix, or around 12 muffins, which will fit nicely in a 9×5-inch loaf pan. If you prefer a square-shaped bread you can also use an 8×8-inch pan, which is nice for making coffee cake (just add a streusel topping).

If you're using a larger volume of muffin batter, check the internet for cake pan conversions. A 10- to 12-cup batch, for example, would fit nicely in a standard Bundt pan, and 14 cups would fit into a 13- × 9-inch pan.

By far the hardest part of transforming muffin mixes into loaves is choosing the pan, but there's also time and temperature to consider. Muffins cook faster because they're exposed to more surface area in a muffin tin. As such, they're better off baked at a hotter temperature than loaves because they'll rise and set quickly. Loaves, on the other hand, need slower, lower cooking conditions so that the outside of the bread doesn't burn before the inside has a chance to cook.

Once you have your loaf pan picked out, if the box mix doesn't have a temperature recommendation listed for making breakfast bread, simply turn the oven to 25 degrees less than what is listed in the instructions for muffins. Then, add 20 minutes to the recommended cooking time. Muffins will bake in about 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, so loaves baked at lower temps need about twice as much oven time. You'll know when the loaf is ready when the sides pull away from the pan and you can poke a toothpick or cake tester in the middle and it comes out clean. Once the loaf is baked, let it cool for at least 20 to 30 minutes before you try to take it out of the pan, then it's ready to slice and serve.