Dandy Muffins and Bread

BEFORE MAKING this recipe, you’ll need to harvest a cup of dandelion petals. This shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes with the right flowers and technique.

Choose tall, robust dandelions that have been allowed to grow unmolested. Abandoned lots and field margins are good places to look. Roadside specimens can contain chemical residues. Choose your spots wisely.

You’ll want to harvest in the morning, before the flowers have fully opened. Grasp the yellow part of the flower (the petals) and twist away from the green sepals and stem. Discard any greenery.

2 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup dandelion petals
1/4 cup canola oil
4 tbsp honey
1 egg
scant 1 1/2 cups milk

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl, including petals, and mix. Make sure to separate clumps of petals. In separate bowl mix together milk, honey, oil, and beat in egg. Add liquid ingredients to dry and stir. Batter should be fairly wet and lumpy. Pour into buttered bread tin or muffin tin. Bake at 400 degrees. A dozen muffins will take 20-25 minutes. Bread will take 25-30 or more minutes. At 25 minutes, check doneness of bread with a toothpick. If still too moist inside, lower oven temperature and continue to bake, checking every five minutes.


This recipe is based on one in Peter Gail’s The Dandelion Celebration; mine doubles the amount of dandelion petals.

19 thoughts on “Dandy Muffins and Bread

  1. esp

    This looks like a wonderful bread.

    If you are harvesting petals, do you use them in cooking without washing or rinsing them? I imagine that trying to rinse dandelion petals would just result in a big soggy clump.

    Reply
  2. gardenbre

    I can’t wait to try this … thanks for sharing this … I ate my first dandylion last year when Julie, a Vietnamese woman in our allotment told me they were sweet and I should try one!

    Reply
  3. Nurit

    wow, this is so great. I got to your blog post from Tea & Cookies blog (she linked to you). I love this idea of using dandelions instead of fighting them. Would it be safe to use the ones in my backyard? I haven’t used chemicals in the lawn for the past 3 years…

    Reply
  4. Jennifer

    My 7 year old daughter and I made this bread today and it is really good! It does taste a lot like cornbread. We will definately make it again and try some of the other dandelion recipes too.

    Reply
  5. Pille

    Fascinating!! i’m not new to forageing – and have made both dandelion honey (using the petals) and salads (using the greens), but not dandelion bread. Bookmarked!!

    Reply
  6. Chiot's Run

    Was just searching for a recipe, spotted on on a blog a long time ago. Thanks for sharing, can’t wait to harvest some sunny yellow blooms and give this a go!

    Reply
  7. On a Wing and a Whim

    Twice the dandelion petals, and a teaspoon of ginger really brought out the dandelion flavor, but I need more ginger in order to actually taste it against the much stronger dandelion flavor.

    Next I’ll try it in cornbread.

    Reply
  8. Card Games

    Hi , i got this Article , i was searching some thing relevant to this, And i am feeling lucky, as its the perfect one for what i am looking for. I will share this link on face book.

    Reply
  9. Nessie

    I made some of your bread today. I swapped out the egg for EnerG egg replacer, almond milk for cow’s, and agave for honey. Delicious.

    I must add that washing the flower heads before you cut them makes them really difficult to handle. So probably better to skip it or wash the petals after they are separated.

    Reply
  10. Anonymous

    I tried the Dandy Bread recipe, it was soooo easy, and it turned out beautiful! I will definitely make this again, and I am eager to try other Dandy recipes on your page. Thanks!

    Reply

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