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I have had that issue with rye breads baked with first clear flour. I attributed it to warm weather and perhaps the rye flour, so I have avoided baking rye breads in warmer weather--which was a long span of time when we lived in Texas. In Indiana, the humidity is higher in hot weather, so I've continued to avoid rye breads in summer. However, when I started adding some rye to other breads, even in summer, there did not seem to be a mold issue unless the bread was kept too long. My husband actually left a slice of that Bernard Clayton Dark Grains Bread, and I found it after a week, but it had only just started to mold. The rye made up a small proportion of the flour in these various recipes, but perhaps I was too hasty in blaming the rye flour.
At this point I would still suspect the warmer weather as the deciding factor, but it will be an interesting experiment with the first clear flour when the weather gets cooler.
I baked a second batch of large zucchini muffins on Monday. I again used Ruth Bass’ recipe as my base and added 1/2 cup cinnamon chips. I tried adding ¼ tsp. baking soda, but it barely affected the rise, so I will leave it out in the future. I also reduced the canola oil to ¼ cup. I will add a note to this post tomorrow about taste and texture.
Promised Note: Reducing the oil further did help the texture, as I thought the first batch was too wet. Next time, I might try reducing the sugar from 1/2 to 1/3 cup, since I do add cinnamon chips.
I found a not overly sweet zucchini muffin recipe, “Zucchini Muffins with Lemon Thyme,” in a cookbook, Herbs Love Tomatoes, Pepper, Onions and Zucchini, by Ruth Bass (p. 169). KAF recently featured a lemon-zucchini muffin recipe as well. I compared the two, and overall quantity of ingredients were about the same although ingredients varied. In addition to using lemon zest, the KAF recipe used regular milk rather than buttermilk, granulated rather than brown sugar, more baking powder. 4x the salt (!), slightly less oil, no ginger, and no lemon thyme.
After reading the reviews of the KAF recipe, I used Bass’s recipe as my base. I substituted half whole wheat flour, reduced the oil from ½ to 1/3 cup. I do not have lemon thyme. I considered using lemon extract, but I decided not to do so and to delete the ginger. I added ½ cup of KAF cinnamon chips from my stash (KAF sells something different now.). I baked these as six large muffins, in part because I realized that my regular muffin pans have yet to be unpacked. I sprinkled them with demerara sugar. I had used THE grease on the pan, and they popped out just fine. They are a bit flat on the top. Next time, I will add ¼ tsp. baking soda to offset the buttermilk; I'll leave the baking powder as is.
I baked these for a quick grab-and-go breakfast for tomorrow, as my husband and younger stepson need to leave here at 6 a.m. in order to drive to Michigan City, so my stepson can take the bus to the airport. He can also take one to have as a snack while he is waiting for his plane. If the taste is good--as the aroma promises--I will bake another batch tomorrow and freeze some, since I have leftover grated zucchini.
Next Morning Tasting Note: The muffins are very good, although slightly dense. I'll try another batch with added baking soda.
