i suppose this is a vague question as i am sure many recipes can be adapted to different shapes. but what i have in mind is a sourdough banana muffin concept and all i can really find is sourdough banana bread recipes. there is even one on this site. so my question is this: what do i have to do to modify a recipe that is for bread to do muffins?
Not much different than making "rolls" from a loaf bread recipe.
The only modification would be the obvious, of taking small pieces of the dough to form rolls. And maybe not so obvious, but you would bake for a much shorter period.
Sounds to me that you are mainly talking about "shaping dough", and while there are traditions here, one can also do as one pleases.
Here, I took some cinnamon roll dough, added dried blueberries, rolled into little balls, and baked as clover leaf rolls(in a muffin tin):
perfect that is what i was planning and as stated above was just looking for a bit of validations
"Muffins" are typically more cake like than bread. Muffins are usually made using a batter, while bread is made from a dough. The bread "muffin" would be more in the order of a "roll". People do, however, bake "rolls" in muffin tins.
so does this mean i should take whatever i want my ingredients to be and do the baker's math to compute a higher (perhaps) hydration than the "bread" recipe would have?
i was gleaning the bread bible and the range of muffin hydration is quite wide. but i guess i sorta know what it's supposed to look like so i could just by gosh and by golly (with measuring) to get it where i think it should be and then see what that really is with math later. eh?
Muffin dough (batter) requires gentle handling. Muffin dough (e.g. English muffins) are less sensitive. Although I wouldn't prepare English muffins in a muffin tin, I see no reason why you couldn't try using a similarly hydrated dough in a muffin tin to see how it works. My hydration level for English muffins runs approx. 73% (with 3% of that being sugar - a liquid ingredient) but I've never baked them in any fashion except the traditional stove top griddle/cast iron pan and finishing in the oven.
Sorry, I don't own a "Bread Bible" so I'm unacquainted with the specifics of your references.
oh its the bread bible by rose levy beranbaum which is sometimes bantied about on this site. anyway i think i'm oriented in the right direction here and thanks y'all!