English Muffins
To be clear, this is not a cooking website. I use this site to save and share some of my favorite things. Things that make me and my family happy; dogs, hobbies, ideas that excite me, and food. I post my favorite recipes as a way to keep track of them, and now to share them with all of you.
I’ve posted pictures of my English muffins on social media a few times, and I’ve had a few people ask me for the recipe. It’s a long recipe that up until now has lived on a sheet of notebook paper in a binder. Hand-written in pencil, I can’t remember where the original recipe came from but I am pretty sure I based it on a King Arthur flour recipe. I rarely follow recipes exactly, almost always substituting something. I also rarely make anything with 100% all-purpose flour. We enjoy the taste of whole wheat, the texture, and we believe it’s far more nutritious than ultra-processed white flour. I mill hard white wheat berries fresh each time I bake, and I don’t sift out all the good stuff. Leave all that fiber and nutrition right in there!
That being said, the original recipe does call for all-purpose flour, so if that’s what you have and that’s what your family enjoys, go ahead and do that. Fresh homemade breads are still better than store-bought, which often contain ingredients you can’t pronounce, preservatives, and additives that are simply unnecessary. Okay, so here is my favorite English muffin recipe, using measurement by weight not by volume, if you don’t have a digital scale I highly recommend getting one. You can get them pretty cheap and they make a big difference in your baking.
ENGLISH MUFFINS
25 grams sugar (I exchange for the same amount of honey sometimes)
454 grams warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
227 grams ripe sourdough starter
840 grams all-purpose flour (I use 300 grams freshly milled whole wheat and 540 grams all-purpose.)
56 grams nonfat dry milk
57 grams butter, room temperature
18 grams salt
Have cornmeal handy, too.
Use a stand mixer, this is a big batch of dough!
Combine all ingredients in a stand mixer. If using any whole wheat flour, after combining cover with a towel and let rest for 30 minutes. This autolyze helps the whole wheat absorb the water.
Mix and knead to form a smooth dough, not particularly sticky. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise for about 1 1/2 hours, or until noticeably puffy. (For more pronounced sourdough flavor, place in a covered bowl and immediately refrigerate for 24 hours without allowing to rise first. This is optional, they muffins are delicious either way.)
Gently deflate dough, turn out onto lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for a few minutes to allow gluten to relax.
Work with half of the dough at a time. Roll the dough 1/2 inch thick, cut into rounds. I use a 3 1/2 inch biscuit cutter. Be sure not to twist the cutter if possible. You need crisp, even edges and are not pinched or twisted.
Place muffins on a sheet that is sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle additional cornmeal on top. Cover and let rise. 45 to 60 minutes. One trick I’ve learned is to keep half the dough in the fridge while the other half is rising on the sheet. Allow the first batch to rise for about 30 minutes before rolling out the other batch. If you do them all at once and your griddle doesn’t hold the entire batch, you’ll end up with over-risen muffins by the time the first batch is baked.
Heat electric griddle to 350 degrees, or cook in cast iron pan over medium-low heat. I’ve honestly never had good luck with cast iron pan for this, I burn them every time, so I stick with my electric griddle.
Place muffins on ungreased griddle and bake for 10 minutes. Flip them over and bake an additional 10 minutes.
And that’s it! Remember you shouldn’t use a knife to cut these in half. Because of the way they’re baked you can gently squeeze the middle all the way around and pull them apart. You’ll get a craggy, textured muffin that will hold butter and honey or jam much more effectively.
I’ve tried adding blueberries to these, but it didn’t work. The dough is stiff and the blueberries just mushed up and turned the whole thing blue, even though they were frozen. Cinnamon and raisins work well, though. But we tend to leave them as is so they can be served as garlic toast with spaghetti, or as a sandwich with egg and sausage, or just toasted with butter and homemade marmalade. So many possibilities!
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. Comment below and let me know!