English Muffins

What do the English call English Muffins? Muffins? I’m not quite sure, but regardless, English muffins are delicious to eat and incredibly versatile. Not only are they great topped with butter and jam, they are also the perfect choice for breakfast sandwiches and benedicts, or as a bun for a burger. And even better, these homemade ones are more delicate and flaky, and more rich in flavor than store-bought. Using rapid rise yeast also makes them quick to make, as I did with this recipe.

English Muffins:

230ml Milk

40g Butter

385g Flour, plus more for kneading

15g Sugar

5g Salt

7g Rapid rise yeast (1 package)

1 Egg

Cornmeal

Gently warm the milk and butter in a small pot until it reaches 55C / 130F and remove the pot from the heat. As the milk is warming, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a bowl. Add the warm liquid and the egg to the dry ingredients and stir together with a large spoon until combined. Then, on a well-floured work surface, turn out the dough and knead by hand for five minutes. The dough will be wet at the beginning, so just keep the work surface floured until the dough comes together. Once kneaded, place the dough back into the work bowl, cover, and allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Remove the flour from the work surface and sprinkle cornmeal down. Place the dough on the work surface and sprinkle more cornmeal on top. Roll out the dough to about ½ inch in thickness, and using a round cookie cutter, cut rounds in the dough. Grease a large nonstick pan with a little oil and place the rounds in the pan. Allow to rise 45 minutes. I place like to place the pan in an unlit oven with a little bowl of hot water with the oven door closed. The steam will warm the oven slightly and allow the dough to proof before cooking.

After the dough has risen, remove the pan from the oven and cook on low heat on the stove about 5-8 minutes per side, or until both sides of the dough are golden brown and cooked through. Remove the English muffins from the pan and allow to cool, or eat them warm from the pan. Sliced, toasted, and smeared with butter and homemade jam is awesome for these. A cup o’ tea along side doesn’t hurt either.