Sometimes the reason why I make things is because I can’t find them in the store. Last weekend I really needed english muffins for a brunch I was making and the local store didn’t have any so I decided to make some. How hard could it be? Turns out it isn’t that hard.
English muffins also stack nicely!
A stack of awesome.
English muffins are very similar to a lot of other bread items. The real difference is the method of cooking.
English Muffins (From The Bread Baker’s Apprentice)
- 10 ounces (2.25 Cups) unbleached bread flour
- 1/2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 3/4 Teaspoons salt
- 1 1/4 Teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 to 1 Cup milk (or buttermilk)
- Cornmeal for dusting
- Spray oil for cooking
What you need for a muffin.
The first mixing. Stir together the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Mix that all together and then stir in the butter. Honestly, I just used my hands to mix in the butter, but you could use a mixer if you wanted to get all scientific. Then add in your milk until the dough forms a ball. Start with 3/4 a cup of milk and then drizzle in more until all the flour is in a ball.
It should be pretty sticky actually.
Kind of sticky.
I use Reinhart’s tip of dipping my hand in water and sort of using it like a dough hook to mix the ball of dough even more. After a minute or two of that, knead the dough until it passes the windowpane test, probably about 10 minutes. Set this dough in a clean bowl that has been lightly oiled. Cover and let ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes.
Shaping the muffins. Once the dough has fermented, use whatever method you have to cut it into six pieces. I actually weighed mine to get them pretty equal, but you could probably eyeball it.
I actually weighed my pieces.
Then take each piece and shape it into a boule. This means shaping it into a ball by folding the edges under and making a taunt surface on top. Should only take a few seconds to form each one.
Making a boule.
The second rising. Get a baking pan and line it with parchment paper (if you have some). Spray the parchment paper with non-stick spray and then dust it liberally with corn meal.
The next step.
Place each muffin on the sheet and lightly spray each one with another layer of oil and dust with more corn meal. Cover these with a towel and let them rise again for about 75-90 minutes.
Before and after.
Cooking the Muffins. The first thing to do when cooking these guys is to pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. We will finish the muffins in the oven. Then get out your largest pan or griddle and spray or wipe it with oil. Turn your stovetop on medium-high heat and get your pan hot. Spray some oil (or wipe some oil) in the pan. You want to make sure these don’t stick, but you don’t need pools of oil for that. When the pan is hot, put each muffin down. The dough will spread out and start to puff up. Don’t crowd the muffins too much. You don’t want them touching.
On the griddle.
These guys will brown quickly, but they won’t burn for some time. Cook them on the first side for 5 to 8 minutes. When they are a medium brown, give them a flip.
Flipped!
Cook these guys for 5 to 8 minutes on the other side and then transfer them immediately to a sheet pan in the pre-heated oven. The griddle cooks the outside and gives the muffins their distinctive crunch and flatness, but the insides of the muffins are still pretty raw. Cook them in the oven for 8-10 minutes to solve that problem.
Then let them cool for at least 30 minutes.
Cool them down.
There are tons of ways to serve english muffins, but my favorite is with a little butter, salt, and honey. Freakin’ delicious.
Butter and honey and salt.
This may seem like a bit of work, but they are really very tasty. Mine didn’t end up having the distinct “nooks and crannies” of some brands, but they tasted just as good if not better. What was nice about this recipe, and what I’m learning from baking more and more, is that I had every ingredient I needed to make them. It wasn’t like I had to go to the store to pick up any ingredients, which was nice.
If you liked this post, you should share it with your English muffin loving friends!
I LOVE homemade English Muffins! It looks like you cut them with a knife – which is why you didn’t get nooksncrannies. Using a fork, make perferations around the sides of the muffin. Then, slowly pull the halves apart. Ta Da! nooksncrannies!!
I love english muffins! I have one almost everyday. I would love to make my own, but can not find a recipe that will give me those nooks and crannies. O well, homemade still tastes yummier though!
My next project…..this weekend. Last weekend I made the No Knead Bread….made only 1 loaf (15″ wide loaf) arrgghh! My next mistake (which you didn’t mention in the instructions) was not greasing the pan before cooking…lost my whole bottom crust to the pan. I also had to throw the towel out….guess I didn’t use enough flour (I thought I did, though. All in all, excellent taste and will try it again…two loaves, oil sheet, use 475 deg instead of 500 (top browned too quicly) on my gas stove.
Do you have any other tips? Can I use a Corel oval casserole dish (the new red ones)?
Thanks.
Well done Nick!! These look delicious!!!!!! I have to try!!!
I seriously just made these. I haven’t been able to blog them yet, but they were delicious. I ended up shaping and cold retarding overnight so I could cook them first thing in the morning. Worked great. Not sure if that helped with the nooks and crannies, but after being fork split they were quite nooky.
Wow!! I’ve never imagined these as being cookable – they just magically appear in packets. Now, how about crumpets? :) English people (in England) don’t actually eat English muffins, the closest thing is a crumpet (but IMHO they’re weird – the crumpets, not the people). Fabulous site, btw!
Those look great. I have the BBA and have been eye balling this recipe for months, maybe now I will make them. It looks like you cut through your muffins with a knife which ruins the nooks and crannies. The fork method works best or just begin slicing with a knife then slowly pull the sides apart.
those are so gorgeous! nice and fluffy! they don’t look bad to make at all either… now I want to find a crumpet recipe!
You also never said to grease the barbeque grill even though my English muffins stuck to the grill. This ruined my muffins–and my evening. Stop failing to give warnings about things you don’t give directions to do.
Wow! These look beautiful. Kudos! Now I am inspired to try them at home .. never gave it a thought but aahh the crunchy thing is cornmeal *slaps forehead*
Outstanding photos and wonderful work. I did a tutorial on these last week on my blog and loved seeing yours this week! Nice!…Though I don’t think you even know me from anybody. Just had to tell you I think you did a wonderful job.
I absolutely adore English Muffins, especially with cream cheese, grilled tomato and bacon for breakfast on Sundays – YUM! It’s handy having this recipe, I think I will try this next weekend. :)
Thanks for the comments everyone and for the fork tips ;) I definitely used a knife and that explains the lack of nooks and crannies.
Thanks for reading everyone!
Whoa! I LOVE it! Can’t wait to give these a shot. Yum! (Love English muffins toasted with loads of butter and jam…)
+Jessie
[...] Homemade English Muffins from [...]
Made them – so much fun! Thanks for the post, great instructions.
I made these today-very good recipe! Mind didn’t spread out very much on the skillet, but they were still the right texture and everything. I used the fork suggestion from the comments, and got all the nooks and crannies. Will Definitely be making again!
I’m not usually a fan of english muffins, but these look so good, I want to make them too! =]