English Muffins

So today I have one of my greatest accomplishments to share with you. Welcome to my delicious, homemade, English Muffins.

Honestly speaking, I am not really sure why I have hesitated so long before making these, all I can say is that I wish I hadn’t. Since these homemade English Muffins are a world away from their shop bought counterparts.

While I have eaten plenty of supermarket muffins in the past, I have always found them a bit heavy and dense and although they’ve been eaten and enjoyed I honestly couldn’t go back now, homemade is the way to go!

They say that Breakfast is THE most important meal of the day, a couple of these English Muffins will certainly keep you going until lunchtime.

Although we very rarely have tea as a meal anymore, these would be absolutely perfect. A plate piled high with warm, homemade English Muffins, butter, pots of jam, sliced bananas and a large glasses of milk. A scene straight out of an Enid Blyton book!

I honestly cannot encourage you enough to make these English Muffins. The reward for effort put in is ridiculously good. These don’t require baking either. Just an iron skillet/griddle, if you own one, otherwise a heavy based frying pan will be fine.

A couple of tips:

The dough is quite sticky, but not unmanageable, as long as you dust your working surface well, with flour and polenta (cornmeal) and keep the dough moving whilst rolling out.

No fat needs to be added to the griddle. Simply follow the method and your English Muffins will be fantastic!

Recipe : Makes 12-14 English Muffins

350g/12oz Plain White Flour plus extra for dusting  – I use Shipton Mill 

7g/1 sachet Active Dried Yeast

1/2tsp Honey – the runny kind

7g Salt – I use Maldon 

1 Large Free Range Egg

200ml/7 fl oz Milk – whole or semi skimmed

7g/ 1/4oz Unsalted Butter

2-3 Tbsp Cornmeal/Polenta for dusting

Method :

Making The Muffin Dough

Using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment or a bread maker,

Lightly whisk the egg into the milk. Pour into the bowl of your chosen machine.

Add the yeast and honey. Mix using clean fingers.

Then add the flour on top of the liquid.

Add the salt and butter.

If using a bread maker set the machine to dough cycle. Press start.

If using a stand mixer, mix on a low speed until all the ingredients have combined, then continue mixing for 5 minutes on a medium speed. Stop the machine, remove any dough from the dough hook and place back into the bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp cloth and leave until the dough has doubled in size – approx. 1 hour.

When the dough cycle has finished, re-start your bread maker on the dough cycle and allow to mix for 2 minutes.

With a stand mixer, remove the cloth, mix with the dough hook for 2 minutes.

While the dough is proving dust 2 baking sheets with a 50/50 mix of flour and cornmeal (polenta is the same thing!).

 

Cutting Out The English Muffins

First of all, prepare the work top by dusting with the same flour/cornmeal mixture. Keep some to the side to use whilst working/rolling the dough.

Use a 2.5in (6 and 3/4cm) diameter, plain round cutter to cut the muffin dough.

Bring together the remnants of dough, left from cutting out the discs, knead back together and re-roll. Cut out the muffins as before.

Cover the baking sheets with a dry tea towel and leave the dough to rise, until doubled in size.

Cooking The Muffins

Preheat your griddle/heavy based pan on the hob, over a medium heat.

The English Muffins rise in the pan, as the cook before your very eyes. Our children were captivated! Either use a palette knife or fish slice to flip the muffins over.

They are cooked when they are well risen and set (you can pick one up and the sides hold their shape), both top and bottom should be golden brown and they will sound hollow when rapped with you knuckle.

Remove from the griddle.

Place the cooked English Muffins on a cooling rack.

These first 4 English Muffins were cooled for 5 minutes and then eaten straight away. Unbelieveably good.

Continue to cook the remaining muffins in the same way.

 

 

Tasty Homemade Food

Finally and most importantly, these muffins lasted 5 minutes after I’d photographed them and then they were snaffled away to be eaten! Now that is definitely a sign of a great recipe.

Also, if you’ve never baked bread or cooked with yeast before, these English Muffins are the perfect starting point. No worrying if it is too early to open the oven door and take a peek, the cooking happens right before your very eyes. And if you are unsure if they are cooked through, remove one, cut through with a bread knife and check. What could be easier and more tasty?

And I can guarantee massive smiles all round when you serve up a big plate of these warm, delicious, English Muffins.

The muffins will keep for a couple of days in a bread bin and are delicious, split and toasted. Also, they be placed in a freezer bag, once absolutely cold and kept in the freezer for a month.

The gorgeous board that I’ve displayed the English Muffins on is from House of Frazer, that I picked up in the sale!

Have you put off making something, presuming it will be really hard, only to be surprised when you’ve taken the plunge and made it??

If you enjoyed making these English Muffins recipe you may also want to try other easy bread recipes:

Knotted Poppyseed Rolls

Large White Bloomer

Farmhouse White Loaf

Please let me know if you make these, I love hearing from you?

Sammie x

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