I discovered that English muffins have a terrible secret…
I only started making homemade yeast breads about a year and a half ago, but English muffins have always dwelt in the realm of obscure, gourmet-ish breads that look too difficult to make, and should thus, only be bought from the store.
But I discovered that English muffins are really easy to make, and they’re only pretending to be gourmet-ish hard-to-make bread!
Psh. What posers.
Okay, so if that terrible secret wasn’t exciting enough. I have another.
The truth is I’ve never been a big fan of English muffins. I’m a bagel kind of girl. Gimme a good ole bagel smothered in cream cheese over an English muffin any day (especially if it’s a cinnamon raisin bagel. Those are my favorite!).
It’s a terrible secret, I know. You’re probably in shock right now, but try to stay with me here. My point is that making home made English muffins is really easy, and they taste about a million times better than the ones you buy in the store. When I tried making these muffins for the first time, my husband and I both loved them.
The recipe I used is based off this English muffins recipe from Tasty Kitchen.
First, melt 1 cup of milk, 3 tbsp butter, and 2 tablespoons of honey in a pan.
While that’s cooling, mix one cup of warm (not hot!) water and 2 1/4 tsp of yeast in a large bowl. When the milk mixture has cooled to luke-warm, add it to the mixture in the bowl and stir. You may be tempted to drink the milky, honey, buttery goodness. Try to avoid this (unless you just want to dip a finger in to taste it. That’s probably okay).
Line two cookie sheets with wax paper and sprinkle on the corn meal.
Add 1 teaspoon salt, one cup of whole wheat flour, and two cups of bread flour, mixing after each addition. Now, as my whole wheat flour hates me, and is probably the heaviest whole wheat flour in the world, it doesn’t rise well in baked goods. Because of this, I added some gluten along with the flour. You can skip this step if you want, or you can go ahead and throw it in if your whole wheat flour doesn’t give you much rising love. Continue adding the remaining flour (about 2 cups) until the dough is no longer sticky.
Pour out your dough onto a floured surface and knead, knead, knead for about 5 minutes. Let the dough (and your arms) then rest for about 5 minutes. Am I the only one who considers kneading bread dough exercise?
Roll out your dough to about 1/2 inch thick, then cut out your muffins with a biscuit cutter, cookie cutter, anything round. Biscuit cutters are apparently non-existent in Japan, so I’m used a good ole cup! Ah, improvisation.
Place your cut out muffins on the prepared cookie sheets, then sprinkle the tops with corn meal. Cover with a light cloth, and put them somewhere warm to rise until double.
Heat a skillet to medium heat. Place your muffins on the un-greased skillet and cook, uncovered, until brown on one side, about 7 – 10 minutes…
Then flip and cook on the other side. If you’re easily amused like me, then you’ll greatly enjoy watching these muffins puff up as you cook them. Ah, life’s special moments.
When your muffins are done, put them on a cooling rack, and your done! Easy, right? You can now cut a muffin in half and enjoy it with butter and honey or jam…
…or make yourself a sausage, egg, cheese sandwich! Oh, the possibilities! Enjoy your muffins!
Recipe:
English Muffins
- 1 cup milk
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 1/4 tsp. yeast
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 4 cups bread flour
- 4 tsp. gluten (optional)
- 1 tsp. salt
- corn meal
- Melt milk, honey, and butter in a pan. While that’s cooling, mix the warm (not hot!) water and yeast in a large bowl. When the milk mixture has cooled to luke-warm, add it to the mixture in the bowl and mix.
- Line two cookie sheets with wax paper and sprinkle liberally with corn meal.
- Add salt, gluten (optional), whole wheat flour, and two cups of bread flour, mixing after each addition. Continue adding the rest of the bread flour until mixture is no longer sticky. Pour out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, then let the dough rest for about 5 minutes.
- Roll out dough to about 1/2 inch thick, then cut out muffins and place on the prepared cookie sheets. Cover the muffins with a light cloth or plastic wrap, and put in a warm place to rise until double, about 45 minutes.
- Heat a skillet to medium heat and place muffins on the un-greased skillet. Cook until brown on bottom, about 7 to 10 minutes, then flip and cook an additional 7 to 10 minutes on the opposite side. Place finished muffins on a cooling rack to cool.
