When it’s too hot here in Texas to use the oven for very long, I turn to baking some breads on a griddle. An electric fry pan or griddle that allows you to set the temperature works best for these.
We can griddle-bake English muffins superior in quality and flavor to the store-bought and save quite a bit of money with very little work. I figure these homemade English muffins cost about 10 cents each, using best-quality flour. Making up your own breakfast sandwiches will be an even greater saving.
Toast English muffins for breakfast with your homemade jam and use them to make breakfast, lunch, or even supper sandwiches with bacon, ham or sausage, egg and cheese. Use muffins under creamed chicken a la king. When English muffins are this quick and inexpensive to make, you’ll come up with more ideas.
You can make English muffins without any special equipment, freeform in a stovetop skillet, but an electric fry pan or griddle and muffin rings will give you a traditional finished look. I have just 4 rings and that’s fine — they bake so quickly it’s all done in less than a half hour. You can order rings from King Arthur or Amazon or even make your own, cutting 1 inch slices from a can of the appropriate size, about 3 ½ inches in diameter. Be careful, though, of sharp edges.
I use my stand mixer with the dough hook. Even though the dough is wet, it still needs a lot of mixing. I mix up the starter, pull a plastic bag over the bowl and then continue on in the morning. Less work, less fuss, less cleanup.
Homemade English Muffins Recipe
Yields 8 to 10 muffins
Ingredients for the starter:
• 6 ounces (1 ½ cups) all purpose flour
• pinch of instant yeast
• 6 ounces (¾ cup) water
Starter directions:
Stir the starter ingredients together to make a smooth batter. Cover the bowl and set it on the counter to develop for at least 4 hours, better overnight.
Ingredients for the dough:
• 7 ½ ounces all purpose flour (not quite 1 ¾ cups). Use part white or traditional whole wheat if you like.
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 2 Tbsp non-diastatic malt powder (or cane sugar)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 6 ounces (¾ cup) warm whole milk (baby bottle warm)
• a little soft butter
• Optional: a little cornmeal if your griddle is not non-stick
Dough directions:
1. In the mixer bowl, put all the dry ingredients and give them a quick stir. Add the warm milk, turn the mixer to “stir” until the dough comes together, then continue on #4 setting for another 5 minutes. Scrape the beater, cover the bowl, and set it aside on the counter for at least an hour, until it’s doubled in volume and quite puffy.
2. Set up your griddle and heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. With a pastry brush and a bit of soft butter, lightly grease your muffin rings. Set the rings on the griddle and, if your griddle is not non-stick, put a pinch of cornmeal in each.
3. Now, fill the muffin rings about 2/3 full. You can use an ice cream scoop or just a big spoon. Keep a small bowl of water next to the batter and dip your scoop, then drop the batter into the ring. Be sure to wet the scoop each time so the batter doesn’t stick to it.
4. Bake the muffins for about 10 minutes until they begin to look dry on top. Peek to see if it’s browned. Flip the muffins over with a turner and then ease off the ring with small tongs or just the edge of the turner. You can now refill that ring and continue baking.
5. As the second side of the muffin browns nicely, press lightly with a finger; if it pops right back, the muffin is done. Remove the muffins as they are ready to a wire rack and cool completely. The muffins are better on the second day, so let them rest in a plastic bag to “mature”.
6. The next day, use a fork to split the muffins. If you won’t use all the muffins right away, freeze them in a zipper bag.
Wendy Akin is happy to share her years of traditional skills knowledge. Over the years, she’s earned many state fair ribbons for pickles, relishes, preserves and special condiments, and even a few for breads. Read all of Wendy’s MOTHER EARTH NEWS posts here.
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In the ingredients for the starter, 6 ounces of all purpose flour is not 1 1/2 cups. It is 3/4 cup, just like 6 ounces of water is 3/4 cup of water. And under ingredients for the dough, 7 1/2 ounces of all purpose flour is not quite one cup, not like you say "not quite 1 3/4 cup." Which one is it? Almost one cup, or almost 2 cups? I really wanted to like and use this recipe. I've already had to throw out my starter, because I used 1 1/2 cups flour instead of 3/4 cup.
Also under your starter ingredients, you show 6 oz. (1 1/2 cups) all purpose flour. After I mixed up the starter with 1 1/2 cups flour, I wondered why it was like a dough, and not a batter. Well....... 6 oz. is 3/4 of a cup, not 1 1/2 cups, as you mention below for 6 oz. water. Next time, proof read your instructions. Now I have to start over.
When do you add the starter to the dough? Along with the warm milk?
When do you add the starter to the dough? Along with the warm milk?