English Muffins – Delicious Fresh!
English muffins are a funny thing. It is not quite clear to me why exactly they are English. In truth, in all the many times I traveled to London, not once did anyone try and serve me an English muffin. There were crumpets, but, while similar, crumpets and English muffins are not really the same thing. Sure, both are made on the griddle, but an English muffin is made from a dough and a crumpet is made from a batter. An English muffin is split and eaten while a crumpet is not. Of course, I am not really sure it matters. Both make a great vehicle for homemade butter and jam and sometimes that is really enough.
How To Make English Muffins
We don’t often, or should I say never, eat fresh baked english muffins. This is a shame. Fresh baked goods are so delicious and making English muffins is really very simple. Once you make your own english muffins, full of those legendary nooks and crannies, you might not go back.
It is quite a simple dough that can be made in minutes. A simple mixing of flour, yeast, egg, butter and warm milk and you have it. It only takes about 5 minutes of kneading to bring the whole thing together. After a bit or rising and the rolling of what is a very easy and soft dough, the English muffins can be cut with a biscuit cutter.
How To Make English Muffins – To Griddle Or Bake
Unlike with crumpets, you have a choice of cooking methods. They can be cooked on a griddle or in the oven. The biggest difference is that in the oven, the muffins don’t need to be flipped (although I flip them) whereas on the griddle they do. Either way, the final product is delicious, but the griddle cooked muffins are more like the classic English muffins you find in the store and they have slightly more nooks and crannies.
How To Make English Muffins – the Video and Recipe
The video below shows you all the steps needed to make your own homemade english muffins. The full recipe follows.
- 3 cups of all purpose flour
- 1 cup of whole wheat flour
- 1 tbsp of yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 cups of milk
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- In a large bowl, mix all the flour, yeast and salt together. Make a well in the center of the mixture.
- Beat the egg in a small bowl.
- In a microwave safe bowl, place the milk and butter together. Slowly warm the butter and milk until the the butter melts and the temperature reaches 105-110F.
- Pour the egg into the flour well. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture into the flour stirring with a fork to make a dough. When the dough is shaggy and has just come together, pour the dough on to a clean work surface and knead it for about 5 minutes adding a little flour as needed if it gets sticky.
- Transfer the dough to a bowl that has been sprayed with non-stick spray and let the dough rise until it doubles in size about 1-1.5 hours.
- After the dough has risen, roll it out on a lightly floured work surface into a rectangle that is about ¼-½ inch thick. Using a 3 inch biscuit cutter, cut out the english muffins. Re-roll the leftover dough and repeat, cutting out more muffins.
- Heat a griddle pan over medium heat. Spray the pan with on-stick spray and place the muffins, a few at a time, on the hot griddle. Cook five minutes, flip, and cook another five minutes until both sides are golden brown and the muffin is cooked through.
- Serve warm with butter and jam.
- English muffins can also be baked. Bake the english muffins in a 450F pre-heated oven on a baking tray sprayed with non stick spray. Bake 5-6 minutes then flip the muffins and bake another 5-6 minutes until the tops are craggy and getting golden brown. The baked muffins will be different in texture from the griddle muffins, but every bit as good with butter and jam.
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Have You Ever Made Fresh English Muffins? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook.
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