Homemade English Muffins
I was with my husband in Napa Valley last week celebrating a big birthday, and the hotel where we stayed served the freshest, buttery-est, crunchiest English Muffins. In spite of the varied and generous spread, we chose those English Muffins every morning for breakfast. I knew I’d have to recreate them as soon as I got home.
This recipe comes pretty darn close. Partially cooking the muffins in cornmeal and butter before baking gives them that irresistible buttery crunch. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to store-bought again.
Homemade English Muffin Recipe:
This is adapted from a Cook’s Country Recipe.
Yield:
8 large English Muffins
Difficulty:
Moderate
Special equipment:
Ingredients:
2 TBSP (42 grams) honey
11 oz (314 ml) whole milk
432 grams (3 1/2 cups) bread flour
1 TBSP instant yeast
10 grams (1 tsp) fine salt
4 TBSP cornmeal
2 - 3 TBSP unsalted butter, cut into 1 TBSP pats
Instructions:
Place the honey into a liquid measuring cup and set aside. Warm the whole milk until an instant read thermometer reaches 90-100° F, pour the warm milk into the honey and whisk with a fork until combined.
Tip: This temperature range will activate the dried yeast. Anything over 100°F will kill the yeast.
In a separate bowl, whisk together bread flour, instant yeast, and table salt. Pour the milk and honey into the flour mixture and combine with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until no dry flour is visible. The dough will be rough and sticky but cohesive (see photo below). Cover the bowl with a damp dishtowel and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place until it has doubled in size. About 1 hour.
The dough will be rough and a little sticky.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and coat paper with cooking spray. Sprinkle 2 heaping TBSP cornmeal evenly across the parchment paper.
Lightly oil a work surface. (I use butter spray.) Gently press some air out of the dough and turn it out onto the work surface. Gently knead 2 or 3 times. No more.
Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, approximately 3.5 oz each. Cut, don’t tear at the dough. A bench scraper works well, but a knife will do too. Shape each portion of dough into a ball then flatten into a 3-inch wide by 1-inch high (approximately) disks and place on the prepared parchment. See the video below for the technique.
Disks of dough before cornmeal is sprinkled on top. Before second rise.
Sprinkle remaining cornmeal over the muffins. Cover the muffins with plastic wrap or damp dishtowel and let rise in a draft-free place until they have doubled in size. About 1 hour.
In the last half hour of the rise, preheat your oven to 350° F and line a separate baking sheet with parchment.
Melt 1 TBSP butter in a 10 or 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 4 disks of dough to the pan (3 if using a 10-inch pan) and cook until golden brown. 1-2 minutes. Turn the muffins over and continue cooking until deep golden brown on second side. Another 2 minutes.
Tip: Check often to avoid burning and rotate your pan over the heat as needed for even cooking.
You want a nice golden brown on both sides of the muffin before baking.
Place browned muffins on clean, prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining butter disks of dough until all are browned, cleaning the pan between each batch (or you’ll start burning the cornmeal in the pan).
Bake for 10 minutes rotating halfway through, or until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of a muffin reads 205 - 210° F.
Let cool for a few minutes in pan then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
It will be hard, but let cool completely before serving.
To serve:
Split muffins with a fork to get those nooks & crannies. Toast and serve with butter and jam, or the topping of your choice.
