English Muffins

I love a good toasted English muffin in the morning with my coffee! We go through lots of them, and I've been wanting to make some from scratch for a while, so today was the day.  

Here's the recipe, which I found online, but I felt the need to alter it a bit because I didn't agree with a few of the methods, so this is my version.  

Ingredients:

6 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 packets instant rapid-rise yeast

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole milk

1 cup warm water (110 - 112 degrees)

3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

corn meal

Note about measuring the flour:  You don't need to sift it, but you do need to "fluff" it in it's original container before measuring it out or you will end up with heavy muffins due to an excess of flour.  Flour compacts when stored, so before you measure each cup or half cup out, fill the measuring cup and pour it back into the container 3 times, then gently fill the measuring cup and skim the excess off with a finger or the straight edge of a butter knife.  Never press it down into the measuring cup.  This will eliminate the "too much flour" problem.

Instructions:

Add the yeast and sugar to the warm water and set aside for about 5 minutes to allow the yeast to proof.  Ideally, get the water to 110 to 112 degrees and no hotter.  Use a thermometer to check the temperature of the water if you are unsure.  If it's not hot enough or if it's too hot, you will not get a good foam over the top of the yeast/sugar mixture and will have to repeat the process again.  If the foamy layer doesn't happen over the yeast/sugar mixture, your muffins will be an epic fail!

The foam layer will develop over the 5 minute waiting period.  It hasn't happened yet in this picture!

While the yeast is proofing, warm the milk in a medium bowl in the microwave for about 20 seconds at full power.  Add cooled, melted butter and the egg to the milk and whisk well.  Set aside.

Into a large mixing bowl, add 3 of the 6 cups of flour and the salt and whisk together.  Pour milk mixture and yeast mixture in and stir with a sturdy wooden spoon until smooth.  It doesn't have to be completely smooth, but all the flour needs to be well moistened and the liquid ingredients should be well mixed in.

Add 1/2 cup of flour at a time to the bowl, mixing in well, until all of the remaining 3 cups of flour are added in.  After about the 4th measure of flour I add, I just begin using my hands to mix it into the dough. It's much easier.

Sprinkle some flour onto the work surface and knead the dough for about 8 minutes. 

Here's how it looks after kneading, ready for the first rise.

 

Ready to cover loosely and allow to rise.

Lightly oil a large bowl by using a pastry brush to apply the oil in the bottom and up the sides.  Place the dough into the bowl, then flip it over.  If you see no oil on the top of the dough, lightly brush it with some.  Cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap, place it in the warmest draft-free spot in your kitchen, and allow it to rise for an hour or until it doubles in size.

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and sprinkle with yellow corn meal.  

Once the dough has doubled in size, dump it onto the work surface and shape it into a rectangle.  Cut the rectangle into 16 equal (or almost equal) pieces.  It doesn't matter if a few are larger or smaller, it just means the muffins won't all be exactly the same size.  Mine were not all the same size!  I had a few larger ones.

Gently pat each piece of dough into a ball and then using your hands, press it into about  a 3 inch round shape. 

Place each one onto the parchment paper as you go.  Continue until all of them are done.  Don't let them touch each other on the baking sheet.  

Sprinkle the tops of them with corn meal.

Cover them loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise, as before, but only for 30 minutes this time.

Heat a griddle  to medium heat and lightly oil it by pouring a tablespoon of vegetable or olive oil onto it and spreading it to coat the entire surface with a folded paper towel, taking care not to burn your fingers!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

After the second rise, ready to cook

Don't shake or brush off any of the corn meal from the muffins.Carefully lift the muffins and place them onto the griddle and cook until the bottom is nicely browned, then gently turn them and do the same for the other side.  Some of the corn meal will remain on the griddle, just let it stay there during the entire process until you are finished cooking all of the muffins.  It shouldn't burn - if you see smoking or burning, slightly lower the heat, the griddle is too hot!  It took mine about 7 minutes on each side, but electric griddles vary, so just watch them and when browned as pictured below, turn them.

They will puff up a bit more as they cook on the griddle.

Ready for the oven

As you take them off the griddle, put them back on the baking sheet.  

Bake for about 12 minutes, until they sound hollow when tapped.  

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely before storing.  

Notes:

I used an electric griddle to cook the muffins on, but you can use a griddle that sits over your stove top burners or you can use a large cast iron skillet, it will just take longer to get them all cooked if using a skillet.  

To store my muffins, I put a paper towel into a gallon sized zip top bag (just to absorb any moisture) and refrigerate them.  This makes 16 muffins, so you may need multiple bags, depending on how many you eat prior to storing them.  

I always split my muffins and toast them before spreading them with butter and jam. 

These muffins are good.  The texture is a little different than the Thomas brand I get from the store, and there aren't as many "nooks and crannies", but I really like the freshness and the flavor!  I will make these often, I think!