The Fresh Loaf

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English Muffin Recipe with White Vinegar

jannrn's picture
jannrn

English Muffin Recipe with White Vinegar

I used to have a bread machine cookbook recipe for English Muffins that also used White Vinegar. It gave them an AMAZING flavor! I have since misplaced this recipe.....does ANYONE have a recipe like it? There were no deep nooks and crannies, but the flavour was incredible! It doesn't have to be a BM recipe.......

jannrn's picture
jannrn

Thanks SO much!! That looks VERY close to the recipe I had! I cannot WAIT to try it!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!

RFMonaco's picture
RFMonaco

Please let me know how they turn how they turn out, I would like to try them.

Thanks!

jannrn's picture
jannrn

Well, I am FINALLY at the point to cook them.....so far, I am not too happy! They may taste wonderful....but getting to this point has been a pain!! The dough was WAAAAY too wet so I added an extra 3/4 cup of flour...I should have added at least twice that!! The only way to handle them to form them, was to dip my fingers in oil!!! I am going to tweak this recipe so I will let you know how that batch turns out! Also, I will let you know how these taste! If you try to make them, let me know how they turn out for you!!!

Thanks!!
  Jann

Plimsol's picture
Plimsol

I make a lot of English Muffins and, yes the dough is wet! However, I have found that if I refrigerate the dough for at least a half an hour or more, the dough firms up and is easier to bench and shape without so much extra flour. Hope this helps.

jannrn's picture
jannrn

Well, the floavor is EXCELLENT!! But I have GOT to tweak this recipe!!! It was too wet to handle witout dipping my hands in oil....which to me sort of defeats the purpose of making my own at home!! At any rate...I would probably add at least 2 cups of flour to this recipe....I think it should maybe be a little tacky but not WET!!! Let me know if you try this recipe and what you think.....

Thanks!!

Jann

RFMonaco's picture
RFMonaco

Thanks for the update Jann,

I will let you know how I fair with this recipe. I have thoughts of possibly using a no-knead approach, ie: ~ 1/4 tsp. yeast and letting it sit overnight to develop more flavor. Not sure yet. I will add the liquid gradually and note the total when I think the consistency is right.

Did the crumb have nice holes due to the high hydration?

Rock

jannrn's picture
jannrn

The crumb was good....but that is not a huge deal for me. I am all about the taste....but yes it did have good nooks and crannies. Do let me know how it turns out for you. Again, I really like the flavor of it but it was just a HUGE pain to try to handle. The recipe I had before was for the bread machine.....it worked it into a wonderful dough and I formed and cooked them. I think I can make this work too. As for forming them...I was so irritated I was in a hurry to get them done so I made them a bit big. BOY did they grow!!! LOL....they are about 5 inches!!But....again....I will be tweaking it!!! Please let me know how and what they do for you!!

Thanks Rock
   Jann

fcbennett's picture
fcbennett

I see this is an old thread, but I was on a quest to find a good English Muffin recipe.  We are still cleaning up after Irma here in North Florida, which included 5 days without power, eating whatever didn't require refrigeration- and that included some store-bought english muffins.  I have tried several recipes, and they have either turned out flat, or tasting like just little patties of 'regular' bread, not the nook-and-cranny holy grail I was searching for.  When I saw this one which included vinegar, I thought, well that sounds different from anything I've tried.

The recipe in the link is by volume, not weight.  I measured the flour by lightly spooning it into a cup and leveling with a knife.  When I make these again, I'll get some weights measured.  I see jannm said the dough (batter?) was super wet, so armed with that knowledge and having made the cocodrillo bread from TFL, as well the english muffins from ChefSteps (a pretty good one, but I was still looking!), after adding the final flour amount I turned my mixer to medium/medium-high and let it rip.  After about 15 minutes the batter-soup started pulling together into a super soft dough.  I sprayed the bowl and let rise for an hour.

I didn't weigh the final dough (I made a half recipe so I should've gotten 8 muffins, but ended up with 7), so I just guessed and cut off 85g balls.  I dropped those into my muffin rings sitting on a cookie sheet covered with corn meal.  85g didn't look like much initially, didn't fill the rings at all, but boy did they swell up.  :-)  

Previous muffins had burned on the griddle, so I had the burner turned way down and cooked them 2 at a time, with a stainless bowl inverted over them to help them cook through.  I didn't put the bowl on for the last one (pictured), and it seemed to stick more to the ring, so bowl it is.  I cooked 4 minutes per side and finished them in a 350F oven for another 5 min +/- to get the 194F internal temp as stated by ChefSteps.  Hands down the best muffins I've made to date.  Light, chewy, crispy and yes!  nooks and crannies!!  I may look at ways of delaying them a little more to get more flavor, or throw in some of my sourdough starter next time...  looking forward to making again!

MonkeyDaddy's picture
MonkeyDaddy

active dry yeast like the recipe says, or did you use instant?  

I'm just wondering...  if instant was used there would be no need to proof the yeast and the 1/3 cup of water might be able to be omitted (the Tbsp of sugar too).  That might make the end result less soupy.

But if you got such good results with it as written, using the cocodrillo mixing technique, who am I to mess with it  ;-)

     --Mike

 

MonkeyDaddy's picture
MonkeyDaddy

nonstick muffin rings?

As I was reading through this thread it came to me, "why in the world doesn't anybody make muffin rings in a nonstick version?"  Then I found them (gotta love Amazon).

I know these probably won't sit well with the muffin purists out there, but has anybody tried them, and what do you think?  The Amazon listing didn't have any customer reviews.

     --Mike

fcbennett's picture
fcbennett

I used instant/bread machine yeast.  I still added the water.  I think the soupy-ness is key to the texture and creating those nooks and crannies-to-be, sort of like wet dough giving you those nice holes in sourdough.  The ChefSteps recipe is also a very wet dough, and says to mix it for 30 minutes in the mixer- again, a la cocodrillo in my mind. 

I did back off on the sugar a smidge, but thought that was just going to flavor in the muffins.  But you're right- maybe next time I'll try omitting it.

non-stick rings!  I sprayed my rings- ran a small knife around the edges after I flipped them and they came off pretty easily, but that'd be one less step if you could skip the messy spray!

Fran.

Briteideas's picture
Briteideas

I just made this recipe today following the recipe to the 'T', with the exception of using apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar.  The dough was very easy to handle.after the first rise.  A tad sticky, but easy to roll and form.  I used dried farina instead of cornmeal or breadcrumbs for making the individual muffins.  I would reduce the approximate measure of a 1/2 cup individual sized muffin to perhaps a 1/3 cup as they came out a little too large for my liking.  The flavor has that slight background of sweetness that was a nice surprise.