Inspired by kjknits EM recipe I decide to try it out.  I don't have a cutter so I just cut them into square shapes with my dough scraper.  They turned out nice.  My wife, who eats the Thomas brand regularly, also seemed to like them too.  Thanks to kjkniots for the recipe.  They came out with holes on one side after slicing for some reason.  Maybe the side that hit the hot pan first got bubbles or cause them to go away?No I don't think I will be buying an EM cutter either - unless I find one at Goodwill.

These are delicious toasted with butter and home made 6P Jam ( prickly pear, pineapple, plum, pear & pomegranate)  Can't buy that at the store :-)

A few years back I was testing English muffin recipes on TFL.  After I posted a recipe I received a comment from Dan Lepard who provided a recipe for excellent English muffins.  The other day I decided to give the recipe another try.  The only thing I changed was a couple of stretch and folds at 20 minute intervals after the dough came out of the refrigerator, after reaching room temperature.  This is a really good recipe which produces a light, flavorful muffin, and it's easy to make.  They take about 7 minutes per side on a medium low grill or in a cast iron skillet.  Don't try to hurry them or the outside will be brown before the inside is done.  I used a digital thermometer to check the internal temperature.  These reached an internal temperture of 202-204 deg. F.  Incidentally, I quadrupled the recipe to make 4 times the amount of dough, which is the reason the dough amount in the first photo under the recipe is fairly large.

Edit: I also added 3 Tbs. ripe 100% sourdough starter to the dough mix.

Below is the recipe that Mr. Lepard published in the Guardian newspaper.

Howard

Cider vinegar English muffins

• The Guardian,
• Saturday November 24 2007
• Article history

What the Americans call an English muffin we used to call, well, a muffin. But since those little cakes in paper cases have invaded the supermarket shelves and stolen the name, our own little plain bread muffin has become neglected in Britain. In the US, bakers have raised the quality of their English muffins to something close to perfection. Crisp on the outside, sour and holey inside, and chewy when toasted and slathered with butter. Make these and you'll see what we've been missing all these years. In this recipe, the dough gets mixed and lightly kneaded the night before and is left in the refrigerator overnight to rise slowly. You can even leave it until the following evening if that works better for you.

Makes 8-10 muffins

50g unsalted butter

100ml warm water (by weight: approximately 4 oz. or 116 g.)

50ml cider vinegar [by weight: approximately 2 oz. Or 58g.]

100ml plain live yoghurt [slightly less than ½ cup]

1 large egg

1 level tsp salt

375g strong white flour

2 tsp easy-blend yeast [I used instant yeast and it worked fine]

Oil for the bowl

The night before, melt the butter in a saucepan [use stainless steel with the vinegar], then remove from the heat and beat in the warm water with the vinegar, yoghurt, egg and salt until smooth. Measure the flour and yeast into a bowl, tip [pour] in the butter and vinegar mixture and stir to a thick batter. Cover the bowl and leave for 10 minutes. Lightly oil the work surface and knead the dough gently for 10-15 seconds (see Basic techniques). Scrape the bowl clean of scraps of dough, wipe the inside with a little oil, place the dough back in the bowl, cover with a plate or cling film and place in the refrigerator overnight.

The following morning (or evening), lightly oil a dinner tray and upturn the dough on to it. Stretch and fold the dough in by thirds (see Basic techniques), then cover with a tea towel and leave to rest for 1-2 hours until it warms and begins to rise again. [It takes a full 2 hours at 75 deg. F.]

Line a dinner tray with a tea towel and dredge the surface liberally with flour. Gently roll out the dough [on a work surface] about 1½ cm [approximately 5/8 inch] thick, trying not to knock too much of the gas from it. Cut the dough into discs using a 12cm-diameter [approximately 4 ¾ inches] cutter (yes, that large, as they'll pull inwards as they bake), or take a sharp knife and cut the dough into 6 rectangles or something close to that. Carefully lay the cut dough on the floured cloth. Dust the tops with flour and cover with a tea towel. Leave for 1½-2 hours [they’ll take the full 2 hours at 75 deg. F.] or until doubled in height.

Get a large heavy-bottomed frying pan with a snug-fitting lid if possible. Place on a moderate heat until the surface is hot but not scorching.

Uncover the muffins and flip them one by one on to your hand with the cloth, then slide them into the pan. You should be able to fit 3 or 4 in at a time. Cover the pan with the lid to create a bit of steam to help them rise and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Then check to see that they're not burning. If the bottom is a good brown, flip them over using a spatula. Cook on the other side for about 3-4 minutes. [I used an electric skillet with a lid, set at 340 deg. F. cooking them in a dry pan for 6 minutes on side 1 and 4 minutes on side 2 until they reached an internal temperature of 190 deg. F.] When done, remove to a wire rack, drape a tea towel over to keep them soft, and continue with the remaining muffins. Freeze in a zip-lock bag as soon as they're cold.

Inspired by the recipe from the blog: Discovering Sourdough I baked my English Muffins with Feta.

Sourdough Starter:

172 g whole wheat flour

212 g water

122 g whole wheat bubbling sourdough

Combine the ingredients in a large mixing, cover and let ferment for 10-12 hours.

Final dough:

all of the  sourdough starter

256g water

505 g  whole wheat flour

Mix the ingredients and autolyse for 30-40 minutes. Then add 272 g crumbled feta cheese and work it through the dough.

Set aside for 40 minutes and knead the dough for 1 minute. Repeat the kneading after 40 minutes. Then let ferment for  4 hours.

Preheat your oven with a baking stone and a steam pan to 450F.Using a rolling pin roll the dough out to 11/4cm (1/2 inch) thickness. Cut the muffins out and place on the baker's peel  lined with parchment paper. Bake for  5-6 minutes each side.

Hey guys! it's been a while! i've been posting a lot on my blog, but not much on here!

anyway, my brother and i made english muffins, which happened to be one of the most fun breads i've made so far. i hope you guys enjoy my post on them!

you can read all the posts on our blog, http://bakingacrosscountry.wordpress.com/ i've been interning at a bread bakery as well as a bagel shop! this project has definitely been the highlight of my high school career.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My brother, Evan, came home from his trip to Antarctica and New Zealand a few days ago. We had a lot of family events that filled the entirety of the weekend, and we had no time to really even see each other. Even though I had school today, I took the morning off to bake bread and hang out with my brother before he flew back to California. English muffins were the next on deck-and I couldn't have asked for a more interesting bread to make with Evan.

English muffins, despite their name, are not like the typical muffins we are familiar with. Yeast-risen, English muffins are cooked atop a griddle, giving it its classic, flattened shape. Once browned on the outside, the muffins are baked fully in the oven. English muffins are usually eaten for breakfast, or for sandwiches. However, to retain the texture of the crumb, English muffins are split open with a fork, revealing the trademarked "nooks and crannies" inside.

English muffins are very similar to crumpets, which are yeasted breads baked in a mould on a griddle. However, crumpets have their defining holes on the top of the bread, while English muffins have holes on the inside.

Cooking yeasted breads on a griddle was nothing new- it has been documented that in 10th century Wales breads were made like this. In the 19th century England, yeasted griddle-breads were sold door to door by a muffin man. He would come around every day, and deliver fresh breads.

English muffins were popularized by Samuel Bath Thomas, who marketed them in New York City in the late 1800s. English muffins gained their identifying trademark "nooks and crannies" in the mid-1920s.

The English muffins that I've unfortunately been exposed to are rubbery, store bought Thomas' ones. The only positives about these are that when their split with a fork, toasted, and buttered, they do not taste half bad. However, I'm sure English muffins have the potential to be a delicious breakfast and sandwich bread.

English muffins are enriched bread, with butter and milk. They are a direct bread, meaning they do not have a preferment or retardation. However, I believe that these would be great using a sourdough starter, adding a more complex flavor. Evan and I decided that we would make two batches because it only makes six at a time. If we doubled it, we would have enough to feed our bread-hungry brother, Will, and freeze some for future breakfasts.

Evan and I began mixing the dry ingredients- flour, sugar, salt and yeast- together. Since we didn't have any buttermilk, we clabbered milk with vinegar to make a buttermilk substitute. We added the "buttermilk" and butter to the dough, and kneaded it until it made a soft, tender dough.

We let the dough proof until doubled, for about two hours. The dough was so soft and supple; It was surprised that it would be used for English muffins. We scaled it into 3 ounce portions, and shaped them into balls. We sprinkled them with a really coarse cornmeal, and a finer one. Then, we let them proof for about 2 hours until they puffed up significantly.

We originally were going to use a cast-iron skillet, but the one we own is only about 8 inches in diameter. We settled on our electric-griddle which we use for pancakes. They cooked on the first side for about 5 minutes, or until they were very dark brown, but not burnt. Then, we flipped them, and baked them on the last side.

Once cooked on both sides on the griddle, we baked them in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until they were fully cooked.

They were on the big side, and a little thicker than the ones were used to. Evan and I split one open (with a fork!) and tried it. They tasted real, and delicious. Unlike store bought ones, they didn't taste chemically or rubbery, but were soft with a crunchy corn crust.

Next time (and I promise there will be a next time), I think I'll scale them into about 2.5 ounce balls rather than 3 ounce ones. It might have been Evan's presence in the kitchen, but English muffins were probably the most fun and most interesting bread I've baked so far.

I know there have been plenty of entries on the subject of English muffins here on TFL, but I actually just made them for the first time recently. Somehow or another the thought just hadn't crossed my mind but these were delicious! I almost feel guilty buying those 100 calorie whatcha ma-call-its for so long! This is one of the only things that I've made that came out looking so identical to a store bought product. Although they came out looking the same the flavor and texture was out of this world! 

External Linkn to blog post and recipe: http://neo-homesteading.blogspot.com/2010/07/sourdough-english-muffins.html

Be careful out there, among the English.  With these words, a long time ago, I set out to make English muffins from scratch.  Why bother, when Thomas'es were just down the street at the market?  I worked for the State Dept and was serving overseas, in Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, etc, a long way from the supermarket down the street.  I had access to basic ingredients, and finally settled on a recipe which would make about 17-19 large English muffins at a go.  I didn't have an electric skillet (220v would have caused havoc with most electric appliances brought from home and I had limited transformers.  So cooking was done by elevating the quarter-size baking sheets about 2 inches or so above the low flame or electric element on the stove, using small skillets or other heatproof items as supports.  The muffins were on a sprinkling of coarse corn meal directly on the baking sheets, where they proofed and then later cooked.  As others who have written about English muffins here, I found it best to test and turn the muffins over after about 4-5 minutes, to insure mobility and to prevent burning.

Rather than use a liquid batter, the recipe I finally devised was a straight dough with the addition of mashed potato.  Recipe follows: 

English Muffins

Dry Ingredients        Wet Ingredients

2 C Flour                       1 1/2 C milk
2 T sugar                      1/4 c water
1 t salt                         1 T Butter/oil
1 T yeast
1 C mashed potatoes     1 egg

4 C flour (reserved)

Corn meal

Mix the dry ingredients. (Start with only 2 cups of flour. The mashed potatoes may be real or instant, depending on time and availability).

Warm the wet ingredients (baby bottle temp, warm on the wrist, not hot), and add to the dry ingredients. Beat for two minutes, then add the egg and one cup of the reserved flour. Beat two minutes. Add flour by the cup and continue beating until the dough mass comes together. I had a KA stand mixer part of the time overseas but also did it by hand.  The mixer is easier, if you have it, but not absolutely essential.  Turn the dough out of the bowl and knead for seven minutes. Lightly grease the bowl and put the dough in and cover with a cloth and allow to rise until doubled, about one hour. Gently punch it down and allow to rise a second time, about 50 min.

Roll out the dough to about 1/2  thick on a floured surface. I used tuna cans (opened at both ends) as circle cutters to cut the muffins.  Of course that was back when the cans were tin and could be opened at both ends.  They are now a blister-formed aluminum, I think, and only open on one end.  Oh well, I am sure you can find suitable alternatives.  Save and reroll the scraps.  You should get about 18 good sized muffins from the recipe.

Liberally sprinkle corn meal on two cookie sheets and then place the muffins on the cornmeal. Cover and let rise about 45 min.

The trick now is to cook them. You can gently use a spatula to transfer them one at a time to a skillet, but I found it easier to arrange a support for the entire cookie sheet about 2 " above the heating element. With the heat on medium to low, the muffins will begin to cook. After a minute or so, test that the muffins are not sticking. After about 5 minutes, turn one over and check the bottom. Gradually turn all of them over to cook the other side. When all are nicely browned, remove the cookie sheet from the stove (replacing it with the second batch), and let the first batch cool. Split, toast. Makes about 18.  They freeze well and will last for months.  Thqaw them out and fork split them befopre toasting.  Enjoy.

OK, It is a lot of work.  But then, we were the only ones in Luanda, Angola or Brasilia, Brazil or various Central Asian cities at the time who had toasted English Muffins for breakfast on the weekends.

I tried these english muffins and they were great...if anyone wants the recipe:

http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/09/11/sourdough-english-muffins/">

http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/09/11/sourdough-english-muffins/">http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/09/11/sourdough-english-muffins/

I made them 4oz instead of 3 which were great for sandwiches...

EDIT: and the bagels were awesome....http://yumarama.com/blog/46/sourdough-bagels-recipe/

The dough is really just a few steps up from batter. The high hydration ensures the muffins will be light and lofty rather than dense, creating medium to fine “nooks and crannies”.

INGREDIENTS

2c            Warm Water
1T           Yeast
1/2c         Honey
1/2c         Sour Cream
4c            Bread Flour
2t            Salt
1c            Yellow Corn Meal

MIX DOUGH

Pour warm water in a large bowl and sprinkle with yeast. Add honey and whisk until dissolved. Add sour cream and continue to whisk until uniform, there may be some small pea sized bits of sour cream, which is fine. Combine flour and salt and start adding to the liquid. The amount of flour used will vary, the key is to get a dough that is very wet (cannot quite form a ball, but pulls away from the side of the bowl when worked). To mix and knead the dough I continually dip my hand in warm water and smoosh it about, the dough is about right when it is sticky but my hand will stay clean for two or three “smooshes” while I am kneading (to knead this dough I keep it in the bowl ). Knead for 5 minutes.

Cover and let rise, some cooking spray will help keep the dough from sticking to the cover and make it easier to push down while proofing. Let dough rise until double in size (about an hour), scrape sides and mix dough down. Repeat three or four times then cook.

COOKING

I use a large electric griddle to cook the muffins (Presto Tilt n Drain Big Griddle, awesome tool), any flat griddle should work. The dough is sticky, I dip my fingers in water between each muffin to help.

Sprinkle the griddle generously with corn meal. Cut apple size balls of dough and gently place them on the griddle, DO NOT over work the dough. You can pinch the edges to make a rounder shape, I never use rings. Spray tops with oil and sprinkle generously with corn meal.  Turn the griddle on high (appx. 450), cook the first side until it is golden brown on the bottom and the muffins have a nice loft. Gently flip the muffin taking care not to deflate it. Let cook on high for 5 min then reduce heat to medium (appx. 350) and continue cooking until the muffin is cooked through, will sound hollow to tap, about 15 minutes.

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.......

Hi --

I'm singing the praises of all of you on The Fresh Loaf on Flour Girl today.

I posted here yesterday, looking for ways to used my leftover starter. Someone mentioned Wild Yeast's English Muffins. I made them this morning and am amazed to say that they worked.

And they're quite tasty.

Thanks again ... I'll definitely try adding the leftovers to regular yeasted bread for added flavor and I plan on making the banana bread that someone else suggested.

Thanks to you all for being so helpful!

Happy baking!

Flour Girl