Rose Levy Beranbaum's English Muffins
For my first attempt at English muffins I decided to try Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe from her Bread Bible. The recipe uses a sponge/poolish and is an enriched (with butter and honey) dough. I followed her recipe to the letter, except for diameter size. After mixing I placed the dough in the fridge overnight for retardation. She says it can stay in the fridge up to 24 hours. I left it in for about 12 hours. The recipe calls for rolling the dough out while it is cold and cutting round 3 1/2 inch diameter rounds (I cut them 4 inches in diameter). Place them on a pan sprinkled with corn meal and sprinkle the tops lightly with corn meal, then allow them to rise (covered) until double in volume.
Rose Levy Beranbaum's English Muffins: Rose Levy No. 1
Photo below: Then place each dough round on a lightly buttered, griddle heated to medium. Cook on one side for 10 minutes, flip them over and cook on the other side for about half previous time (5 minutes) until they reach an internal temp. of 190 deg. F
Rose Levy Beranbaum's English Muffins: Rose Levy No. 3
Photo Below: The front 2 rows are the tops (after being flipped and cooked 5 minutes). The back 2 rows are the bottoms (after cooking for 10 minutes).
Rose Levy Beranbaum's English Muffins: Rose Levy No. 3
The photo below is the crumb of the muffin.
Rose Levy Beranbaum's English Muffins: Rose Levy No. 4Summary
In the opening passage of her recipe she says: "This incredibly smooth and supple dough is almost identical to the one for Basic Soft White Sandwich Loaf (page 244). Therein lies the problem. The muffins DO NOT resemble English muffins with the firm texture and craggy holes in the crumb. The crumb was way too doughy and more like the texture of Wonder Bread than English Muffin.
With all due respect to Rose Levy, who I think has written a terrific book (Bread Bible), which I bake from frequently---I would be less than honest if I didn't say strike this one from your "To Bake" list.
Dougal has posted a version of Dan Lepard's recipe for crumpets that I plan to try next. Thank you Dougal. I'll keep you posted.