Recipe: English Muffins

As my confidence with bread baking grows, and my pantry becomes stocked with high quality flours, I’ve found myself wanting to take on more than just pizza dough. Next stop on the bread train: English Muffins.

The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart (which I bought on our honeymoon at Powell’s) had a great and simple recipe. I followed it detail for detail and came out with the most perfect muffins.

Peter Reinhart’s English Muffins
2 1/4 cups (10 oz.) flour
1/2 tbsp. (.25 oz.) sugar
1/4 tsp. (.19 oz.) salt
1 1/4 tsp. (.14 oz.)  instant yeast
1 tbsp. (.5 oz.) butter (at room temperature)
3/4 – 1 cup (6-8 oz.) milk (at room temperature), I used 2%
Cornmeal for sprinkling

Measure out your dry team (flour, sugar, salt, yeast) and combine in your stand mixer.

Next add in the wet team (butter & milk) and stir with the dough hook attachment until your dough is fully combined and a little sticky to the touch.

Place your dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise for about 90 minutes. It should double in size as you can see below.

Next, transfer your dough on to a cornmeal dusted countertop. Cut into your desired number of muffins and shape into english muffins (I made8 small rounds). Place your dough on a parchment paper lined baking sheet to rise.

Let the muffin dough rise on the baking sheet for another 60-90 minutes. You can leave the baking sheet out on the counter but be sure to cover it with a towel or plastic wrap (you don’t want a skin to form on the dough).

The next step is cooking your english muffins. Transfer the risen dough balls onto a greased griddle pan. Do this gently, the more you handle the dough the more it will fall. You want light, fluffy english muffins so try not to manhandle the dough too much. You also want to give them space. I cooked 4 at a time. Cook the muffins over medium heat until the bottoms, and then the tops, are golden brown.

Once both sides are griddled, put your english muffins back on the parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes in a 325 degree oven. When they are done let them cool for 10-15 minutes then split them open with a fork (it really keeps the integrity of the little nooks and crannies better than a knife).

Here is a picture of one suggested use inspired by Pioneer Woman’s english muffin tuna melts (we had these for dinner this week):

Other suggested uses: bacon/egg/cheese muffins, peanut butter and jelly muffins, cream cheese and lox muffins, or just simply toasted and buttered muffins with tea.

Side note: Since I made these muffins I have also made a loaf with this exact recipe and it came out delicious. Just as fluffy and buttery tasting but without the griddling. It is the perfect bread recipe!