English Muffins, perfect to make at home

Once you’ve experienced truly fresh English muffins, you’ll find it hard to go back to store bought. In fact, English muffins are perfect to make at home.

They’re wonderfully light and fluffy and perfect for both sweet and savoury toppings. Think egg and bacon or lashings of butter and jam. Whatever you choose, you’ll thank yourself for making them.

These aren’t to be confused with the cupcake-style muffins you see in cafés. These toasty treats are the traditional style. More of a bread. Or cross between a crumpet and bread roll. Whatever they are, they’re delightful and delicious.

As they cook they seem to self-split them in half, ready for you to plop into the toaster and take out warm and softly crunchy. Whether you’re a sweet or savoury topping kind of person it doesn’t matter. These will take you to comfort breakfast heaven.

The joy of English muffins

There are so many reasons to make your own everything, including these lovely light and fluffy English muffins. Firstly, when you make your own you know what’s in them. That’s a good start.

In Australia, it’s hard to find muffins without a lot of additives and preservatives. This is obviously to ensure they have shelf life, but when you think about it, how fresh are they? Really. Plus, they can be a bit bland too.

Which leads me to another reason: you know they’re fresh when you make them yourself! They also freeze well, so big batches are great. You’ll just need to set aside plenty of time, because the cooking process can be a bit slow. And there’s no rushing it, that’s for sure.

The dough can be made in an electric mixer with a dough hook, or in a large bowl. I’d recommend investing in a Danish dough hook, like the one in my Five Kitchen Items I Wouldn’t Be Without post. It’s the third item down.

Cooking tip: gently does it

Monitor the heat when you’re cooking them. If you keep control, you’ll have perfectly puffed and golden English muffins.

Let the griddle or frypan get too hot and you’ll have burnt bottoms.

And no one wants a burnt bottom.

Remember to tag me on socials if you make these and leave a comment below.

If you have a good tip for baking English Muffins, please let me know. Now, without further ado, let’s cook!

Home-made English Muffins

Recipe by MartiCourse: RecipeCuisine: British, EnglishDifficulty: Moderate-advanced skill

Makes

8

muffins

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Resting time

1.5

Hours

Fluffy, light home-made English muffins are such a treat and fun to make.

You will need

• 325 grams strong white bread flour

• 7 grams dried yeast granules

• 6 grams (1 tsp) coarse sea salt | kosher salt

• 15 grams caster (fine) sugar

• 15 grams very soft butter, cut into small pieces

• 1 medium free-range egg weighing about 30-35ml, lightly beaten

• 150 ml milk

• 25 ml tepid water

• Extra butter, for greasing the bowl and pan

• Extra flour, for dusting and kneading

• fine semolina, plus extra for dusting

Here’s what to do

• Add the tepid water to a small bowl or jug and sprinkle the yeast over it. Stir to dissolve then leave to become slightly bubbly while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
• Put the flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar and salt. Stir with a whisk to combine.
• Add the butter, egg, milk and yeast mixture, then mix together with a dough hook or Swedish dough whisk until a soft dough forms. If the mixture is too wet, you may need to add a little extra flour.
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently for 10 minutes working extra flour in as you go until the dough stops sticking to your hands.
• It should be nice and smooth. Form into a nice ball.
• Lightly grease a large bowl with extra butter and place the dough in, rolling it to lightly grease the dough ball. Cover and leave to rest in a warm place for about an hour, or until doubled in size.
• When ready, turn back onto the bench top, lightly dusted with semolina and flour. Using a rolling pin, gently roll to about 2cm thick.
• Tear off a strip of baking parchment and place onto the bench or a baking tray. Alternatively, use a silicon sheet, such as a Silpat.
• Take a round biscuit cutter about 7.5-8cm in diameter. Cut out eight muffins. You may need to re-roll the dough.
• As you cut the muffins, place onto the parchment, leaving some space for them to expand a little. Sprinkle semolina on top.
• Cover with a clean tea towel, then rest in a warm place for a further 45 minutes.
• Place a heavy based pan, such as a pancake pan or griddle over low heat and warm it through. Place muffins on the pan and let cook on one side for 5-6 minutes, then flip and cook the other side. Adjust the heat as you cook them so they don’t burn.
• Cool on a cooling rack and toast before eating, topped with butter and your favourite topping.

Tips and tricks

• White bread flour is higher in protein, therefore it’s ‘stronger’ than other styles of flour. If you don’t have it, just use plain (all-purpose) flour instead.
• Try substituting the milk with some plain yoghurt for a tang and slightly different texture
• Set aside a rainy day, make double the recipe and freeze them for future breakfasts.

Credits go to

This recipe has been adapted from one on BBC Food’s Great British Bake off, by Paul Hollywood.

Like it? Let’s celebrate together

Remember to comment, tag and share. Happy toasting and eating beautiful English muffins.