Perfect English Muffin recipe

Hey, I’m John Canel and today we’re making some amazing homemade English muffins. So, let’s get started.

Mixing the wet ingredients

First off, in a small bowl or a measuring cup, we’re going to combine 3/4 of a cup of whole milk with half a cup of water. The milk’s going to give a little bit of richness to our English muffins. Our yeast needs some food, so we’re going to give them 2 Tbsp of granulated sugar. One and two. Stir together.

By the way, if you haven’t had homemade English muffins, which very few people have, you’re missing out. The store-bought ones are stale. It is like eating weak old bread. They are so stale. So, these are going to be really like spongy and amazing on the inside and have a lovely texture.

We’re going to pop this into the microwave now and warm it up to 110°. I’m going to do 30 second bursts and see where I’m at with my thermometer. If you don’t have a thermometer, it should just feel very warm to the touch, but not hot. Nice and warm.

So, it’s time to add our yeast. One envelope or 2 and 1/4 teaspoon of active dry yeast, not instant. Give it a stir. And we’re going to set this aside for 5 to 7 minutes or until a beautiful foamy head forms. If nothing happens, your yeast have died and we’ll mourn them and move on with a new packet. You can’t make this recipe if the yeast aren’t working. So, you need to have a foamy head. Set that aside.

Preparing the dry ingredients

And in the meantime, we’re going to measure our flour out. In the bowl of my stand mixer, I’m going to add 3 cups or 360 g of all-purpose flour. Perfect. For some contrast, I’m adding a teaspoon of salt. You can give that a quick whisk.

This is ready. We’re going to grab our stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and move forward. As long as our yeast have a nice foamy head. In the meantime, get 3 tablespoon of unsalted butter and melt it. You want it just melted, not scalding hot, because you do not want to damage your yeast.

Bringing the dough together

My yeast is beautifully foamy. It’s been about 5 minutes. I’m going to add 3 tablespoons of melted butter in. These muffins should be nice and like perfectly rich. It’s not bio, but you’re not making like a plain bread either. one room temperature egg. You could check for shells. That looks nice. Add the egg to your mixture. Mix that up. You could use a whisk or fork. Your mixer should be on low right now. And we’re going to gradually pour in the wet mixture.

So, English muffins are actually American, but developed by a British immigrant named Samuel Thomas. Originally, these were called toaster crumpets, which I think is such a cute name. I feel like English muffins would be so much more popular if they were called toaster crumpets.

This dough looks like an utter disaster right now. Like, look at that. No structure. Lumpy, wet. English muffins are going to be a wetter dough. That’s how you get those beautiful nooks and crannies. But this is crazy. We’re gonna develop the structure by mixing on medium high for about seven minutes and we’ll see the difference.

Kneading and first rise

After about 7 minutes, we have a very smooth and elastic dough. Totally different texture. And honestly, this dough will probably stick to your clean fingers, but you can see how much structure it has. So you can really pull it out and we have a lot of gluten that’s formed.

Our beautiful dough is ready to transfer to an oiled clean bowl so that it has a nice place to rise. Just a little oil. Can work that around the bowl with your hand. And right now you have a choice. You could let this rise in a nice cozy place for about an hour until it’s doubled in size. Or you can make this the next day and just pop this into the fridge overnight. If you’re doing the overnight option, bring it out onto the countertop and let the dough warm for about an hour.

This is a recipe I am happy that I didn’t have to do by hand. That was a lot of mixing. I just patted the excess oil on my hands onto my dough so it stays nice and wet. Cover this up and we’ll let this rise on the countertop for about an hour until it’s doubled in size.

Shaping the muffins

After that hour of rise time, my dough is so big and beautiful. M. Look at this. It jiggles. Going to lightly flour our surface now. Actually, like a medium flowering. Transfer your dough to your countertop. I swear I oiled this bowl. We’re going to flour our hands and the top as well and pat this out very gently to just under an inch thickness. Good. Just like that.

I also have two rimmed baking sheets that I lined with parchment paper. And we don’t want anything sticking to this. So, we’re going to lightly dust them with some semolina or cornmeal. Our English muffins need a second rise. So, they’re not going to go directly onto the griddle yet. And you just do not want them sticking. I prefer using cornmeal to semolina. I just think it’s a little bit softer and finer, but totally up to you.

Have a bench scraper ready in case things get sticky. I suggest you flour your 2 and 1/2 in round cutter in between each cut. Dough is super hydrated. Use the bench scraper to help transfer it. And we can let go. This looks small now, but they will puff up as they rise, so don’t worry about them being tiny. After we cook these on the griddle, your English muffins will last 3 to 5 days, or you could freeze them for up to 3 months. If they get dry, just toast them just like you would a store-bought one.

I have a bunch of scraps left over. So, separate them from the flour as best you can. And we’re just going to reform this up. Will they be as pretty? No. Will they be as delicious? Yes. You don’t want to overwork them, though, because they’ll tighten up and need more rest time. See, already they’re bouncier just cuz I touched them a little bit. Last one. Thick amorphous English muffin.

Cover these loosely and we’re going to place them in a nice cozy spot for about half an hour so they puff up and become that much more delicious.

Griddle cooking

Once your muffins are puffed up from that second rise, grab a large skillet and we’re going to place this over the lowest heat. Let your pan warm up slowly, and you’re not going to go on to the next step until you can feel some heat when you hover your hand over the pan.

I used to use a cast iron skillet for this recipe, but I’ve switched over to using just my regular copper and steel pans, or you could use a steel pan. The cast iron just accumulates the heat. It gathers it as you continue cooking your batches and it becomes too hot. The secret to a really nice English muffin, aside from following the right recipe, is cooking it over a very low heat. You do not want to burn them, but you want them to be cooked through and not raw in the middle. So, the lowest heat will work really nicely here.

Once your pan’s hot, we can sprinkle some cornmeal or semolina on top. We go. Now it’s time to cook our dough. So, grab your first English muffin, place that onto your pan, and just add the rest on. You can cook three to four at a time. I suggest starting with three. And then you’re going to cover and cook for six to eight minutes. You can check at six and just see if it’s totally not getting any color or slightly golden. If it’s slightly golden, you can turn it over. You do want to keep this closed until you hit that 6 to 8 minute mark because we’re kind of steam cooking them right now. The bottom, of course, is getting the most heat, but heat’s building up in this closed pan and helping to cook the rest of it.

I also have a brush and more cornmeal or semolina at the ready. Between each batch, you’re going to clear your pan out because the cornmeal or semolina will burn and blacken and become bitter. You just need a fresh start. It’s like adding more butter when you’re making crepes.

After 6 minutes, very puffed up. And you can see the dough is like steamed. Cover it right back up. And you’re going to continue cooking. And you can adjust the heat as needed. Take this down just a little bit. The first batch is going to be the one where you’re testing things out to see like, oh, is this going to be too hot, too cold? Do I have to like rotate them or what’s happening?

After another 6 minutes, it’s time to check your English muffins. Some of these look nice. Some of them are a little dark. As I said before, this is your test batch. So, lesson learned. We’re going to remove the old cornmeal or semolina to trash it and then add some more on. Carefully place your next batch right at the edge. Cover that up and repeat for the remaining English muffins, adjusting the heat as needed, cleaning out your pan in between each batch. And if you’re noticing that things are getting too hot too quickly, I would reduce the temperature and or reduce the time.

I’m using propane and all of these burners, even the smallest one, are quite hot and very powerful. If you’re using a gas oven or an electric or an induction, they’re all going to cook differently. So, know your instrument and adjust accordingly.

One thing to be careful of here are the raw pieces of dough. It’s really a good idea to add a nice generous amount of semolina or cornmeal onto your parchment paper so these don’t stick. They’re like delicate little beautiful clouds of dough and they’re very easy to squish. I would also add a light sprinkle of cornmeal right on top before you handle it so your hands don’t stick when you’re touching them.

Round two. Much better color. So, I reduced the heat to the lowest setting and I’ve reduced it by 1 minute to 5 minutes. They’re looking a little amorphous or homemade, which is fine. For the next batch, I’ll try using some round cookie cutters to hold them in shape and see if that gives me a beautiful look or if it’s ridiculous.

Finishing and serving

Crack it open. That is a lovely English muffin. Just as it should be, nice and thick and lightly golden. So, the ring method seems to have really worked out. I’m going to release this. Cooking these in a ring gives you a perfect like factory-made English muffin. I like the look of the organic ones better.

To cut them open, of course, you’re going to use your fork just to pierce the middle. And then you can split open that fluffy cloud-like interior. Look at those nooks and crannies. Break them apart. Slather with lashings of butter and jam. And just like that, your English muffins are ready to enjoy.

It is the lightest, most delicate texture. It’s like eating a beautiful cloud. I hope you get a chance to make this amazing recipe that’s so much better than store-bought.