These homemade English muffins will have you hooked
These homemade English muffins will be slightly crispy on the outside and moist and fluffy on the inside. Kinda like the best French fry you ever ate. These delightful little muffins are so good that you’ll never want to eat store bought again. They are very different and worth every minute.
Did you know they are not baked, but grilled instead?
Same with crumpets, but I’ll save that for another day. Pepé thinks I mean an outdoor grill. No. These moist and fluffy muffins are cooked indoors on a griddle or a skillet in a kitchen. Technically, they can be cooked on any flat surface that you can heat evenly. So, I guess you could cook them on an outdoor grill as long as you have a flat surface. I haven’t tried this, but I do have some grill mats, so now Pepé and I are wondering how well that would work. This would be very difficult or even impossible in cold weather. But, you could probably cook them on a sidewalk in the summer. It’s gets pretty hot here in the Midwest. Might as well have something to go with those eggs people keep frying on hot sidewalks. Please don’t actually do this!
This is an opportunity to multi-task
Don’t be leery of how much time they take to cook. Most of that time is waiting for them to rise. Even when they are cooking, you can just check them every few minutes and still be doing something else in the kitchen. Let’s be honest, you were looking for an excuse to check all your social media and still be productive. Boom, now is your chance! Or you can read about the history of the English muffin by following this link.
Not just for breakfast anymore
Seriously, I make all kinds of sandwiches with these tasty little muffins. One of my favorites is my take on a turkey club. It has turkey (of course), bacon (precooked – see my instruction on the best way to cook bacon in this post about a BLT Salad ), tomatoes, arugala, and a mushroom & brie cheese. It’s absolutely heavenly. I need to open a sandwich shop using homemade English muffins.
Homemade English Muffins
Equipment
- Griddle
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 Cups Milk luke warm or 110°F/43.33C - 115°F/46.11C
- 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter room temp
- 1 1/4 Teaspoons Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Honey
- 2 1/4 Teaspoons Active Dry Yeast or one packet
- 1 Egg extra large
- 4 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
- Cornmeal for griddle to prevent sticking to griddle
Instructions
- Blend all of the dry ingredients (except for the cornmeal) in a large bowl of a stand mixer.
- Warm the milk in the microwave for 10-20 seconds at a time until it reaches 110°F/43.33°C - 115°F/46.11°C in a 2 cup glass measuring cup (use an instant read thermometer). Combine the honey and the milk and stir until honey has dissolved. Transfer to the bowl and add the egg and the butter with the dry ingredients and mix with the paddle beater until dough starts to come away from the sides of the bowl (about 3 minutes). The dough will be very sticky and stretchy.
- Gather the dough, scraping the sides of the bowl and form a ball. Place that ball of dough back into the bowl, cover and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours, or until almost double in size. Tip: Turn your oven on for one minute, then turn it off. This will create a nice warm (but not too warm) place for the dough to rise.
- Sprinkle a light coating of cornmeal over 2 griddles. If you don’t have two griddles, you can use skillets or a combination of skillets and griddles, or you can cook them in shifts.
- Gently, punch dough down and then divide the dough into half, then each half again, and again until you have 16 equal pieces.
- Form each piece into a nice smooth ball then flatten the balls between your hands until they’re about 3” to 3 1/2” (7.62cm to 8.89cm) in diameter.
- Place these onto the griddles or skillets that you’ve prepared with cornmeal and sprinkle more cornmeal on top of each muffin. Cover with light kitchen towel and let them rise for 20 to 30 minutes. They are only going to rise a small amount.
- Heat griddles (or skillets) between medium and medium high heat and cook for 8 to 15 minutes per side (Yes, I know, this is a crazy time zone of deliciousness but it’s real, even Pepé thinks it’s odd in that hollow wooden head of his). The second side will go faster. They will puff quite a lot when cooked properly. If they don’t start to brown after 12 minutes increase the temperature slightly. Once they’ve turned a golden brown on one side (see photos), gently flip them over and continue to cook on the other side until the that side has also browned and the internal temperature reads 180°F/82.22°C to 190°F/87.78°C with an instant read thermometer. If you don't have a thermometor, tap the top of the muffins. They will sound hollow. If muffins are getting too dark, you can put them on a sheet pan and continue cooking them in a 350°F/176.67°C oven for a few minutes.
- Once thoroughly cooked, move to a cooling rack to cool.
- Split open by poking a fork through the side and continue poking all the way around. Or you can cut them with a bread knife, but this is safer and shows off their fluffy texture. These English Muffins will be slightly crispy on the outside and moist and fluffy on the inside.
