I am fortunate to live steps away from a fantastic bakery, which supplies me with warm, fresh loaves of bread on any given weekday. I don’t buy bagged supermarket bread, because fresh is so accessible and tastes so much better. And (because I love to wrap my fingers around a smooth ball of springy dough) what I can’t get at the bakery, I make myself.
One exception to the fresh-only rule has been English muffins – why? I don’t know. But I read the ingredients list on the last bag I bought…
“Whole Wheat Flour, Water, Yeast, Salt, Wheat Gluten, Canola Oil” – this is about where I’d expect the list to end – but no, we’ve got, “glucose-fructose, calcium proprionate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium sulphate, ammonium chloride, azodicarbonamide, diacetylated tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides (??!?), calcium peroxide and ascorbic acid” in there too. Yum?
I decided that bag would be my last!
I can’t believe I had never made English muffins before. They are so easy they practically make themselves, and they blow those bagged pucks out of the preservative-laden water. I made a double batch and froze them. Now I have an eggs-benedict vehicle at the ready whenever the whim should strike.
Have you tried no-knead bread? English muffins are just as easy, but with less waiting. You simply stir the ingredients together – no kneading – and only have to wait an hour. And if you haven’t made no-knead bread, you should get on that, stat.
The dough is very sticky, you’ll need a well-floured surface. I used a 3 inch biscuit cutter to make circles, but you could just as easily use an overturned glass.
The muffins are cooked first in a cornmeal-dusted frying pan (you could simply use more flour if you don’t have cornmeal, or wheat germ) and then transferred to an oven to finish baking. Don’t skip the skillet and try to shortcut them straight to the oven – tried this, and the result was flat buns, not english muffins.
Homemade english muffins are fresh and chewy, all full of craggly crevices for melted butter to seep into. Use a fork to stab around the circumference, then pry it apart (if you use a knife, you’ll lose the nooks and crannies!).
My recipe uses some yogurt to mimic the tang of a sourdough english muffin, and also helps to make them extra soft and chewy.
Homemade English Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups milk
- ¼ cup cold butter cubed
- 1 egg beaten
- ¼ cup plain yogurt
- 4 cups all-purpose flour or 2 cups whole wheat + 2 cups all-purpose
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 ¼ tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- cornmeal for dusting the skillet
Instructions
- In a large microwave-safe measuring cup, microwave the milk on high power until it starts to simmer at the edges, about 2 1/2 minutes. Stir in the cold butter until melted. When the mixture has cooled to warm, stir in the beaten egg and yogurt.
- Combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. With the mixer on low (beater attachment), slowly add the milk mixture. Beat 1 minute, until thoroughly combined. The dough will be very wet. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise for one hour.
- Scrape the dough from the bowl onto a floured work surface. Lightly flour the top and pat or roll it out until about 1/2 inch thick. Use a floured 3-inch biscuit cutter (or an upside-down drinking glass) to cut rounds. Gather up the scraps and repeat. Use a floured spatula to pick up the muffins as you go, and set them aside to rise for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and heat a skillet (or two) over medium heat. Dust the skillet generously with cornmeal. Place the English muffins 1 inch apart and cook 3–4 minutes, until golden brown on the bottom. Flip and cook another 3–4 minutes. Transfer to a baking sheet as they're done. Once all are browned, bake in the centre of the oven 7–10 minutes, until they sound hollow when you tap their tops.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Jenn! I just discovered your site here and love it. I made these English muffins for my mom while she is visiting from Vernon, BC. We needed something to slather her amazing Okanagan apricot jam on! I planned to make them early one morning and when I got my sleepy head into gear I realized only after I had put together the dough that I had only regular yeast and not rapid rise. I gave the dough a few minutes to see if it would still rise but on closer inspection I saw all the tiny beads of undissolved yeast dotting the dough. I decided to start over, proofing the regular yeast according to the jar’s directions and reducing the milk to accommodate the added liquid. It worked great – rose like a champ in an hour – and were delicious. I just wanted to pass this on in case anyone else found themselves with a English muffin craving and only regular yeast.
Also when I was taking my organic waste out I saw that the discarded dough finally did rise. I believe it grows still out in my green bin. It make take over Toronto….
Great tip, thanks Andy! P.S. Mmm.. I am SO JEALOUS of your mom’s Okanagan apricot jam.
This recipe is fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing!! I would have to agree, watching the english muffins puff up and turn golden brown was perty exciting 🙂 Thanks again!
Glad you enjoyed, Emily!!!! 🙂
Any suggestions of what to do if you don’t have a standing mixer?
You can do it by hand with a big bowl and a wooden spoon!
These were simply AMAZING. I followed the recipe to a T and they were PERFECT. Never will buy a store muffin again…ever.
Made these tonight, with awesome results! I did make one change, I swapped the yogurt for sour cream, as that is what I had on hand. They were so easy to make, and the results are worth it. I loved the whole process, especially watching them puff up ever so slowly on the griddle. Thank you for sharing!
Isn’t it so satisfying to make your own? I’m so glad you had awesome results!! 🙂
Made these tonight, and they are ridiculously good. The only change I made, was a swap of light sour cream in place of the yogurt. I had it on hand, and the store only had 32 oz containers of containers of yogurt. They are so easy to make and and about a million times better than something from the store. Thank you for sharing!
Very good recipe! Light and fluff, especially if you proof them for even longer than the recommended 20 minutes. At least as tasty as store-bought and like you say, minus all the preservatives.
Thanks for the tip, Evan! I’ll try next time with a longer proof. I do love the convenience of how fast they are though!
I just made it and it’s so good and so easy to make. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for coming back to comment, so glad you enjoyed! 🙂
Hi. 🙂
We LOVE english muffins and we can’t get them here (Italy), so I was thrilled when I saw your recipe.
I prepared this last Sunday and we had a wonderful breakfast. The english muffins were just perfect! It had that added dream like feeling that you get when you eat that perfect and simple food you usually don’t get to eat, so I am not sure I am being objective.
I froze some, and I realized afterward that I should have cut them before freezing them.
We will be making this again soon.
Thanks for the recipe. You are welome for breakfast anytime. 🙂
Hi Juli! Thank you for the lovely note, I’m so happy my english muffins could bring something special to your breakfast table in Italy! And that invitation is very tempting… 🙂
I found this recipe on Pinterest. I made it on April 2, 2016. This is the first time I made English Muffins. Very easy to make. My adult daughter even approved. ( She picks on me about my cooking)