How to Make Easy English Muffins ~ this simple recipe yields tall, fluffy, flavorful homemade English muffins ~ this easy bread recipe cooks right on the stove top!
I spent the afternoon baking with my friend Darby this past weekend. She’s waiting to hear from grad schools, so she needed some serious distraction. We baked dueling batches of English muffins. I couldn’t resist tweaking a basic recipe from King Arthur Flour to make big puffy Buckwheat Oat muffins. Since I eat a store bought English muffin 5 out of 7 mornings a week, this is the holy grail of breads as far as I’m concerned.
I researched recipes in preparation for our session and I was amazed at how many different approaches there are to making English muffins. English muffins are basically a yeasted dough that is cooked on a griddle, and they’ve been eaten in England for at least 200 years. Some recipes call for a batter type dough that gets poured into molds and then cooked on a griddle. Others have you shape a more classic bread dough into small rounds and bake them in the oven. Still others are a hybrid of the two methods. I chose to shape my muffins by hand, and cook them on a griddle. I think it’s the griddle cooking that really gives these muffins their classic English muffin look.
But it’s not until you flip your muffins that you begin to see their magic transformation from blobs of dough into beautifully shaped and browned English muffins.
I was positively giddy watching these take shape.
I’ve said it before, but there is something so satisfying about making your own version of something that you’ve bought for years and always just assumed came out of a package.
Darby has a lot more experience with bread making than I do, and I picked up s few good tips from her as we made our muffins. For instance, since we live in a dry climate, I should have covered my rising dough with plastic rather than a dish towel. Even the thinnest skin that forms on the surface of the dough can prevent it from rising evenly as it cooks.
The theme of my early bread experiments is ease. I know that if I’m going to incorporate bread making into my cooking routine it’s going to have to be pretty straightforward and easy. I like this English Muffin recipe because everything gets dumped all at once in to the bowl of the stand mixer and the dough comes together in 5 minutes. You don’t even have to fiddle with proofing the yeast, or anything else, for that matter. After the dough rises it gets shaped into round flat disks, rests for about 20 minutes, and then cooked on the griddle.
I added some buckwheat and oat flour for a little flavor and interest, but you can use all white for a traditional English muffin. I adapted my recipe from King Arthur Flour.
Check out my Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins too!
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups lukewarm milk (about 110 degrees)
- 3 tablespoons softened butter
- 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, to taste
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten (room temperature)
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- 1/2 cup oat flour
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- semolina or farina, for sprinkling on the griddle or pan (you can also use cornmeal)
Instructions
- Put everything except the semolina into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (not the bread hook) Alternatively, if you have a bread machine you can set it to the dough cycle.
- Mix the dough on medium speed for about 5 minutes, The dough should come away from the sides of the bowl and be smooth and quite elastic. I had to scrape the sides of my bowl a couple of times.
- Scrape the dough down into a rough ball and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for about 2 hours until risen and puffy.
- After the rise, gently deflate the dough. This dough will be softer than traditional bread doughs, so just handle it carefully. Turn it out onto a surface that has been dusted with the semolina, or corn meal, and form it into 12 pieces. (First cut the dough in half, then cut each half into three pieces, and cut each of those pieces in half)
- Form the pieces into rounds, and then flatten them into disks about 3 1/2 inches in diameter. Make sure they are dusted on both sides with the semolina. Cover loosely with plastic and let rest for about 20 minutes. They will puff gently.
- Spray your griddle or large cast iron pan with a little cooking spray, and sprinkle with a little semolina or corn meal. Cook the muffins on a low to medium low heat for about 15 minutes on each side, until they are golden browned and done. You can test for doneness with an instant read thermometer...the inside should register 180 to 200 degrees F. If they are very brown before getting thoroughly done on the inside, transfer them to a 350F oven to finish cooking.
- Be sure to use a fork to split the muffins to bring out that famous English muffin texture.
Notes:
- If you have an electric griddle, set it to 300F. Otherwise, use low to moderate heat on the stove. A heavy bottomed pan, like cast iron, works well to modulate the heat. The muffins have to cook through, so you don’t want them to get too brown too quickly.
35 Comments
Rachelle
September 30, 2018 at 5:21 pmCan I use almond milk & lactose free butter in this ? I’m lactose intolerant
Sue
September 30, 2018 at 6:14 pmThat should work fine Rachelle.
Helene
September 29, 2018 at 9:24 pmHow long do they keep once cooked & how do you store them? 12 is a lot for one person
Sue
September 30, 2018 at 8:02 amI would wrap them well and freeze them, Helene. They will last 6 months in the freezer.
Darlene
June 22, 2016 at 1:31 pmAnother great recipe! Thank you for sharing.
Dee
October 31, 2015 at 6:10 amWould it be possible to use all purpose flour instead of bread flour since that’s all I have on hand?
Sue
October 31, 2015 at 7:44 amYou can certainly try Dee, but they won’t have quite the same texture.
Darice
July 1, 2015 at 1:09 pmWhere can I find the name of Darby’s blog? Thanks.
Sue
July 1, 2015 at 1:36 pmHere’s a link, Darice http://fragmentsofsulpicia.blogspot.com/2013/02/english-muffins-part-1.html
Kathy@Playinwithmyfood
May 4, 2014 at 3:53 pmWhy did I ever think making English Muffins was hard? Yours came out great. Will definitely give these a try. Toasted, with melted butter…Mmm.
Marcia
July 25, 2013 at 7:16 amIs it possible to use a gluten free bread flour??? any adjustments?
Sue
July 25, 2013 at 7:48 amHey Maria—I haven’t tried a gluten free recipe, but I know it can be done. Here are a few links, and in the meantime I’ll look into it myself.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/gluten-free-sourdough-english-muffins-recipe
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2009/04/gluten-free-english-muffins.html
http://www.food.com/recipe/gluten-free-english-muffins-440137
danielle dhillon
May 21, 2013 at 3:53 amI would love to make this without oat and buckwheet flour. Rather plain flour and maybe rye. Also just wheat. How would I do this? Also what about adding things like cinn rasin, brownsugar, honey butter or french toats (using maple and something for butter flavor)… please email me the recipe adjustments please please.
Thank you
Danielle (xkrystalxtears@yahoo.com)
I’m disabled and tjis looks like I could handle makening it
--OUR INNERWORK--
March 15, 2013 at 1:31 amI want, need that griddle …. Where do I buy one. Pleeeeeease reply. Cheers …. Oh I’m working through this entire site! Love it!
--OUR INNERWORK--
March 15, 2013 at 1:31 amI want, need that griddle …. Where do I buy one. Pleeeeeease reply. Cheers …. Oh I’m working through this entire site! Love it!