I have been wanting to try this recipe forever, English Muffins made Easy, A small yet tasty bread recipe. I love them for breakfast either as an eggs Benedict combo or just with butter and jam. They are soft, chewy, and just delicious.
English Muffins are not muffins at all. They are more like a bread that’s soft on the inside with a beautiful crunchy crust on the outside. Very versatile when it comes to toppings, you can use savoury or sweet and both work amazingly. I use this recipe for my Homemade Copy Cat McMuffins.
I searched the web and read through dozens of recipes. Most of which seem to take a very long time either with the prep or with the proofing time. I took tit bits from different recipes while trying to keep to the basic recipe and tried and tested it a few times before I got the right combination.
The beauty of this recipe is the very short prep time. A handful of ingredients to be mixed and short kneading time. Firstly you prep the dough like any other bread dough. This dough is quite sticky just before kneading. Don’t let that worry you. I was terrified I ruined my first batch as it was still runny and very very sticky. This is part of the process. The adding of additional flour while kneading activates the yeast in the dough and makes the end result of your bread airy and light on the inside.
Tips
An awesome tip I learnt when waiting on your dough to rise, especially if it is a bit of a cold day. Once you have your kneaded dough and placed it in a bowl to rest. Place the bowl in the microwave with the door slightly open so that the light is on. The light in the microwave generates a good amount of heat to make your dough rise quite quickly. (Please do not microwave your dough, lol)
When forming the dough into balls and letting it rise for the second time, you place then on parchment paper. I would suggest spraying the parchment paper with a bit of spray and cook as dough is still a little sticky. Another option that works great for me, is to place cling wrap /film on a clean counter top and rest the dough on the cling wrap. It makes it a lot easier to manoeuvre when lifting them out after they have risen.
So when it comes to the actual baking part, I also use a bit of a cheat. I place a nonstick frying pan on the stove on low. Then place the muffin dough on the pan for about 5 mins for each side till it has a light caramel color. Then place the muffins in an oven tray and bake for about 10 mins at 180 degrees Celsius.
English Muffins
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups Warm Water
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Instant Dry Yeast
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp Oil
- 1 tsp Salt
- Cornflour for dusting
- Extra flour for kneading
Instructions
- Add the warm water into a large bowl. Sprinkle sugar and then yeast on top. Let sit for 10 minutes while it foams.
- Add in oil, flour, and salt. Mix with a spoon. Dough will still seem quite wet and sticky.
- Once combined, drop dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, While kneading add additional flour bit by bit till dough does not stick to the counter. This would be quite a bit more flour, don’t worry, this is part of the process.
- Shape the dough into a ball and place into an oiled bowl. Cover and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. Best to use my microwave trick I mentioned earlier.
- Once dough has risen, knead a few more times on a floured surface and then divide into 10 equal pieces.
- Place parchment paper / cling wrap on a clean counter top and sprinkle a few tablespoons of cornmeal/maize meal on to
- Shape each piece of the divided dough into a ball and place it on to the prepared paper. Press down slightly to make the dough sort of flattish. Make sure there is a bit of space between each piece as they will rise further. Cover with cling wrap and let rise for 20-30 minutes more.
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 375 degrees Fahrenheit
- Heat a large frying pan or skillet on low and lightly grease with cooking spray. Place muffins on pan and sprinkle more cornmeal on top. Fry lightly on both sides for about 5 mins each.
- Remove from pan and place on a lightly greased oven tray. Bake for about 10-12 minutes in the oven until golden and toasted.
- Once out of the oven, wait for it to cool to the touch before devouring these delicious English Muffins
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