English Muffins

I bought rings to make English muffins about 5 years ago. They have been sitting in my closet in my bucket-o-kitchen-things since then. I was doing a bit of a clean out when I found them again. 

I decided I had better finally give them a try. 

The recipe that came with the rings was different than any recipe I had seen before. Just in it's cooking method, that is. All the recipes I found online required you to cook the muffins in a skillet but the ring recipe called for baking. 

I decided for my first go I would try the skillet method. That is the recipe here. I will get back to you when I try the baking method! These ones certainly look like they are supposed to and have that lovely crispy crust with a chewy inside. I'm still curious to try the baked method though...just to see how it differs! What is your preferred way to make English Muffins?

English Muffins

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup warm milk

2 1/4 tsp yeast

3 Tbsp melted butter

1 1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar

1 egg

4 1/2 cups flour

Also needed

about 1/2 cup cornmeal

Direction

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together warm milk and yeast. Let stand for 5 - 10 minutes so yeast can bloom. Add in the rest of the ingredients and beat on low (with dough hook) until flour is incorporated. Turn to medium and beat 3 minutes. 

Place dough in well oiled bowl, cover, and set somewhere warm to rise for 2 hours. 

After dough has risen, punch down and place on floured work surface. 

Roll to 1/2 inch thick (about half the thickness of the English muffin rings). Use a cookie or biscuit cutter the same size as the rings to cut out circles. 

Sprinkle a cool skillet with some cornmeal. Grease the English muffin rings and then shake on some cornmeal. Place the rings on the cooled skillet and then place the circles of dough inside the rings.

Place the rest of the circles of dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and then sprinkled with cornmeal. 

Cover and let all the circles rest for 30 minutes. 

Turn skillet on medium-low and cook for 10 - 12 minutes. The dough should rise in the rings as it cooks.

Gently turn over and cook an additional 8 - 10 minutes more.

NOTE - as you can see in the above photo, when I flipped my muffins they weren't very browned. I upped the heat to medium and after this side had cooked I flipped them back to the first side just to brown a bit. You need to keep a close eye on them if you turn up the heat so they don't burn. 

When done, remove from the skillet and carefully add the dough circles that were on the cookie sheet. There is no need to try and get them in the rings - they will deflate. They hold their shape pretty well at this point. 

Cook as you did the first batch.

They should look golden brown and toasty. 

FYI - the only difference between using the rings and not using them is the sides will be straighter with the ring ones. It's pretty hard to tell though IMO.

Cut them in half and pop them in the toaster for a lovely breakfast treat. 

OR...

Male yourself a delicious bacon and egger!!

All you need to do is fry yourself an egg: use the muffin ring to get the egg the same size as the muffin.

Cook up some bacon....

Layer it on with a little butter/mayo and cheese...

Drooling yet?

Want to know something fabulous about these breakfast sandwiches? 

You can totally freeze them!

Just place your sandwich on top of a piece of paper towel on top of a piece of tinfoil...

Fold up the tinfoil so the sandwich is wrapped nicely. Then freeze. If you are doing a bunch of them then be sure to pop them into a freezer bag as well. 

When ready to eat... simply toss the tinfoil and place the sandwich in the microwave with the paper towel, on a plate. Heat 40 seconds, flip over, and then heat another 30 - 40 seconds - until cheese is melty. 

*Tah-Dah*

Sorry for the poor photo quality of the pic above. I had ravenous breakfast guests that were not patient. lol

FYI - I believe I got 18 English muffins out of this recipe. 

I found they were perfect reheated just like this but, if you find the English muffin a bit soft, then you can always take off the top half and toast it so it is crunchier. 

I'm such a sucker for a pretty yeast bread. 

How about you?