These English Muffins are easy to prepare, and taste better than store bought, thanks to some easy, simple steps. They got those nooks and crannies you're looking for, and are fantastic for a breakfast sandwich or a mini pizza fix. They freeze wonderfully, so I love stocking up!
Question: why don't I make English muffins more often?
I need to make them all the time. As much as we eat eggs Benedict around here, I need to always have a stash of English muffins, right?
I supposed, like many people who grew up using convenience foods, that making them would basically be impossible at home. I mean, I never actually thought about making them.
Which is why I love food blogging; I have gone far beyond my comfort zone, tried and tested different dishes, and learned to love so many different foods from different cultures.
Like you'd never know I didn't eat Italian food as a kid. Now we have Italian night every week.
Back to baking English muffins! I don't even know what it is about English muffins, but whenever I pop one open and put the halves in the toaster, the smell of toasted English muffins just makes me think about fall time.
I'm weird, I know. But baking and warm and comforting smells immediately send me into autumn mode. I am the autumn queen. No one loves the fall time more than me, I promise. I'm literally counting the days right now.
PIN THIS EASY HOMEMADE ENGLISH MUFFINS RECIPE NOW IN YOUR BREAKFAST/BRUNCH, BAKING, AND HOMEMADE/COPYCAT BOARDS ON PINTEREST. AND FOLLOW SWEET TEA & THYME ON PINTEREST FOR MORE TIPS, HACKS, AND TASTY RECIPES!
Baking the muffins themselves is a cinch, now that I found the right recipe. I tested several different recipes, and found this one from the Kitchn, which took a much longer time but was much easier than the other recipes I found and gave better, fluffier, nook-and-crannier results.
Many of the other recipes were too wet to handle, super sticky, and needed the extra muffin ring so they didn't ooze and spread all over my griddle. A. Mess.
These English muffins are simple to make, and the only difficult part is the wait. Really. Start the day before you want to bake them, because you'll be making a dough starter, which gives your muffins a tangier flavor, then after your starter bubbles up for anywhere from 2-12 hours, you create the dough, knead it ( I 100% suggest a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. One of the best investments in my kitchen, evar. Evar.) then set it in the fridge overnight to rise. This dough is much more soft, well put together, and less sticky than all the others I tried, so it's very easy to transfer to a bowl to rise.
It's also fun to squish. Just squish it a little when it's done kneading, you'll see.
See? Easy peasy. In the morning, you pull the dough apart into 12 balls, let them rise, then put those English muffins on the griddle.
Boom, done. Cut open (using a fork! A knife won't let your nooks and crannies be great!) toast until golden brown, then spread on the buttah!
Or drop a poached egg on it....make an eggs Benedict, whatever your fancy.
Or...you could make it into avocado toast.
You know you want to.
Or maybe you don't, I dunno.
But I know I do.
Looking for more yummy breakfast recipes? Check out:
Apple Coffee Cake with Maple Pecan Glaze
Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping
Strawberries and Cream Stuffed French Toast
Avocado Toast with Poached Egg (Millennial Edition)
Don't forget to PIN this English Muffin recipe!
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Homemade English Muffins
Ingredients
For the dough starter:
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup warm water, about 110-115 degrees F
- ½ teaspoon active dry yeast or instant dry yeast
For the English muffin dough:
- 1 cup whole milk, warmed to 110-115 degrees F
- 1 teaspoon active dry or instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 to 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- Cornmeal
Instructions
Make the dough starter:
- Mix the flour, water, and yeast for the starter in a small mixing bowl. Beat until the batter is smooth, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 2-12 hours at room temperature. The longer it sits, the better the flavor in the English muffins (and better the nooks and crannies).
Making the English Muffins:
- Whisk together the warm milk, yeast, and starter in the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl. Break up the starter and dissolve it into the milk.
- Add the sugar, butter, and salt to the bowl and whisk or stir on low in your stand mixer with the paddle attachment to combine well. Add 3 cups of the flour and stir on low speed or with a stiff spatula until you form a shaggy, floury dough.
- With a dough hook on your stand mixer, knead the dough until it comes together in a smooth ball, 5 to 8 minutes or knead by hand against the counter. If the dough is very sticky, add extra flour as needed, adding a tablespoon at a time until it pulls away from the bowl and doesn't stick to it anymore. Be careful not to add more than ¼ cup more than the original 3 cups. The dough is ready when it forms into a smooth ball and springs back when poked; it will feel slightly like children's play dough and be slightly tacky, but shouldn't stick to the bowl or your hands.
- Lightly brush a large bowl with vegetable oil, then place the ball of dough in to rise. Cover with a lint free tea towel or plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight. You can alternatively let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for 2 hours, but the flavor and texture won't be as developed.
- Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece gently against the counter, using your palm of your hand to shape into smooth, round balls.
- Sprinkle cornmeal generously over a baking sheet and arrange the balls on top, spaced a little apart. If you have muffin rings, place them around the balls of dough at this point. Sprinkle the tops generously with more cornmeal.
- For refrigerated dough, let rise in a warm place for 2 hours; for room temperature dough, let rise for 1 hour. Depending on the size of your muffin rings, the muffins may not totally fill the rings and that's okay.
- When ready to cook the muffins, prepare an electric griddle or large nonstick skillet over 350 degree heat (about medium heat). Generously sprinkle cornmeal evenly over the griddle/skillet, this ensures the English muffins don't stick.
- Working in batches, transfer a few of the muffins to the griddle, allowing an inch of space between muffins; don't crowd the pan. If using rings, transfer the muffins with their rings to the pan. Cook until the bottoms of the muffins are golden brown, 5 to 6 minutes.
- Flip and cook 5 to 6 minutes on the other side until golden brown. If your muffins seem to be browning too quickly on the bottoms (or not quickly enough), adjust the heat as needed. If you find that your muffins are browning too quickly, throw them in the oven on a cornmeal-sprinkled baking sheet at 350°F to finish baking through.
- Transfer cooked muffins to a wire cooling rack. Continue working in batches until all the muffins have been cooked.
- Use a fork to pork holes through the middle to split the English muffins in half. Serve with butter and jam or use to make eggs Benedict.
- Keep in an airtight container on your counter for 3-5 days.
- Fresh English muffins can also be wrapped in plastic wrap, placed in a freezer-safe zip top bag, and kept frozen for up to 3 months. Toast in toaster to eat.
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