English Muffins

I have been wanting to tell you about these English Muffins for a while now. As soon as I found them I knew I would have to make them right away. I had been looking for a good English Muffin recipe for a long time. I knew it was possible to make them without muffin rings and that was the way I was going to do it. Since, I first discovered the recipe I have made them at least 4 more times and they have turned out perfectly each time. So why wait so long to share? Well, I was hoping to get a better picture under all this natural light flooding my life these days. The problem is that English Muffins are a weekday treat. I usually make them after our evening dog walk while it is dark and get up and eat them before work when it is still dark. Of course that will not be the case in a couple of weeks, but I just can't keep them from you any longer.  continue reading...

I absolutely love watching them puff up on the griddle...

English Muffins
adapted slightly from A Sweet Spoonful

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups bread flour
2 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
1 tbsp.unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4-1 cup whole milk, room temperature
Cornmeal, for sprinkling

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Mix in the butter and 3/4 cup of milk. Mix just until a soft dough forms, add additional milk by the teaspoon if needed. Do not over mix. Trade out the paddle attachment for the dough hook and knead for 8-10 minutes. The dough should be tacky, but not overly sticky. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and roll the dough to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm draft free place until doubled in size (about 1 hour).If our house is exceptionally cold, sometimes I heat my pizza stone to 200 degrees in the oven and then place it on the stove top with a cooling rack. Then I place my mixing bowl on top of the cooling rack.
Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and shape into small balls. Evenly space balls on parchment lined baking sheet with a light coating of oil and a sprinkling of corn meal.
Cover with oiled plastic wrap and allow dough balls a second rise until doubled in size (about an hour). Preheat the oven to 350 F. Heat a flat griddle to medium heat. Lightly oil the griddle and transfer the dough balls to the griddle. Cook for 5-8 minutes or until the bottoms are a golden brown color. Flip and cook the other side for the same amount of time. Mine to not always flatten as much as I would like, so I gently push them down to the height I prefer with the back of my spatula.

Remove the muffins from the skillet and transfer baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 6-8 minutes.Transfer the  muffins to a cooling rack and let cool  before separating with a fork and serving.