English Muffins

Way back in April, when I naively thought quarantine would be over by June, I created a sourdough starter (like everyone else). It was a struggle and as soon as I came back to Maryland in May I threw it away. It wasn't bubbling like it was supposed to and I was using a ton of flour - plus I had SO much discard to use up. In an effort to use some up I started making English muffins. They were delicious, but once I gave up on the starter I didn't make them again.

No biscuit cutters, no problem.

A craving for homemade English muffins struck a few weeks ago, so I decided to tackle Claire's recipe for the first time. Her recipe requires an overnight rest, but for not more than 12 hours, so for the first few batches I made I worked out the timing by making the dough at 10:00 at night, in order for perfect weekend breakfast timing. I don't love late night baking like that, but it's a good excuse to watch Hallmark movies until the dough is finished.

Ready to bake.

At this point I've tried the traditional recipe as well as cinnamon raisin (adding 1 Tbsp of cinnamon and 1/2 cup of raisins) and a version with more wheat flour. The cinnamon raisin were my personal favorite, but the other ones were great too. My only problem so far was the actual bake. Claire takes the traditional route of baking only on the stove top in a cast iron and I've had a problem baking them perfectly that way. I've gone through a few batches that have raw spots, toasting them to finish baking before I can eat them. Most recently I've started popping them in the oven for 5 minutes at 350F after searing on the stovetop to make sure they're cooked and that's been working great!

Halfway through.

Overall, this recipe was a keeper. I made English muffins most of the past several weekends and I don't see that stopping any time soon.

Final product - with butter, honey, and sea salt.