Do you have some food items that you’ve not only never considered making from scratch but that you don’t even think of as something that gets made at all? As in, “this food item just exists”? Like take Eggo’s for example. Or better yet: Twinkies. Same with English Muffins. I’m pretty sure I’d never before seen an “english muffin” that didn’t come out of a package with an orange logo on it. And I’d certainly never heard of anyone making them, let alone considered making them myself! I’m reasonably sure that I’m not alone in this belief given how surprised Adam was when I told him what the next BBA bread was: he’d never thought of them being homemade before, either!
But let me tell you, these are so worth making. The really-flat things full of holes that come from that orange-labeled package? They don’t even come close. When you compare them to these scrumptious little bread cakes, the packaged kind seem rubbery and just plain sad. I wish my word association weren’t so strong for the term “English Muffin,” because what I made really doesn’t seem to fit that term at all. In fact, I’m struggling not to rename them every time I write it out! I like the name “scrumptious little bread cakes” maybe . . . although that doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well.
In any case, hangups over names aside, read on for step-by-step photos of my first (but certainly not last!) attempt at making scrumptious little bread cakes English Muffins from scratch.
When I finished mixing the wet and dry ingredients together in my mixer, I was surprised by how stiff the dough was. When the book says the dough shouldn’t be stiff, I expected it to be really soft! I think that because I used shortening instead of butter, and 1% milk instead of buttermilk (hey, that’s what I had on hand!), that my proportions were probably off. Here’s how the dough looked after mixing:
During the kneading I ended up adding a few more splashes of milk to try to loosen the dough up a bit. It ate a bunch of dough off the counter so I’m not sure my adding milk did anything in the end, but by the time the dough passed the windowpane test (it took a good 15 minutes or more), the dough looked like this:
I have to say it was kind of refreshing to knead such a small ball of dough for once! All the BBA recipes are for huge amounts of bread so this was a really nice change. Other BBAers had lamented getting only 6 muffins out of this recipe, but I found that awesome! No leftovers and no need to pawn off bread onto unsuspecting coworkers . . .
After fermenting, the dough had doubled:
I used my scale to measure out 6 pieces weighing 3 oz’s each (was I ever happy to find out I had the right weight of dough!) and shaped each into a cute little boule:
The boules proofed very nicely, see?
Next came the scary part: the griddle! I used this double-burner griddle that we got from Crate & Barrel which, quite honestly, is a pretty crappy piece of kitchen equipment. Everything sticks to it! When I bought it I thought it was cast iron, but after the first few times I used it and had problems, I looked it up on the C&B site and found out it’s aluminum. No wonder it doesn’t perform like I thought it would! In any case, it was the most reasonable thing I had to cook these on. If I had an electric griddle like Nicole, I definitely would have used that instead!
I tried to be really gentle with each muffin as I transferred it from the sheet pan to the griddle:
(sorry for the picture quality, this one and the next one got totally blown out and I was in too much of a hurry to shoot multiples!)
After about 5 minutes, I carefully flipped them over:
They look right! Yeah!
Because I was using the oven for something else, I ended up finishing these in the toaster oven instead. It worked really well actually, I could fit exactly two muffins on the griddle (I used only one burner) and exactly two in the toaster oven, too! I gave them about 5 minutes on each side on the griddle, then about 5 minutes in the toaster. After I finished them all I had to remove myself from the kitchen to keep from prying one open immediately to see how the insides looked! I was dying to find out if I had the typical texture inside.
As you saw from the opening shot, I totally did get the “nooks and crannies”! The texture isn’t as pronounced as the out-of-a-package-with-an-orange-logo ones, but it’s definitely there. Once I opened them up I realized I’d slightly undercooked them, but they were absolutely perfect after toasting. Totally delicious with a bit of butter on top!
The next morning, Adam made me an egg and cheese sandwich on one:
How’s that for a partnership, huh?
Want to join us in the BBA Challenge? Get yourself a copy of Peter Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice, the incredibly comprehensive how-to-book for bread, and play along! Full details on the challenge are here.
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Love your nooks and crannies! You’re a lucky girl to have a partner who can make you a yummy egg sandwich.
Is that delicious egg and cheese on a paper plate, or a ceramic plate that just looks like one?
Your muffins look really delicious. I like the browning contrasted with the white breadiness.
I broke up with the bagel to date the English muffin! I too loved the English muffin. Never thought of making them before…just purchase. I will make again and again!! Happy baking!