Have you ever thought of making homemade English muffins before? I hadn’t either until just a few months ago, then as fast as that thought came it was replaced by something else. Well, the thought came again and this time I acted on it and made them. I found a recipe for whole wheat English muffins and thought that sounded healthier and since we eat lots of egg sandwiches here at my house on English muffins why not make them better for our health too. I also watched you-tube videos and looked at numerous recipes for English muffins and they all were very similar in ingredients, but some of the muffins in the dough stage were a lot more sticky than these. As I set out to make these muffins all was going well, I just got the dough mixed up and put the towel over the bowl to let them rise, then my husband calls and says he needs me to come to his work for something that couldn’t wait. I was not wanting to leave my dough in the refrigerator overnight but that is just what I had to do because the time window I had to make these muffins was now gone. For my first attempt at making these muffins I consider it a success and plan to make them more often and maybe with just white flour too. Mine don’t have the nooks and crannies like the popular version found in the grocery store but they were just as good. I think the reason no nooks or crannies was a factor had to do with my dough having to sit in the refrigerator overnight. Also be careful not to over work the dough. It was fun not baking these in the oven and seeing them rise on the pancake skillet. It felt strange not putting them on a cookie sheet and in the oven. I imagine these muffins came to be long ago by cooking them in a cast iron skillet over an open fire.
Let me just mention that my husband was the happiest one to find these muffins, because he is the biggest eater of English muffins in our house. He would probably prefer that I make them with white flour but he was happy none the less. He enjoyed them his two favorite ways, an egg sandwich and smothered with peanut butter.
Homemade Wheat English Muffins
1/4 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast (or 1 tablespoon)
2 cups whole wheat flour, plus more as needed ( I used white whole wheat)
1 cup white flour, or use all whole wheat –muffins will be more dense
1 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon honey or sugar
1 egg
cornmeal as needed
Directions:
Step 1: Sprinkle yeast over warm (about 105° F. is ideal) water and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
Step 2: In a large bowl, mix flour(s) and salt.
Step 3: In a separate bowl, mix milk, oil and honey. Add egg and stir until well blended. Stir in the yeast mixture.
Step 4: Add liquid to about half of the dry ingredients and mix well, with a stand mixer or by hand. Mix in remaining dry ingredients. Dough will be soft and somewhat sticky. Turn dough out onto floured work surface and knead for several minutes. If too sticky to knead, add flour, a tablespoon at a time. Put dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel, and let rise in a warm place (see TIP) until doubled in size. Rising time will depend on temperature; allow about 1 hour.
Step 5: Turn risen dough out onto a work surface that has been liberally dusted with cornmeal and pat or roll to about 1/2″ thick. Cut into approximately 3 inch rounds with a cookie cutter, tin can, or jar lid. If you wish, combine the scraps of dough into more muffins, handling as little as possible. Cover the muffins with a towel and let rise for 20-30 minutes.
Step 6: Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium-low heat. Sprinkle with corn meal. Using a spatula, carefully transfer muffins to hot griddle. Cook about 5 minutes on each side, turn and cook for 2-3 minutes per side. Outsides should be golden brown and crusty, insides should be soft, but not gooey. For quality control purposes you might need to sacrifice a muffin or two testing purposes. Remove to cooling rack as they finish cooking. Cook the rest in batches.
English muffins are traditionally split open with a fork, rather than cut, and then toasted, but they will be good however you do it.
If you are interested in how to make the egg sandwich it’s really pretty simple. Cook the egg over medium on stove top. I Roasted half a red bell pepper and put on top then a piece of cheddar cheese on a toasted English muffin and viola!
Yummy Suzanne, I’d take one of these in a heartbeat over any store bought version. I’m imagining one toasted with a bit of marmalade, mmm mmm mmmm! 🙂
Thanks Chris they really are so much better than store bought ones.
Have you tried baking these? I’d love to try them in the oven vs griddle or pan.
Do try them Jamie, they are great and fun to to do.
These look really good. We love english muffins too, especially as egg/cheese muffins before school. Yum!
Thanks Heidi, you should try it out, it was super easy.
What is is they say? That many great recipes were created from accidents or mishaps in the kitchen? LOL. Your English muffins look delightful. I agree with Chris, I’ll take these in a heartbeat over store versions that are laden with corn syrup / high fructose and all kinds of preservatives that we can’t pronounce! Hurray for homemade!
Yes, your probably right about that Jen.
Ok… I’ve thought about these beauties ever since I saw them on G+ this morning!! I’m IN! I used to make our English Muffins all the time, but I’ve fallen out of the habit. You’ve totally inspired me! My kids do a lot of the egg sandwiches too, easy on the run, and now that school is back in I’m eager to get back into the kitchen for some baking. Your recipe is printed and posted on the fridge!! Thank you!!
Awesome Kim, I’m so glad it inspired you to try them again. Enjoy and hope yours are fantastic.
I love english muffins but I’ve never made my own, these look scrumptious! Can’t wait to try them!
Thanks Laura, I’m surprised you haven’t made them yet since you love to bake but then again I do too and hadn’t tried them until recently. Good luck and hope you love them.
I have been wanting to make homemade english muffins for such a long time! NOW I have a great recipe. Yours look like you picked them up from the local artisan bakery! Nice job!!!!!!!!
I am thoroughly impressed, Suzanne!!! WOW! Beautiful! These are definitely worth a try just to say I made english muffins!!!
These look fantastic! I’ve never made homemade English muffins before. I look forward to trying this recipe!
Suzanne, I am so impressed with your English muffins and I love that you used whole wheat flour!
Your breakfast sandwich looks incredible-your family is so lucky;-)
I will have to try your recipe;-)
My husband loves making breakfast sandwiches with english muffins. . .I’m going to have to try these soon!
Yours look great! I made these last winter, and I ended up putting them in the oven after the outside was brown. I wanted them to cook more and not get darker. Worked great FYI!
That is one muffin I have never thought about making. 🙂 They are perfect! Who needs nooks and crannies on something so pretty! 🙂
i just woke up and i saw this post. now, all i want to eat is an egg muffin sandwich…lol
I have to say that I too think about making english muffins but never get around to doing it!
These sound like a healthy way to start the day and I pinned them to try them soon
I have always wanted to try and make English muffins…they look perfect!
I have thought of making them now 😀
They look delightful!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Homemade english muffins have just been recently added to my to-make list–perfect timing for your post because I wouldn’t have known where to start. My husband loves them and he’d definitely slather his with peanut butter, too. 🙂
Homemade English muffins are on my bucket list this year! Gotta make them! Yours look just perfect Suzanne! I hope you’ll bring them to Bake your own bread http://www.roxanashomebaking.com/bake-your-own-bread/ a monthly event I’m hosting this month
I’ve thought of making English muffins, even asked a friend to teach me. Today I decided to just DO IT! They were far easier than I had imagined.
My dough was quite sticky and I had to add quite a bit of flour but it didn’t seem to adversely affect them. I learned that my electric skillet didn’t seem to have the right temp for med-low, they took much longer than the recipe said. I finally broke out a large skillet for the stove top and that worked much better.
End result was delicious. The real test will come tomorrow morning when I serve them to my boys for breakfast.
I might break tradition next time I made them… I am thinking of just making them rectangular, then I wouldn’t have to rework the dough scraps to use them all up. Just roll it out and cut into nice squares or rectangles. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Sharon for the feedback on making these English Muffins, so glad they turned out for you and I have to agree about making it square that way you wouldn’t have to work the scraps in them. 🙂