English Muffins

After my successful result at making bagels, I decided to try my hand at English muffins. Even tough they are traditionally served with butter and jam, my family likes them best as breakfast sandwiches filled with ham, cheese and egg.

I browsed numerous blogs and books in search of an easy recipe that did not require a starter. For a solid recipe, my French friends can go to to Ligne & Papilles. However my best find was a recipe by Peter Reinhart in his glorious book: The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. I really like how he combines skillet and oven baking so that the muffins don't end up completely burned on the outside (which is what happened on my first, sad, attempt at making English muffins). I tweaked the ingredient list a bit, substituting some whole-wheat flour, omitting sugar and replacing butter with olive oil. I also decided to roll and cut out the dough, instead of shaping boules as he does. In order to get the famous nooks and crannies, you will need to bake the muffins at just the right time, catching them as they are still rising so it is important that you don't over-proof them.

Makes 12-15 muffins

• 1 ½ cup milk = 350 ml de lait
• 2 ¼ teaspoons instant dry yeast = 2 ¼ cuillères à café (1 sachet) de levure de boulanger déshydratée
• 2 ½ cups unbleached bread flour = 300 g de farine à pain
• 2 cups whole-wheat flour = 200 g de farine complète
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt = 1 ½ cuillère à café de sel
• 2 tablespoons olive oil = 2 cuillères à soupe d'huile d'olive
• cornmeal, finely ground (optional) = semoule de maïs, très fine (facultatif)

Warm milk to about 100-110°F, add yeast. Stir and let stand for 5 minutes.

Place flours and salt in stand mixer bowl, pour milk/yeast mixture and olive oil. Mix with hook until dough forms. Add a tablespoon or two of milk if dough seems too dry. Knead for about 8 to 10 minutes. Cover bowl with cloth towel or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and knead briefly to degaze. Roll it out to about ⅓ to ½ inch thick. Cut out circles with a 3.5” to 4” round cookie cutter (or a large glass), spray each side with olive oil and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and dusted with cornmeal. Sprinkle a little more cornmeal on the sides facing up. Cover with towel or plastic wrap and proof at room temperature for 30 minutes to one hour, until they are nicely puffed.

Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

Heat up a large skillet on medium heat on the stovetop. Transfer 3 or 4 muffins to the hot skillet, cook for about 3 or 4 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown, flip and cook the other sides for another 3 minutes. Both sides should be pretty flat now. Quickly transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Repeat with remaining muffins.

Transfer the baked muffins to a rack and let cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing with a muffin splitter or a fork. Enjoy!