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This is the only English muffin recipe you will ever need. I probably should not say that, because this is also the first English muffin recipe I've ever attempted. The thing is, these are so good, I don't want to bother with any other recipe, because it's not possible to make an English muffin that tastes better than these.
At first when I found these English muffins in Sarabeth's Good Morning cookbook, I was a little annoyed, because I realized that she has effectively the same recipe in her first cookbook, Sarabeth's Bakery. The only difference is the first time she used all-white flour, and the second time a mix of white and whole wheat. However, since stumbling across these while hoping to make my version of Thomas' Double Protein English Muffins, not only have I made Sarabeth's regular & whole wheat English muffins, I've also made them with cornmeal, a mix of grains, no egg, bacon fat+shortening, honey, skim milk, or buttermilk. All those, since late last November. The recipe is open to almost endless adaptation. And you will want to make it all the time. Even when it's 10pm and you haven't packed for your flight the next day. Right now I'm flying cross-country with 28 English muffins in my carry-on, because I had some buttermilk that I wanted to use up before leaving and I was curious how it would these would turn out. Buttermilk-honey-whole wheat English muffins are possibly the best variation I've made yet. So obviously they had to come with me because Caleb will like them (and there's no space in my freezer).
I was first introduced to Sarabeth's by my lovely cousin, who worked with the real Sarabeth on the architectural details that go into designing a new restaurant space. I ordered the lemon ricotta pancakes, and they were amazing with the accompanying homemade jam, which is a high bar because my dad makes the very best pancakes ever. I've been a bit in love with Sarabeth's ever since. Why didn't I chose her lemon ricotta pancakes recipe to test first, since it is happily included in her second cookbook? I have made the pancake recipe actually, and my batch didn't turn out to be nearly as good as my memory of her pancakes suggests they should have tasted. I'll post about those soon, but I wanted to share the recipe for these English muffins first, because everyone should be making them.
ps.... Although the instructions may look long and daunting, these are really quite simple.
English Muffins from Sarabeth's
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk*
- ¾+¼ cup water* divided
- 2 ½ tablespoon butter cut into small cubes
- 2 tablespoon cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 ½ teaspoon activated dry yeast
- 1 egg beaten*
- 2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour*
- 1⅓ cuprs whole wheat flour
- butter for pan
- ½ cup cornmeal or semolina flour
Instructions
Dough
- Bring milk, ¾ cup water, cubed butter, sugar, and salt to a simmer in heavy-bottomed saucepan, stirring frequently to avoid scorching the milk.
- Transfer immediately to the metal bowl of a stand mixer, and cool to room temperature (30-45 minutes).
- Once cooled, in a separate bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the remaining ¼ cup of (lukewarm) water (105-110 F). Let stand for five minutes. Stir to combine the yeast and water, then add to the milk mixture.
- Add egg. Using the paddle attachment, beat on low to combine.
- Gradually add the flour at low speed, scraping the bowl sides to incorporate all the flour.
- Once a sticky dough forms, increase to high speed and beat for 30 seconds.
- Replace the paddle with the dough hook attachment (or use your hands) to knead for 8-10 minutes.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 (minimum) to 8 (~max) hours.
Forming English muffins
- After the refrigerator rise, take the dough out and form into 12 evenly-sized balls. To help with perfectly sized rounds, I let these dough balls complete their rise in muffin tins coated with butter or spray as well as a light dusting of cornmeal. You could easily just place them on a similarly-prepared sheet pan for the rise if you prefer.
- Heat your oven to 200 F, then turn it off.
- Fill a 16-oz glass with hot water, and place in the oven (balanced via a baking sheet or other pan) to create a humid environment.
- Put your dough-containing muffin tins in the oven.
- Let the dough rise about 40 minutes.
Pan-searing
- Heat a cast-iron or other skillet over medium-low heat. Melt 1 tablespoon butter (or use a neutral oil if you prefer) into pan and swirl to coat surface. Sprinkle a light dusting of cornmeal over the butter (not strictly necessary, but gives the classic English muffin coating).
- Arrange 5-6 dough balls with 1 inch in between them in the pan.
- Cook for 8 minutes, then flip each ball, add another 1 teaspoon butter to the pan, and continuing frying another 8 minutes or until just cooked through. (If you find your muffins are burning on the outside, turn the heat down and extend the cooking time somewhat).
- Let rest 15 minutes to finish cooking through.
- Rejoice, split with a fork and eat!
Notes
- Honey instead of white sugar.
- For the butter intolerant, ½ tablespoon bacon fat & 2 tablespoon solid shortening
- Instead of the milk & water, 1 ¾ cups buttermilk & only ¼ cup water (for blooming the yeast)
- Nonfat milk instead of whole milk
- 50g Greek yogurt (nonfat) instead of egg
- If you prefer white flour only, replace the white and whole wheat flour with the 4 cups (540 grams) flour. Feel free to substitute the whole wheat with yellow cornmeal or a mix of whole grain flours.
Take muffin tins and water glass out, then pre-heat the oven to 350 while the muffins continute to rise at room temperature. Once the oven is pre-heated (and your dough has doubled in size), bake for 25 minutes, rotating midway through cooking. Remove and let the english muffins cool on a rack for 5 minutes. Remove them from the muffin tins (otherwise they'll start to steam). Split with a fork and eat!
