I eat English muffins every day, but it wasn't until this past weekend that I finally tried making English Muffins from scratch. Thanks to Alton Brown, I can now make big, tall, high rising English muffins similar to the mail order muffins.
Of course things didn't go as smoothly as planned. The recipe is actually really simple, but Alton makes them on a griddle preheated to 300 degrees F. I don’t have a griddle and had to figure out what 300 was on the stove-top. Didn't quite nail it.
Despite nearly setting off the smoke alarm, I was happy to see that the muffins rose like champs and even though the outside was charred, the insides were like actual English muffins. Progress! So I reduced the heat and switched from my heavy metal Viking pan to a non-stick pan with a bottom that wouldn’t get quite hot as the metal.
Unfortunately, this English muffin recipe calls for rings. Argh. Alton calls for 3 inch rings and offers up tuna fish cans with the lids and bottoms cut off as an option. My idea was to make rings out of non-stick foil, and it worked! In fact, the rings were so durable I used them for all the muffins and couple probably use them again.
A few other notes. Alton calls for 2 cups of sifted flour but doesn't include a weight. I weighed out 9 oz/250 grams of flour and that seemed to work. I also incorporated a little white whole wheat into the dough (which was more like thick, gloppy, oatmeal) and it worked just fine. Alton’s recipe also calls for powdered milk – an ingredient I hardly ever have. I took one reviewer's advice and used 2% milk in place of the 1 cup of water. It worked out well.
So here’s a link to Alton Brown’s English Muffin Recipe, and here’s my version with milk instead of milk powder, foil rings, and skillet.
Update: Now that I'm making English muffins more often I'll probably buy some rings, but I've also found that my round cookie cutters (from the Atteco 11 piece set) work quite well.
Recipe
English Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt divided use
- 1 tablespoon shortening
- 1 packet active dry yeast 2 ¼ teaspoons
- ⅛ teaspoon sugar
- ⅓ cup water
- 2 cups of flour 9 oz
Instructions
- Heat milk in a microwave-safe measuring cup just until it boils. Add sugar and ½ teaspoon of salt and stir to dissolve. Stir in shortening and let cool to about 120 degrees F.
- In a separate bowl or measuring cup, combine the yeast and ⅓ cup of warm (115 degree) water. Let rest until yeast bubbles.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, yeast mixture and milk mixture. Beat thoroughly with wooden spoon. Cover the bowl and let it rest in for 30 minutes in a warm place.
- Preheat a lidded sauté pan or skillet to 300 degrees (on my stove, it was low). A pan with non-stick surface won’t cook the bottom quite so much, but if all you have is a regular metal bottom pan, you can use that. I didn't grease either pan.
- Add the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt to mixture and beat thoroughly. Place metal (or homemade foil) rings onto the skillet.
- Using a heaping ⅓ cup measure, spoon dough into 2 ½ to 2 ¾ inch rings. If you want really large muffins you can use 3 inch rings. Cover skillet and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the lid and turn rings using spatula or tongs. Cover with the lid and cook for another 5 to 6 minutes or until golden brown. You may have to alter the cook time. You can definitely cook the muffins in the skillet and you don't need an oven, but you have to be patient and start with a lower heat. It's best to start low and increase heat if needed. Cool on a rack. Remove rings and cool. Split with fork and serve.
Molly says
I eat english muffins everyday but have never tried to make them from scratch. I'm scared I would set off the smoke alarm too!
Louise says
Water chestnut cans and pineapple cans are slightly bigger than tuna cans, actually just about the right size.
Mackenzie@ The Caramel Cookie says
I've made Alton's recipe too a I liked it. Mine didn't come out as tall because I didn't have 3 inch rings. Next time I'll just make them 🙂
s says
Im def gonna try these. They look real good.
Louise says
I'll have to look at the Dawn Power Dissolve. The metallurgist uses Bar Keepers Friend when he needs a fine abrasive to clean the pots. Things like beans always leave stains in the stainless pans, even though they aren't burned.
Anna says
Louise, I am glad you asked. I have a fix for that. Have you ever heard of Dawn Power Dissolve? It's a more powerful version of Dawn soap that comes in a spray bottle. It cuts through grease like a knife! I bought it to help clean spatters off the oven door, but it's great on metal cookware.
My pan was a wreck after the burnt muffins, but Power Dissolve saved the day. I love that stuff.
Louise says
Anna - How was your Viking pan after scorching the muffins? The metallurgist in this house would have been having a fit.
Erika says
This is wonderful to see Anna! I've been wanting to try my hand at English Muffins for some time, but like you, I don't keep powdered milk around and I don't have rings either. The thought of using tuna cans is terribly unappealing to me.
I do have a griddle though, so now I'm going to have to give these a whirl. Thanks for making and posting!
Caroline says
Glad to see you have had success with this recipe. This is on my 'to make' list but I haven't gotten around to it (intimidation, maybe??) So excited to give these a try now!
Addicted Baker says
How do you keep coming up with amazing ideas? Well however you do I just want you to know that I love your blog and I gave you the lovely blog award: http://theaddictedbaker.blogspot.com/2011/03/and-award-goes-to.html
Cookie Sleuth says
Thanks for doing all the research for us!
Louise says
@Melissa - There are two types of English Muffin recipes. One yields a soft scoopable batter, like this one. The other type, like the one you use, is either patted out or rolled and cut.
Melissa says
I love making English muffins, but I've never tried this recipe before. Time to add it to my list! I always use a wide glass to cut my muffins in a circle--it works for me!
Louise says
I want to make sourdough muffins soon, but I'm making bagels later this week. So little time, so much baking. 🙂 Normally when you use milk, instead of nonfat dry milk, in bread recipes the milk is scalded because of some yeast inhibiting property of milk which weakens the gluten structure, etc. (can't remember the details), but maybe that's not an issue for muffins.
Adam says
The timing of this couldn't be better :). I was preparing an english muffin on Saturday morning and as I was spreading jam on it I thought to myself "hmmm, I should try and make some of these". Kismet I tell you 🙂 Thanks! 🙂
Anna says
Dawn, it's cornmeal. This recipe didn't call for any, though.
Sue, these were tall and lighter than the muffins I buy. I'm going to have to find Peter Reinhart's book.
Gretchen, thanks for the link! Making them in the oven would be more convenient.
Anna and Rufus, I am so glad I didn't go to the trouble of buying tuna just to use it and have the cans. The Release foil rings really did work perfectly. I'm sure sturdy metal rings come in hand for other desserts, but in this case the foil did the trick.
Gloria, I should have included a picture of a toasted muffins with a pat of butter. Maybe I'll add one ;).
Barbara, I appreciate Alton Brown for his great recipes and for the fact he encourages resourcefullness. He lets you know what's important and where you can improvis without causing problems. His biscuit recipe is also really good even though it doesn't have the usual amount of butter.
vanillasugarblog says
what are those lil hard crumbs that go on the english muffins before baking? cornmeal right? i love those.
never made these. i would love to someday, maybe a savory version.
Sue says
These look good! When I've made English Muffins I used the recipe from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Everyday. They were excellent, although maybe not quite as tall as yours.
Gretchen says
Alton has made English muffins on two episodes of "Good Eats". The one you made was from the first episode he did, but more recently he devoted a show to Eggs Benedict and revamped his English muffin recipe. This time he makes them in the oven instead of on a griddle. Here's the recipe link on the Food Network website:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/eggs-benedict-recipe/index.html
I haven't tried it yet, but Alton's recipes are normally pretty good.
Greg says
We've all had experiences like that. I've never used cut out tuna cans for dough, and now I won't.
Yet another Anna says
Perfect timing, I've been meaning to make another batch of English muffins, but keep making sweet rolls instead. 🙂
I've made Alton's recipe, on a griddle, w/ powdered milk, and I agree, it's just fine, very tasty.
I'm going to try some other recipe this next time, though, mostly because I've had the recipes in my file for so long.
I've done the 'cut out tuna cans' thing, and found that the muffins just get stuck in them because the edges aren't smooth enough. I bought some of the rings from cooking.com, and have gotten a lot of use out of them. (they work well to help a fried egg hold a round shape while cooking, as a cookie cutter, etc.)
Gloria says
They look good to me...I like a little color and crisp to my english muffins...store bought can be so boring!
Barbara says
I'm going to try these....Alton comes up with some great basic recipes! It's all trial and error in the kitchen, isn't it?