English Muffins

Well, that was remarkably easy, and all three of us love them. David can sometimes be finicky when I'm making something to replace "store bought" (he never favored the tortillas I made, even though Aidon and I preferred the taste), but he thinks that these look basically the same, but taste BETTER!

Plus, pennies to make! Nooks and crannies? We've got nooks and crannies!



The recipe I used was here:

http://www.breadworld.com/recipes/recipedetail.asp?id=667

I'll reprint it here, with my comments. I'm not sure I'd change anything, really, for the recipe itself, although I'd be interested in trying another one, for comparison. I do have some slight additions/alterations for the process, though.

Skillet English Muffins

Makes 10 muffins [It made 12 muffins, for me]

• 3 cups all-purpose flour [I used bread flour, because that's what I tend to have most of, rather than all purpose.]


• 1 tablespoon sugar


• 1 envelope FLEISCHMANN’S RapidRise Yeast [2 1/4 tsp of yeast - I buy it in bulk, so I don't have packets]


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 2 cups very warm water (120o to 130oF)


• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened [I used butter, of course... YMMV with margarine, but I'm sure it would be just fine]


• Yellow cornmeal

Directions [I did the mixing pretty much as indicated.]

1. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, undissolved yeast and salt.


2. Gradually add water and butter to flour mixture.


3. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally.


4. Add 1 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed.


5. Stir in remaining flour to make a thick batter.


6. Cover; let rest 10 minutes. [Wow was it cool to see how much it rose in 10 minutes! Go yeasties, go!]



7. Heat a lightly greased griddle or skillet to medium (350oF). [I brushed a bit of olive oil on the bottom of my pan and let it heat for a minute or two on medium flame.]


8. Place lightly greased 3-1 / 2-inch cookie cutters on skillet. [I have a set of round, metal, cookie cutters in graduated sizes. I used the 3 1/2" and the ones immediately larger and smaller. They all worked fine. This should be obvious, but don't use plastic cookie cutters - you're putting them in a hot pan! Also, I just gave them a quick spray of Pam to grease them up.]


9. Spoon 1 / 3 cup batter into cookie cutters; spread batter into shape. [I have an ice cream scoop that does about 1/3 cup, and that worked GREAT for this. I sprayed it (inside and out) with Pam and it was great for putting it in the cutters. That's the ice cream scoop with the lever that empties it. The smaller cutter could take a little less, and the larger one a little more. Or just have fatter and thinner muffins, and let them cook a bit longer/shorter!]


10. Sprinkle with cornmeal.


11. [Pet the kitten. Or feed him. Or both.]




12. Cook muffins for 5 minutes. [Depending on your stove ... I adjusted the flame down a bit, and let it go to 6 minutes. You want a nice color, but not too dark, probably. It'll take a little experimentation, but it was pretty forgiving on a lower flame.]


13. Carefully remove cookie cutters. [TONGS! You should definitely have tongs here. I can't believe the original recipe didn't mention it, but those cookie cutters - they're going to be HOT! If you didn't grease up the cutters well, you might have a little stickiness from the dough, but for the most part, they slid right out of the cutters, and looked like little round muffins!]


14. Using pancake spatula, turn over muffins and cook for 5 minutes longer, or until lightly browned. [5-6 minutes, depending on thickness. Again, probably better to err on a lower flame, and make sure it cooks all the way through. I actually didn't have any problems with the ones that were 5 minutes on each side, I was just paranoid ;)]


15. Cool on wire racks. [I forgot for the first few - they cooled on a plate just fine I think they did cool better on the rack though, when I remembered!]




16. To serve, split muffins in half and toast. [Wait, if you can, a little bit, or they'll mush in the middle when you slice them hot. They'll still be warm. We tried the first one untoasted, with butter - oh YUM!]