Kick your breakfast game up a notch with the best English Muffins Recipe. These are easy to make and totally worth it!
It is the little things that can make a breakfast go from ordinary to INCREDIBLE. Taking the time to make the Best English Muffins ever is one of them. Nothing beats a fresh baked muffin with all of its nooks and crannies. All they need is a little butter and homemade jam. You can even turn them into homemade breakfast sandwiches! DELISH!
How to make the Best English Muffins
This recipe looks like it has a lot of steps, but it is really quite simple.
First you are going to make the dough. There is no right or wrong way. It is an everyone in the mixer kind of recipe. Toss in everything EXCEPT for the corn meal.
Start your mixer off slow and then set it on medium speed for about 5 minutes. This is a very soft dough and it will be hard to handle at first. You are looking for a smooth stretchy finish with it is done mixing.
Cover the bowl and let it rest for an hour or two for the dough to proof. You are looking for it to double in size.
While your dough is rising, it's time to think about baking. This dough is baked on a griddle or in a skillet. While you likely do not have a griddle big enough to bake all 16 at once, that is ok. We can bake them in batches.
You are going to want to prepare you skillet or griddle. Plus, prepare a baking sheet if you are limited on space.
- Spray the cooking surface with non stick spray and sprinkle with corn meal.
- For the baking sheet, cover in parchment and sprinkle with corn meal
When your dough has risen, carefully punch it down. Turn your down out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 16 equal sized balls.
Roll each dough ball in your hand to make it smooth and gently flatten it until it is about 3 - 3.5 inches wide.
Start placing the dough balls onto your prepared cooking surfaces. If you don't have enough room, then you can place them on the baking sheet.
*REMEMBER* These will rise/puff up with they are resting as second time and you do not want to deflate them when you move them from the baking sheet to the cooking surface.
Let your dough balls rise a second time. This time for only about 20 minutes. They won't double again, but they will puff up.
After they have rested, cook the muffins over low heat for 7 to 15 minutes per side, until their crust is golden brown, and their interior is cooked through. When done, the center of a muffin should register about 200°F on an instant-read thermometer.
If the outside browns before the inside is done. That is ok. Just pop them onto a baking sheet into a 350 degree oven until they are finished. It is totally normal because everyone's stove/griddle cooks a little differently. They should only need to be in the oven for 10 minutes or less.
Continue this process until all 16 are cooked. Use a spatula to carefully transfer any of the dough balls that were rising on the baking sheet to the griddle. Cook them the same way.
Allow the English Muffins to cool for a few minutes before enjoying. Use a fork to break them open, not a knife. Using a fork creates more of those yummy nooks and crannies.
FAQ
You can just use All Purpose flour. Bread flour has a little more gluten in it, so it gives these a delicious chewy texture. They will still be amazing with all purpose flour.
Yes, you can! Just follow the dairy free substitutes below. Then just use your favorite egg replacer for the 1 egg.
You can, but I recommend make the entire batch. Freeze extras, turn them into breakfast sandwiches for the freezer, or even breakfast pizzas.
Dairy Free
Making these delicious English Muffins dairy free is as simple as two substitutions. Use your favorite Dairy Free Milk. Canned coconut milk works great!
Also, use your favorite dairy free margarine.
Storage
Regular - Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Freezer- Freeze in a zip top bag, remove and heat as needed for up to 3 months.
Recipe
The Best English Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups milk lukewarm
- 3 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 4 ½ cups Bread Flour
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- corn meal for sprinkling the griddle or pan
Instructions
Dough
- Combine all of the ingredients (except the corn meal) in the bowl of your mixer.
- This is a very soft dough. Using a stand mixer, beat the dough with the flat beater paddle until it starts coming away from the sides of the bowl, and is smooth and shiny; this will take about 5 minutes at medium-high speed. When you lift up the beater, the dough will be very stretchy.
- Scrape the dough into a rough ball, and cover the bowl. Let the dough rise until it's nice and puffy and doubled in size. This can take 1-2 hours.
- English muffins are baked on a griddle or skillet. Using more than one skillet allows you to bake these all at once. You may have to rotate in shifts. Spray your cooking surface iwth non stick spray, and then sprinkle your cooking surface with corn meal.
- Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into 16 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth ball, then flatten the balls until they're about 3" to 3 ½" in diameter.
Baking
- Once the dough is shaped you can place it right onto the griddle or skillet to rise again. Doing this means you don't have to move the dough later. If you don't have enough space you can let them rise on a parchement lined baking sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Just know that you will have to move them carefully later so they don't deflate. Either way, sprinkle the tops of the muffins with additional corn meal.
- Cover the muffins with either a dish towel or another piece of parchment paper, and let them rest for 20 minutes. They won't rise alot but they will puff up.
- Cook the muffins over low heat for 7 to 15 minutes per side, until their crust is golden brown, and their interior is cooked through. When done, the center of a muffin should register about 200°F on an instant-read thermometer.
- If you find the muffins have browned before they're cooked all the way through, no worries; simply pop them into a preheated 350°F oven for about 10 minutes or so, or until they're thoroughly cooked.
- Remove the muffins from the heat, and let them cool thoroughly before enjoying.
Storage
- Store any uneaten muffins in an airtight container at room temperature.
- You can even freeze these in a freezer zip top bag. Remove and heat as needed for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Adapted from King Arthur Flour Recipe
Audrey Carlisle
these are the best! they smell so good! 10/10