English Muffins

I love english muffins...

They're perfect with jelly and cream cheese for breakfast,

or with meat and lettuce for lunch, 

or slathered with butter and honey for supper.

Although I love the chewy, dry texture of store-bought, homemade are chewy and moist - and so worth the extra effort.  Another bonus is the lack of yucky additives I can't even pronounce... ;-)

I've been doing a lot of experimenting with Einkorn grain recently, and used a good amount of it in this English muffin recipe.  I've never made them with whole wheat, and to ease my way into it I did half WW and half all-purpose unbleached flour.  I was very pleased with the results - yummy, chewy, and moist!

I tend to cook them with heat that's a little too high...I do it on my electric skillet and fiddle with the temp the whole time I'm cooking them.  Some come out perfect and toward the end of the bath can end up a little doughy, but I toast them later anyways, so they get fully cooked at one point or another.  :-)  I need to just find a good temp and stick with it...

Here's the recipe...


Whole Wheat English Muffins

4 cups whole wheat flour, freshly ground, divided
1/2 tsp. Real Salt
2 tsp. instant yeast
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp. honey
3 Tbsp. softened butter
cornmeal, for dusting surface

Grind wheat (I have my eyes on a WonderMill...but currently utilize the generosity of friends and family that are willing to grind my wheat berries, which I then keep in the freezer).

Combine 2 cups flour and the next 5 ingredients (salt, yeast, water, milk, and honey).  Mix until combined - the dough should be thin and runny.

Cover and let rise for an hour.

Add remaining 2 cups flour and softened butter - mix to combine.  Turn dough onto surface sprinkled with cornmeal and roll ou to 1/2 inch thickness.  Sprinkle top with cornmeal.  Using a biscuit cutter or a juice glass, cut out rounds from the dough.  Continue until all the dough has been cut.

Let muffins rise until doubled - usually an hour or so (unless it's summer in my sultry, south-facing kitchen...it's amazing how fast bread rises in 90* temps).  Heat a skillet over medium heat and cook the English muffins in small batches on each side until golden brown.  

These are amazing right after cooking, toasted, or from the freezer, and they make delicious egg sandwiches!

This recipe based on this one from Baking Whole Grains