Today we introduce the English muffin, a British-style bread that everyone is sure to love. It is fragrant and soft, and you can make it yourself. Let's look at the easy method.
The English muffin is a bread, and quite different from the cake-type baked good we know simply as a muffin: a small, crumbly, buttery cake with fruit or chocolate. An English muffin is a small, flat, round bread about 5 inches in diameter, with a slightly crisp, toasted outside and a dry but soft crumb. It is popular at breakfast, spread with butter or jam, or used to make sandwiches.
The History of the English Muffin
The English muffin was created by Samuel Bath Thomas, an Englishman who emigrated to America. Around 1880, Thomas made a bread similar to the crumpet, which is also cooked on a griddle. A crumpet is a flat, round, soft bread with holes on the surface and a crumb soaked with butter. Thomas's bread, however, had a dry, slightly crisp outside with holes on the inside, and it became hugely popular in America.
Of course, we couldn't leave you without an easy recipe and method.
English Muffin Ingredients (Easy to Find)
- 350 g all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp yeast
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 200 ml fresh milk
- 24 g melted unsalted butter
- Cornmeal, for dusting
How to Make English Muffins
- Sift the all-purpose flour into a bowl, then add the salt, sugar and yeast and mix well.
- Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk and melted butter. Gradually draw the flour in to combine, and knead in the bowl until the dough comes together and no longer sticks.
- Turn the dough out onto the table and knead without extra dusting flour until smooth and able to stretch into a thin film.
- Shape into a ball, place in a large bowl, cover with a clean cloth and leave to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
- Once risen, roll the dough out to about 1 cm thick and cut rounds with an 8 cm ring cutter. Dust with cornmeal and place on a tray lined with a silicone mat and sprinkled with a little cornmeal. Cover with a clean cloth and leave to rise again for about 35 minutes.
- When the time is up, heat a non-stick flat pan over low heat. Once hot, add 1 spoonful of vegetable oil to coat the pan, then wipe it off with a paper towel.
- Cook the risen muffins in the pan for about 5–6 minutes. When the underside is toasted light brown, flip and cook the other side until evenly browned. Remember to use low heat; high heat will leave the inside uncooked. Repeat until all the shaped dough is cooked. Some of the cornmeal may fall off during cooking, which is fine. Cornmeal is ground corn, available at Foodland; if you can't find it, grind or pound raw popcorn kernels. Instead of cornmeal you can use semolina, or if all else fails, all-purpose flour.
English muffins can be eaten with butter and jam, or topped with a poached egg, bacon and hollandaise sauce to make eggs Benedict, a hugely popular and delicious breakfast. Homemade English muffins smell of fresh butter and milk. The outside is crisp and crunchy thanks to the cornmeal on the crust, the flavour is nicely balanced between sweet and salty, and there's a faint yeasty aroma that is the hallmark of a true English muffin. Talking about it is making us hungry!
