Fresh-Baked Homemade English Muffins Recipe: You'll Adore These Nooks & Crannies by Chef Gigi

This homemade English muffin bread recipe is so user-friendly and satisfying. Simple ingredients – bread flour, sugar, salt, yeast, buttermilk and butter – combine to make a bread recipe that's so much better than store-bought English muffins.

I like to use buttermilk for a pleasant, sour tang. The dough will naturally be sticky; just use flour powder, utensils and hands. This dough tastes best when you ferment the mixture overnight, but it is not necessary for the recipe's outcome. Toast the fresh English muffins on the stovetop, then finish them in the oven. They are so easy to make, you will surprise yourself. Be sure to split the hot English muffin open with a fork to reveal your labor!

Serve these delicious English muffins with butter, honey, maple syrup, cream cheese, jelly, jam or fruit preserves for breakfast or brunch. They even make a great snack. Store the leftover English muffins in an airtight container on the counter.

Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 3 1/2  hours
Servings: Makes 16

Ingredients

• 5 cups unbleached bread flour
• 3 teaspoons granulated sugar or honey
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
• 1/4 water, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature (divided)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• cornmeal, for dusting
• cooking oil

Here's how to make it: 

1. Add the yeast to the water in a small bowl. Stir. Set aside and allow the yeast to begin activation. 
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the flour, sweetener and salt. Fit with the dough hook and mix at low speed to combine. Add the activated yeast, all but 1/4 cup of the buttermilk and the butter. Mix on medium-low speed until the ingredients form a ball. If loose flour is still in the bowl, drizzle in some of the remaining 1/4 cups of buttermilk. Continue kneading for about 8 to 10 minutes until the dough looks soft but feels tacky and pliable.
3. Dust your fingertips with flour, remove the dough from the bowl and gently form it into a ball. Spray the bottom of your mixing bowl with cooking spray and place the dough back in the mixing bowl. Turn it once to oil to prevent a crust from forming. Cover lightly with a clean kitchen towel, and allow to rise for 90 minutes in a quiet, warm location of your kitchen. Place in the refrigerator and allow the dough to ferment overnight for optimal flavor.
4. Prepare three baking sheets with nonstick liners and dust two with cornmeal. Set aside.
5. Wipe the counter with a damp cloth and release the dough gently from the bowl. Flouring the work surface is not necessary. Divide the dough into equal pieces weighing about 3 ounces each. Gently shape the pieces into small rounds practicing special attention not to deflate.
6. Transfer the dough balls to the sheet pans dusted with cornmeal, spacing them about 3 inches apart. Mist them lightly with spray oil, sprinkle them loosely with cornmeal and cover them with a clean towel. Set aside and proof the rounds at room temperature for 90 minutes or until the pieces nearly double in size.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with the oven racks distributed evenly. Heat a large cast-iron skillet or heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat, and drizzle the with cooking oil.
8. Uncover the muffin rounds, slide a wide, well-oiled spatula under the rounds, and gently transfer each one to the hot-oiled pan, spacing them about an inch apart. Cook undisturbed for about 5 to 8 minutes, or until the bottoms are nicely brown and both sides slightly deflate to the characteristic of an English muffin. Carefully flip and continue to cook on the other side for 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer the pan-cooked muffins to the original sheet tray and place them in the oven immediately. It's essential not to wait for the remaining rounds to cook; they will deflate.
9. Bake in the oven for 7 to 8 minutes to ensure the center bakes through. Cool, and cut open with a fork to display the nooks and crannies.
   

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