There is nothing quite like a homemade English muffin. And it can be relatively easy, not to mention inexpensive, if you have one of these babies.
This is about the only reason I am able to work full time, be a mom to a toddler, and still make almost all of our bread from scratch. While a bread maker doesn't always provide the same texture as a fully handmade product, they do provide the same nutrition. And the bulk of what we use our bread maker for is making doughs. Pizza, cinnamon rolls, french bread, or in this case English muffins. You name it. The world (of bread) is your oyster.
This is a recipe I have adapted for my own purposes, namely being 100% whole wheat. Feel free to add some cinnamon and raisins for a twist. Although really, I think these are perfect as is.
So to start with, wet ingredients go in the pan (or as according to your bread maker manual). In this case that includes skim milk, honey, eggs, and heart healthy margarine or plain old butter. I just throw everything in and add the eggs directly in and break them with a fork in the pan. I am all about minimal dish usage.
Next come the dry ingredients. Again, according to my bread maker manual, this will include salt, whole wheat flour, followed by yeast sprinkled on top. Which looks something like this.
And then set the dough cycle and let it do its thing. That's it. No kneading. Which gives you roughly an hour and a half of free time. You could read the paper leisurely, take a nap, or, if your toddler is asleep, fall into an exhausted heap on the couch. I'm not going to say which is the preferred usage of free time in this house.
After the bread maker goes through the kneading, punching down and rising process here is what you are left with
Isn't it beautiful? And all from nothing more than dumping ingredients in a pan. Here is where I declare bread makers the greatest invention ever.
Next sprinkle your workspace with a little cornmeal and roll out the dough. If you have one of those silicone mats I highly recommend using them for easier cleanup. The dough should be rolled out to about a 1/2 inch thickness. More or less depending on your preferences, but remember they will poof up during the second rise and cooking processes. Cut into rounds. You can see my fancy tool, a drinking cup. Some people have specific cutters for this purpose and some are cheap and use whatever resembles a circle of vaguely the correct size. You can guess which group I fall into. Continue rolling and cutting as necessary until all the dough is cut into circles.
Now sprinkle some cornmeal on baking sheets, transfer rounds and let rise for about a half hour or so. Make sure there is plenty of cornmeal, you don't want the rounds to stick while you are moving them to cook. Doing so loses some of your "poof". Also, if you have a drafty kitchen as I do, there are a few methods I've discovered to help the rise process. For normal breads I microwave a cup of water for a minute or two, just to get it nice and steamy, put the bread in there and shut the door. It provides a nice warm, humid environment for the yeast to do their thing and also prevents the bread from drying out. Now while this method is great it doesn't work for something as large as a cookie sheet, unless your microwave oven is freakishly large. For this I fill a mixing bowl with warm water, set the cookie sheet on top and cover with a towel. For these English muffins I had two cookie sheets, so two separate bowls to raise.
After 30 minutes or so they will be nice and puffy, not quite doubled in size. At this time take your biggest skillet, I use a pancake pan, and heat it over a medium heat. If you have a gas stove as I do I've found a medium low heat is really the way to go. Set the rounds on the heated pan and let cook for about 5 minutes per side.
This is what they will look like once flipped. Golden deliciousness. They will poof a bit more during the cooking process.
Continue in batches until all muffins are cooked. While they are still warm I poke the sides all around with a fork to make them easier to cut. Actually when you do that you can really just pull them apart and there's no need to slice at all.
And the final product
I think these would be great in eggs benedict. And since they're whole wheat I'm pretty sure it cancels out the calories in the butter. Just trust me on this, it's practically scientific fact.
Although, really, I find these are best enjoyed fresh, lightly toasted, and smothered with homemade apple butter or jelly. Even better alongside a sippy cup and a friend. For the 15 month old set anyway.
These freeze wonderfully. I often make frozen breakfast sandwiches with them by baking egg substitute or real eggs in a pan, cutting into squares and putting on the English muffins. Wrap each one and freeze. You can also add cheese after you heat them up. I tried freezing with cheese but by the time the sandwich is heated the cheese is melted in a pool at the bottom of the plate.
Recipe
- 4 Tablespoons margarine or butter
- 1.5 cups skim milk
- 2 eggs
-2 T honey
-1 t salt
-5 c whole wheat flour - more or less depending on consistency
cornmeal for dusting
Combine wet ingredients in bread pan. Add salt, flour, and sprinkle yeast on top. Set for dough cycle. Once complete, dust workspace with cornmeal. Roll out into 1/2 inch thickness, cover and let rise for a half hour. Cook in skillet on medium heat for about 5 minutes per side or until golden brown.
Nutritional Information - per English muffin (makes about 24), approximately, calculated with calorie king
Calories - 120
Fat - 2.4 g
Carbs - 22.4 g
Protein -3.9 g
Fiber - 3.3 g
