English Muffins

Ingredients

• 320 g Milk (Room temperature)
• 12 g Fresh yeast (Crumbled; alternatively use 7 g fast-action dried yeast)
• 500 g Strong white bread flour (Plus extra for dusting)
• 8 g Salt
• 25 g Butter (Room temperature and broken into pieces)
• Coarse semolina or polenta (For coating; use enough to coat all 12 dough balls)

Steps

1. 1

   Place the room-temperature milk and crumbled fresh yeast in a large mixing bowl. Mix until the yeast has dissolved. If using fast-action dried yeast instead, use 7 g.

2. 2

   Add the bread flour and salt to the bowl. Mix with a dough scraper until the ingredients begin to come together into a rough dough.

3. 3

   Add the room-temperature butter in pieces. Use your fingertips to dimple the butter all over into the dough until it is incorporated.

4. 4

   Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. Knead for 8 minutes without adding any extra flour, until the dough is smoother and elastic.

5. 5

   Shape the dough into a ball and return it to the mixing bowl. Sprinkle the top lightly with flour, cover the bowl with a clean cloth, and leave the dough at room temperature for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until risen and puffy.

6. 6

   Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour. Use a dough scraper to turn it out upside down onto the work surface, leaving the sticky side facing up.

7. 7

   Gently flatten the dough with your fingertips, then cut it into 12 equal-sized pieces with the dough scraper. For evenly sized muffins, weigh each piece at about 70 g (2 oz).

8. 8

   Fold and roll each piece into a tight, smooth ball.

9. 9

   Dip each dough ball, one at a time, into a bowl of coarse semolina or polenta. Press and turn each ball until it is well coated on all sides.

10. 10

    Arrange the 12 coated rolls on a large tray that will fit in the refrigerator, or divide them between two trays. Leave them to rest for 15 minutes.

11. 11

    Use a rolling pin to roll each dough ball firmly on the work surface until it is slightly flattened. Return each flattened muffin to the tray. This helps prevent the muffins from puffing too high, taking too long to cook, or becoming too thick for a toaster.

12. 12

    Cover the muffins with a clean cloth and leave them to rest for 1 hour, until fully puffed.

13. 13

    Twenty minutes before the muffins finish puffing, preheat a griddle over low heat so it heats as evenly as possible. A heavy frying pan can be used instead and will take less time to heat evenly.

14. 14

    If the griddle or pan cannot hold all the muffins at once, place the remaining muffins in the refrigerator once they are ready to cook. Keeping them cool pauses their rise while the muffins are cooked in batches.

15. 15

    Cook one tester muffin first. Place it on the preheated griddle or in the pan and cook for 8 minutes on the first side. Watch it closely; if it browns too quickly, reduce the heat before cooking the remaining muffins.

16. 16

    Cook the remaining muffins in manageable batches of 3 or 4, keeping the uncooked muffins refrigerated. Cook each muffin for 8 minutes per side over low heat, watching carefully for burning, until golden brown and cooked through.

17. 17

    Transfer the cooked muffins to a wire rack and let them cool completely before serving or toasting.

Notes

The source lists a 20-minute preparation time and a 1 1/2-hour cooking time, but the dough also requires rising and resting time. Keep uncooked muffins refrigerated between batches so they do not over-proof. Start with a tester muffin to adjust the griddle temperature; the muffins should cook low and slow rather than brown before the centers are done.

Nutrition per serving

• breakfast
• bread
• baked
• griddle-cooked
• vegetarian
• make-ahead
• British
• yeasted