Anyone up for a good ole homemade English muffin?! Yup, homemade. Oh and did I mention there sourdough?! And guess what?! It’s no knead, and fool-proof simple.
English muffins are so versatile!! Homemade apple butter?! Sure, it’s amazing. Egg, pheasant summer sausage, avocado, and sprouts?! Sure, why not?! Just a good ole slab of grass fed butter?! Yup, that works!! Any way you like it, it’s simply put: amazing.
English, muffin?!
I hear ya, why muffin?! The question my little brother asked this morning while making these goodies, and I asked him, “which came first: the English muffin or the muffins we know today?!” Well, let’s look at history…
Back in 1874 a British man by the name of Samuel Bath Thomas brought his own version of a crumpet to a bakery he worked at in New York City. In 1880, he decided to open he’s own bakery, and eventually everyone from grocery stores to hotel were buying from him!! He’s crumpet-like bread came so popular he decided to trade mark his “English Muffins” in 1926, becoming widely popular and is well known in America.
But why muffins?! Well in the British culture it’s widely known as just “muffins”. Back in the 1800’s these muffins were sold door-to-door sense not everyone had ovens back then to make there own. In 1820 the popular song “do you know the muffin man” came out because of this!! After being obnoxiously loud with the bells they rang, the British people enforced no ringing in the streets. Funny enough, the candy like muffins the we all know today, are simply called just muffins or American muffins in England. The word “muffin” refers to the German word “muffen”, meaning “little cakes”. The word muffin is dates back to 1703 in Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery noting they have a honeycombed inside. So why are they both called muffins?! That still remains a mystery me. To very different yet very yummy foods named the same thing. 🫤
Did you know that the British people didn’t know much about English muffins until the 1990’s?!
Forget about this history, let’s make these things!! Being intimidated by the confusing English muffin recipes out there, I never really tried making them. But after doing sourdough I was a lot more adventurous and decided “why not” and I found a simpler sourdough recipe and realized I can just replace the milk in my Simple sourdough recipe and use a different cooking method . Simple yet delicious!!
What’s in them?!
- 473g milk
- 130g sourdough starter
- 700g flour
- 18g salt
How to make them?!
- In a large bowl, measure your sourdough starter, add milk, flour, and salt and mix with a wooden spoon or your hands until fully incorporated.
- Place in a draft free warm area overnight (or for 8-12 hours).
- In the morning, roll your dough on a lightly floured surface of cornmeal or brown rice flour (or any gluten free flour with this texture). Roll in a large rectangle about 1/3” thick. Cut into 2” circles (I use a small mason jar lid). In the meantime, heat your pan to 7.
- Place English muffins on heated pan with enough room to flip. I usually do about 5 on a pan at a time. Once the side is browned (about 5 minutes, you will see them start to puff up), flip and place lid on top then turn down to 4. Cook until completely done throughly, about 5 minutes. Enjoy!!
the potters table 