Home made English Muffins

Personal Finances Living Below Your Means
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I’ve been on a home made bender lately. And I like an English Muffin with breakfast. I don’t want to say I’m a snob, but after trying several varieties, I’ve decided I like Thomas’ better than the others in the grocery store. Or more correctly, in giant packages from Costco.

But I became appalled at the recent price increases. They’re up to almost a dollar a muffin. (The eggs are worse, but I’m not harboring chickens any time soon.) So I set about looking for English Muffin recipes. Tried a couple with little success. Then got a hold of the one linked below. And these came out like actual English Muffins. But better. Soft, warm, fresh. And the right texture. That was the problem I had with other recipes - the texture was just wrong.

Any way, I commend these to you. If you watch the video, you will see how loose and sticky the dough is. And it’s tough to manage. I don’t care about perfect circles, so I spread the dough out as in the video, but then used a pizza cutter to cut it into 9 pieces. I did prod them into something closer to a circle than a rectangle. And they definitely stuck and stretched and did all sorts of gooey things. But I was patient and got somewhat rounded squares.

I will say that cutting into 9 gave me pretty big muffins. That’s fine, of course. If you want something closer to the size of store bought, I’d cut into 12 pieces.

My other comment is on cooking time. It took me an hour to cook them off. My largest skillet is only 12 inches, so I couldn’t get more than three in at a time. With 10 -12 minutes per batch (5-6 minutes per side), and a bit of time to wipe out the old cornmeal (trying to use it for a second time will burn it) and wrangle the dough into the pan, I was surprised at how quickly an hour went by.

One other cooking comment - the first batches will take longer than later ones as your pan heats up more thoroughly. Definitely need the 6 minutes for the first ones, and the last ones are likely closer to 5 minutes per side.

But the result is worth it.

–Peter

PS - Let it rise in the fridge overnight. Your patience will be rewarded.

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My hat’s off to you! Interesting video, but the way he put the cutter in the flour storage had me cringing with visions of bits left behind.

Around here it is a matter of watching for sales. BOGO is common, and not long ago I saw buy 1 get two free. Looking at the flyers for my three local supermarkets, one had a twelve pack for $5.99.

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Yeah, I didn’t like that either. Not the best food safety practice, for sure.

That’s always a good idea. On the other hand, baking from scratch take a buck of flour, some milk and butter you already have hanging around, a 75 cent packet of yeast, and a few pinches of corn meal. Then there’s the egg, which is, what these days? $5 or so for one? :rofl: :grinning: :neutral_face: :astonished: (Really, about 50 cents each last week.) Add some time, and you get a muffin that’s better than anything you can get in the store.

What motivated me was seeing $5.something for 6 muffins, while the not-very-good store brand was half that. So why not make my own? If nothing else, it’s entertaining, and I’m enjoying cooking a variety of things that I’ve never done before in the last 6 decades. It was worth a try.

–Peter

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Glad you are having fun with it. Thanks for sharing!

(It seems appropriate to footnote this with the fact that they don’t have English Muffins in England and neighboring English speaking countries. A Brit I knew who was working here described them as like a crumpet but they got it all wrong.)

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Thanks for your practical tips!

Luckily my family isn’t really numerous, so perhaps I won’t have to spend a whole hour making desert (before witnessing it go puff in like 5 seconds, that is…). Also, I don’t care about the shape of the muffins too, so a so-so circular shape is the route I’m gonna take :slight_smile:

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