So as part of the last round of Charcutepalooza I had the brilliant idea to go all out and make my own English muffins. I mean, I was making Canadian bacon and naturally I would use this as part of Eggs Benedict. I’ve already mastered an easy Hollandaise sauce, and my eggs were farm fresh, so why would I slum it and BUY English muffins? Exactly, I wouldn’t.
Truth be told, English muffins are not something I had ever really thought of making from scratch. I grew up eating supermarket English muffins (shout out to Dempsters!) and when I went off to university in New York I discovered the joys of Thomas’ English Muffins. Plus, I don’t think I’ve EVER had a homemade English muffin from a restaurant. I kind of just assumed that it wasn’t something people made from scratch and that they solely existed in a factory. Alas, this was my bad. The more I cook and learn about food the more I realize that few things (that I would eat anyway) are solely made in a factory.
I was on the site Closet Cooking a few weeks back and Kevin did a post on Homemade English Muffins and I was totally impressed. I made a mental note to try these out sometimes. A few weeks later when I decided to tackle making my own, I started looking at recipes. I mainly wanted recipes that used things I already had in my cupboard which is why I eliminated the recipe on Kevin’s site because it had powdered milk on the ingredient list. I didn’t feel like going to the store and truth be told I have no idea how common powdered milk is. I ended up using this recipe from Wilde in the Kitchen. I liked it because the ingredients were simple and I didn’t need English muffin molds.
Making English muffins was as easy as making any simple bread-type things. You mix some ingredients together, knead them, let them rest, shape and let rise again. No big deal. My dough didn’t rise properly and needed a bit of extra loving to make that happen. I think this impacted the final product because these did not turn out well at all!
The English muffins were dense and pretty rock hard. They were not at all fluffy like the English muffins that I love. Le sigh. There were no nooks. There were no crannies. It was a sad, sad day. I kind of blame my yeast.
I haven’t lost faith though, I know many people who have had success with the English muffin-making (even with this recipe) so I’ll have to give a few other recipes a shot and buy some new yeast.
Here’s a link to the recipe that I used: click here.
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I love that you post about your cooking flops, too.
I’ve never made English muffins, but it reminds me of an English muffin bread that I made in the microwave a few years back (yeah, totally weird but it works!): http://www.breadworldcanada.com/recipes/recipedetail.asp?id=132
Bagelmuffin. Buffin. Mufgel?
I tried making English muffins once before for some Eggs Benedict and they didn’t turn out either. I’m like you though, and will keep on trying to get them to work out for me :D. If you find a recipe that works, be sure to let us all know asap!
My first batch, as you know, were a failure but once I fiddles with Ruhlmans recipe and resting times, I managed to get some that I was happy with. Now, if I can only do that again!!!
So sad that they didn’t turn out with the nooks and crannies! They look so pretty on the outside! I know that when I made them my apartment was very warm, so my yeasts were happy. Such tempermental yeasts!
Hey! I just discovered your blog. I feel like you are my food twin.
Take note – I am obsessed with eggs benedict, making things from scratch (minus ingredients like powdered milk.. yuck!) and eating some, but not much meat (did you see Mark Bittman’s TED talk? It changed my life).
I’m so glad I found your site