Well its simple really... great english muffins have an interior that is specifically architected with so many pits and holes that it looks like the surface of a sponge. Not the one you clean your sink with, but one of those natural living ones straight out of the South Pacific that the natives in Robinson Caruso would have bathed with, right? In most breads we wouldn't actually try to achieve that texture but in english muffins you have to ask yourself... "Self (because that's what you call yourself when you talk to you) where the hell else am I going to stuff all of this butter and jam??" Yeah, that's what I thought.
So how do you get an interior like that? What's the secret? Liquids, people. Say it with me: LIQUIDS. That means you have to work with a dough so wet as to look more like a batter than a dough. You've got to fight with the soaked flour and hope to the kitchen gods that you are a stronger man/woman/child than the gluten beast is. But we here at Nommy have faith you in, good soldier! We know you can manage this. Oh, you won't have to thank us, you'll have earned these wonderful little buns of butter-holding spaces and jam hiding crevices. You'll have earned them.
Got your warpaint on? Good, then start with the mixture below:Ingredients
- 3 cups AP flour
- 1 tbs sugar
- 1 tsp yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/3 cup milk
- 1 1/2 tbs butter
Yeild: 6-8 muffins Cook Time: 3 hours You can start with the milk and butter. Toss that into the micro for 2-3 minutes until it's nice and warm. Put everything into your Kitchen Aide with the paddle mixer (yes!) and take it for a whirl for 5 minutes at least. The mix should resemble a stringy pancake batter when you're done. Cover with plastic wrap and let the whole mix sit someplace warm for 1 hour or until about doubled. The large dose of sugar along with the warm milk should kick the yeasties off real quick like. Which is kinda weird because that would put me to sleep!
Anyway, once that's done take a few minutes to practice the french technique of "mise en place" but don't get too stressed by that. It's just fancy french for, "Get your crap together!" And trust me, that crap has got to be together! Why? Because this bucket of glue pretending to be a batch of dough will cover and en-goop your hands like it's getting paid to do that. Seriously, task someone with answering the door/phone for you. Shoo the dogs and cats away and dive in. What's that? What is it that you'll need? Oh, sorry. Here's my list of EMMEP (English Muffin Mise En Place) items:
- Scales, turned on and ready
- Rubber spatula
- Bench scraper
- Long sheet of parchment paper to set the muffins on, liberally sprinkle it with corn meal too!
- Pam
- plastic wrap
- 2 cups of spare AP flour, for dusting the work area.
That's it. Get it all setup and ready to go. Now, spread most of 1 cup of flour (trust me!) on the work area and turn the dough out of the mixer bowl. Liberally sprinkle the top with flour and knead the dough by folding and turning several times. You'll be working in a lot of extra flour, but that's ok, just keep at it. Once you've got a decent loaf of dough start chopping off either 2 or 3 oz chunks and turn them into small boules as best you can. There will be a lot of extra flour brought into this conversation, but keep at it. The results are completely worth the trip.
As you complete each muffin place it on the parchment and ensure there's a healthy dose of corn meal under it. Once all of the dough is formed use the Pam to spray the tops of each muffin and sprinkle some extra corn meal up there too. Now, wait. The muffins shouldn't take more than a half an hour to rise, but be patient with them. Let the liquids and the yeast do their thing. When your ready, or when they are, get a skillet or griddle out and heated up to 350. Cook the muffins for about 8 minutes per side or until the insides register just short of 200 degrees. Only flip them once and place them on cooling racks when done.
Give these beauties about 10 minutes to cool then using a fork pierce into the sides all the way around and separate the two halves. Go ahead and admire the nooks and crannies you've created. Revel in the soft, tender sides countered by the crunchy, dusty top and bottoms. If you must, pop one in the toaster and let the radiant heat bathe the muffin in crunchy goodness, or say screw it and eat one straight up. Either way you go you'll possibly never buy store-bought again.
And to think that the Holiday Entertaining edition of Cook's Illustrated actually took the time to compare several varieties of manufactured english muffins!! If anyone over at CI is reading this invite Gecko or I in as guest editors and we'll show your readership how this is done!
