Thursday, February 4, 2010

English Muffins

I enjoy English Muffins, but had never thought of MAKING them until I saw a blog post on them. Well, then I just had to make them! I could hear my friend Sharon, in her Louisiana accent, saying "Um, Carla, you do know that you can purchase those, right?" Which is true, but of course she knows as well as me that's it's more about the challenge.

My first attempt did not turn out all that well and I was disappointed. But seeing that I can't just let that go and give up, I set out to try again with a few modifications. This time I was successful and much happier. Another recipe to mark off the "to do" list.

The first recipe I found only cooked the bread on the stove, and the centers were still gummy. So, on the 2nd try, I baked them in the oven after browning them on the stove and they were cooked through. My only issue with baking these was patience...so I suggest setting a timer and walking away, rather than hovering like I did.

(recipe adapted from allrecipes.com)
Ingredients

1 cup milk
2 tbsp sugar
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 cup warm water (110 degrees)
1/4 cup melted shortening (I used unsalted butter)
6 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt

1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan to 185 degrees. Remove from heat. Mix in the sugar,stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, shortening and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough (I used about 5 1/4 cups). Knead. Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise (about 30 minutes).

3. Punch down. Roll out to 1/2 inch thick. Cut with round cutter. Spray cookie sheet with oil and sprinkle with cornmeal Transfer rounds to cookie sheet and dust with cornmeal. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.


4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat greased griddle over medium low heat. Cook muffins on griddle about 8 to 10 minutes on each side.

Transfer to cookie sheet and bake for another 8 minutes to make sure the center is set. Put them in the oven as you take them off the stove- don't wait for all muffins to be ready before baking. Allow to cool and place in plastic bag for storage. To use, split with a fork and toast. Enjoy!



No comments: