English muffins recipe
The milk in English muffins makes them wonderfully soft in the middle, perfect for splitting and wolfing down with butter and jam. Cooking them in the wood-fired oven gives a golden brown and crusty outside with a moist inner crumb; another bonus is they cook very quickly.
Traditionally they would be baked on a griddle and served as a tea time favourite with jams or preserves and clotted cream or toast them and serve them as part of eggs Benedict as a brunch dish.
Ingredients
- 450 g strong white flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 60 g butter
- 1 tbsp dried yeast
- 270 ml milk, gently warmed
- 1 cup fine polenta, for dusting
- 15.9 oz strong white flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2.1 oz butter
- 1 tbsp dried yeast
- 9.5 fl oz milk, gently warmed
- 1 cup fine polenta, for dusting
- 15.9 oz strong white flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2.1 oz butter
- 1 tbsp dried yeast
- 1.1 cups milk, gently warmed
- 1 cup fine polenta, for dusting
Details
- Cuisine: English
- Recipe Type: Bread
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 30 mins
- Cooking Time: 10 mins
- Serves: 8
Step-by-step
- Put the flour and salt in a large bowl and rub in the butter. Stir in the milk and yeast and mix to form a soft dough.
- Put the dough on a flat work surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and silky. Put the dough back into a clean bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1-2 hours until roughly doubled in size.
- Build up the fire in the oven until it is about 190C/375F which will take about 45 minutes. When it is up to temperature, push the fire to the back of the oven with your metal peel or coal hook.
- When the dough has risen, knead it briefly to remove the gas. Divide into 8 or 10 pieces and shape into round rolls. Flatten each roll with the flat of your hand until they are about 1cm/1/2 inch thick.
- Put the rounds of dough on to a baking sheet, liberally dusted with fine polenta. Leave to rise a second time for about 20 minutes.
- Open the oven door and put the tray of muffins into the oven. Close the door and bake the muffins for 3-4 minutes.
- Wearing your oven gloves, open the oven door and take out the baking sheet and quickly flip the muffins over with a palette knife. Put the baking sheet of muffins back in the oven and shut the door.
- Bake for another 3-4 minutes until they are golden brown and risen. Open the oven door and take the tray of muffins out of the oven and cool them on a wire rack, covered with a clean towel to prevent them becoming crusty.
- Serve the muffins warm, split in half with butter and jam for afternoon tea or toasted as a base for Eggs Benedict.
Recipe taken from the Wood-Fired Oven cookbook, by David and Holly Jones
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