English Muffins

I am beyond disappointed in myself for not blogging lately, but school has been insanely crazy, and not in a fun way. I've had back-to-back tests this whole month, and it won't stop until next Wednesday. At least I've been baking, even though you haven't seen it lately. This means that today I'll barrage you all with all the posts I haven't done, including the one that is most important for today, but I'll probably have that one up later on in the night. Ok. So my first recipe of the night is one I've been seeing lately on alot of blogs out there: English Muffins, but my recipe is from 100 Magnificent Muffins & Scones by Felicity Barnum-Bobb. Do any of you know those English Muffins that you can find at the grocery store? I think they're Thomas' English Muffins. Well, I had been eating those ever since I could remember, and this recipe blows those out of the water. These taste better and look better, but the main difference between these and Thomas' is that these don't have that cornmeal on them. These are good either warmed up or at room temperature. If you put some butter in between them along with some cheese, you'll swear you're in heaven.

I first mixed together the flour and salt...

...and then microwaved the mixture for about 1 minute.

I melted the butter in a separate bowl.

To the previous flour mixture, I added yeast and sugar.

I then added the melted butter and milk.

This is how the dough came out. It wasn't very elastic, but it at least came together.

I covered the dough and put it inside my car (the warmest place I could think of).

It grew! It was a little more than twice what it was!

I floured my table...

...and started to knead the dough until it was smooth.

I rolled the dough into a log.

After I cut the pieces (my hands were too dirty to grab my camera), I used to circular mold to shape the pieces.

The dough went back into my car in order to rise some more, and the dough grew even more!

I was completely skeptical about this step. I buttered the pan, and put the biscuits in it. I didn't think that they'd bake/cook!

I flipped them over, and they were golden.

I flipped them over again, and felt them. They felt pretty baked/cooked.

Tada!!! All ready!

English Muffins
*makes 8-10 muffins*

Ingredients:
3 cups white bread flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, plus extra for greasing
1/4 oz envelope active dry yeast
1 tsp superfine sugar
1 cup warm milk

Directions:
1) Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Microwave on medium (500W) for 1 minute, to warm slightly (there's no need to warm the flour if you don't have a microwave - it simply helps the yeast to work faster).
2) Melt the butter in a bowl in the microwave for 50 seconds on high (850W), or in a pan.
3) Add the active dry yeast and sugar to the warm flour. Pour in the warm milk and butter.
4) Beat well until smooth and elastic. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
5) Turn onto a well-floured board and knead, working in a little more flour if necessary to make the dough easier to shape. Round up the dough, then roll into a thick sausage and (using the sharpest knife you have) slice into 8-10 portions, each about 1 1/2 inch thick.
6) Use a plain cutter to help shape each one into a round with straight sides. Place on a greased baking sheet, well spaced out. Cover with greased plastic wrap and put in a warm place to prove for 30-40 minutes, or until springy to the touch.
7) Heat a grill pan until really hot, then grease lightly with butter. Lift the muffins carefully onto the hot grill. Cook a few at a time over very low heat for 8-10 minutes, or until pale golden underneath. Turn and cook the other side.
8) Wrap in a cloth and keep warm if cooking in batches. To serve, insert a knife in the side and pull the top and bottom slightly apart, then insert slivers of butter.



Recipe from 100 Magnificent Muffins & Scones by Felicity Barnum-Bobb