Sourdough English Muffins

September 11 2007 at 05:00 am

Wish I was an English muffin
‘Bout to make the most out of a toaster
– Simon and Garfunkel, “Punky’s Dilemma”

If you want to make the most out of your toaster, lose the Thomas’ and grace it with these instead.

Inspired by several talented bakers at The Fresh Loaf who have produced various takes on the English muffin in recent months, I finally could stand it no longer, and had to try them for myself. I see why they have been so popular. The bang for the buck is tremendous; they could not be easier, yet the result is outstanding.

The recipe uses just the amount of starter I’m “discarding” from my evening feeding, so I don’t even have to have planned ahead to make them (always a bonus in my world). Ferment the sponge overnight, and it’s a simple affair in the morning to mix and cook them.

Sourdough English Muffins

Yield: 8 – 10 muffins

Time:

Mix and ferment sponge: 8 hours
Mix and shape final dough: 15 minutes
Proof: 45 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes

Sponge Ingredients:

110 g ripe 100% hydration sourdough starter
160 g flour
100 g whole wheat flour
276 g milk (I used lowfat 1%)

Final Dough Ingredients:

75 g flour
3/4 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1.5 t. agave nectar (or honey)
all of the sponge

Method:

In a medium bowl, mix the sponge ingredients until just combined. Cover and let rest for 8 hours or overnight.
Add the final dough ingredients and mix to roughly combine. Turn the dough out onto the counter and hand mix for about 7 or 8 minutes, or until the surface becomes quite smooth. The dough will be very soft, and sticky at first. Resist the urge to add more flour; it will become less sticky with mixing.
Flour the counter and your hands well, and roll or pat the dough out to a thickness of about one-half inch. Cut the dough into 3-inch circles and place them on semolina-dusted parchment paper.
Cover and let proof for 45 – 60 minutes.
Lightly oil a griddle and heat it over medium-low heat. Cook the muffins for a total of about 7 or 8 minutes on each side, until browned and the sides are firm. I find I get a better shape to the muffins if I flip them every couple of minutes for the first few minutes.
Cool on a wire rack. To get the best nooks and crannies for toasting, split the muffins with a fork rather than a knife.

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Post a comment » 37 Comments

browndog on September 11 2007 at 07:51 am:

Excellent, Susan. I appreciate your ferreting out the grams, too. I’ve made these three times and added different amounts of flour each time. Is that roughly the whole 2 3/4 cups called for in the original recipe? When I made them with just enough flour to do what could be called ‘kneading’, the texture suffered some. But when I made them with only 2 cups, they spread and were more like thick pancakes. But I didn’t want to over-mix just to ‘dry’ them out, presuming that gluten development was not a goal here. The middle ground worked best for me, just call me Goldilocks…so I’ve been wondering what other people’s experience was.
Bart on September 11 2007 at 01:09 pm:

Nice! I made them this weekend and they were delicious! I love English muffins and I will make them again and again,…
Marta on September 12 2007 at 01:39 am:

They look wonderfull! I’ll try to make them.

Regards
ejm on September 12 2007 at 03:39 am:

When you say that you are using the amount that you are “discarding” from your evening feeding, are you talking about ‘evening feeding on a buildup’ or ‘evening feeding of the starter just to make sure it stays viable’? (I hope that made sense!)

-Elizabeth
Susan on September 12 2007 at 04:25 am:

Browndog: I think it’s about 2.5 cups of flour, but of course that depends on how you measure the cups. (That’s why I always weigh flour, and I’m VERY opinionated about this!) If you wanted a wetter dough/batter, you could use English muffin rings (or tuna cans with both ends removed). I’ve not done that so can’t vouch for it but I’ve seen the rings around.

Bart: The muffins on your site look wonderful.

Marta: Thanks. I think you’ll find them to be very easy and tasty.

Elizabeth: The second one. I try to find something to do with my “waste,” like saving it for pancakes, or now, these muffins.
browndog on September 12 2007 at 07:34 am:

Katie’s recipe at tfl had a range of 2-2 3/4 cups of flour, yes, whatever that means. 2 1/2 sounds like what worked best for me. I much prefer to use scales than ‘random’ measuring, though, so I’m happy you posted the gram amounts. Making a batch today.
Mimi on September 12 2007 at 09:42 am:

Great looking muffins! I see some tips to take back to my next attempt at english muffins. I can’t wait!
ejm on September 13 2007 at 03:15 am:

Thanks for the clarification. And that’s most useful to know. I was under the impression that the “waste” was somehow inviable and it’s nice to know that I don’t HAVE to throw it out.

Although I vaguely remember seeing something about times after feeding in Nancy Silverton’s Bread from La Brea Bakery – ah here it is: (or am I misreading this?)

a starter is at its optimum strength and flavor 8 to 12 hours after it’s fed, and drops off considerably in quality beyond that range

and a little earlier in the book:

let it ferment 8 to 12 hours, definitely not more than 15 hours

-Elizabeth

P.S. My regular starter feedings are in the morning, but perhaps I should switch to evening feedings so I don’t have to discard the extra…
Susan on September 13 2007 at 06:42 am:

Browndog, I hope yesterday’s batch was as fantastic. The ones you posted on TFL really lit a fire under me to try them.

Mimi, the muffins on your blog look really terrific already!

Elizabeth, to further clarify: I feed my starter twice a day, so the starter I’m putting in the muffins is just ripe, not over-ripe. When I referred to saving it, that would be for pancakes or as an extra flavor boost in something that does not derive all its leavening from that starter. I am going to post soon on how I maintain my starter.
ejm on September 13 2007 at 08:33 am:

And again, thank you for the further clarification, Susan. That makes much more sense.

Wow! You feed your starter twice a day to maintain? (I’ve been feeding mine once every three days.)

I like to use the extra that is created midday on a buildup day when I feed the starter 3 times. I have added it to naan, biscuit or pizza dough.

But now I really want to try making English muffins!

-Elizabeth
bluezebra on September 13 2007 at 07:04 pm:

Beautiful muffins Susan! I just adore this recipe. I end up adding all the flour and they work great for me!
Susan on September 14 2007 at 06:55 am:

Hi BZ, yours were inspirational to me also!
Moewes.com » links for 2007-09-18 on September 18 2007 at 06:23 am:

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Finally - a little English love :) on April 6 2008 at 07:48 pm:

[...] been daydreaming about trying my luck at English muffins ever since I saw Susan’s post at Wild Yeast. They just looked so tasty, and so much better than what you get out of a package! I’m so [...]
A Perfect Day for a Farmer’s Market at Chiot’s Run on August 31 2008 at 08:16 am:

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Jennifer on January 27 2009 at 01:01 pm:

Well, I also made these today and they did not turn out. I have no idea where I went wrong. HELP!
Helen on January 28 2009 at 11:04 am:

Hi Susan! I was looking around for inspiration to get myself and my poor, neglected starter out of a winter funk, and I think it’s definitely time to try these. They sounded familiar… I’d come across this a few months ago: http://www.monticello.org/jefferson/dayinlife/breakfast/fun.html. The proportions are different (and very basic… no helping ingredients, just the basics) but the idea and the method is similar. I’m sure the “two table spoonsfull of yeast” means starter… I don’t think commercial yeast had been invented. Anyway, kind of fun. Happy Winter!
Susan on January 30 2009 at 07:04 am:

Jennifer, can you be more specific about what didn’t work?

Helen, great to hear from you. Your blog’s been awfully quiet lately Thanks for the link!
Moriah on February 3 2009 at 08:51 pm:

Thanks for the “what to do” with the starter that could’ve been tossed. I admit it, I’m unnaturally attached to my starter and hate throwing it away.
Robin on March 16 2009 at 01:10 pm:

I (finally) made these yesterday–they’re WONDERFUL! I had no problems at all with the dough (and even had to convert the measurements, because my digital scale died). I used Trader Joe’s white whole wheat flour, because I was out of regular whole wheat–they turned out perfectly. And the dough was soft and delicate and lovely to handle; super-light, almost like a biscuit dough, but with the stretchiness of a typical sourdough. It reminded me why I love breadmaking so much, because the tactile aspect is such a pleasure. I think these will become a regular on the menu–thanks!
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shuli on March 29 2009 at 04:41 am:

When you say “…roll or pat the dough out to a thickness of about one-half inch.”, do you mean 0.5 or 1.5 inches? I rolled it out to 0.5 inches, they were great but came out very thin, hence my question.
johnny on March 31 2009 at 02:46 pm:

Susan
I just wanted to clarify,
when you say flour you you mean bread flour or plain flour?
Also if you didn’t have whole wheat flour handy could you use a substitute?

thanks
Susan on April 1 2009 at 07:38 am:

shuli, that’s 0.5 inches. They should rise to about one inch when proofed and cooked. I think you don’t want them too thick or they won’t be cooked in the middle.

johnny, I use the flour I use for bread, which is described here:
http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2008/06/23/flour-101/
If you don’t have whole wheat I might try rye, or just use more white flour (you’ll want to reduce the liquid just a bit in that case).
Rebecca on April 7 2009 at 06:53 pm:

Hi there,

I have been reading your blog for quite a while now, and really enjoy all your recipes. This is my favourite one of all! Last time I made them, I accidentally put in the baking soda twice. Which resulted in, not muffins, but scones. And they would have probably been quite nice had it not been for the mouth-puckering disgusting baking soda flavour.

I was wondering if you knew what effect the baking soda has on the baking formula, and exactly what it is in this recipe that makes them that lovely muffin consistency as opposed to bread-like or cake-like or scone-like.

Thanks

-Rebecca
Susan on April 12 2009 at 07:40 am:

Rebecca, the (alkaline) baking soda reacts with the acidity of the sourdough and this produces carbon dioxide gas. This extra gas makes the holes bigger than they would be with yeast alone (fermentation of which also produces carbon dioxide).
Kelly on June 8 2009 at 03:15 pm:

Thanks for such a fabulous blog! I found your site while searching for a sourdough pancake recipe (yours turned out scrumptious), and have been periodically trying new recipes that catch my eye (today, the overnight ciabatta). I made these muffins while my folks were visiting. So easy and super yummy! Between my girls and me and the grandparents, the entire batch was gone in short order. I was a little nervous that the dough didn’t seem to do much during its final proof but they puffed up beautifully during cooking. Perfect english muffins. Thanks for the advice about flipping often and then forking them open. Definitely made a difference.
Pietro on June 19 2009 at 11:38 am:

Turned out perfect! Thanks!!

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Adam on July 19 2009 at 07:12 am:

I couldn’t resist the urge to add more flour. I wasn’t able to mix this by hand. It was just a big sticky mess. They turned out ok, but not as great as I was hoping. Is it easier to mix it in a Kitchen Aid?
Adam on July 23 2009 at 10:21 am:

Since we eat English Muffins everyday for breakfast, I was able to try again. With the kneading advice from Susan, I made sure not to add any extra flour. It was messy, but it worked. They seemed a bit chewy to me (I like a crunch on the outside), but they did have lots of nooks and crannies.
Wendy on August 5 2009 at 12:53 pm:

Great recipe! The English muffins turned out great! Thanks so much for providing fellow bread fanatics with such a great resource of information!

A neighbor living on the peninsula, who dearly misses Berkeley and especially the Berkeley Bowl’s bulk section.
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MandyLee on September 28 2009 at 07:58 am:

Found this wonderful-looking recipe via a search on tfl. I would love to NOT throw away dough when making a starter, but my question on these muffins is this: can I still make these muffins if I have a stiff levain? It is fed with 1/3 cup water and 1 cup flour, so it is not 100% hydration. I am just beginning to understand the “formula” references….
Many thanks and blessings to you for sharing your expertise!
Heike Sellers on November 10 2009 at 06:54 pm:

I just made these for tomorrow morning. I can’t wait.
We’ve already loved the bagels and soon to come the 47% Rye bread! Dinner tonight was sourdough pancakes. Can you say carb overdose? But at least it is healthy carbs!!!
Plus, this German girl was brought up on bread and loves to live on bread.
I love your website … so many delicious bread recipes … so inspiring. Thank you!!!
Heike Sellers on November 16 2009 at 07:35 pm:

Could I also put them in the fridge overnight and just cook them up in the morning?
Susan on November 17 2009 at 05:29 am:

Heike, if I were going to try this, I’d mix the sponge in the morning, then in the evening mix and shape the muffins and put them in the fridge right away, to cook the next morning.
soleilnyc on November 19 2009 at 07:06 am:

Just made these two seconds ago and they are delicious and so easy! I’d tried them before with a different recipe and they ended up hockey pucks that the compost pile heartily enjoyed. Thanks for a great recipe!