Homemade English Muffins. Nothing can beat them straight off the griddle or gently toasted. They are soft, slightly chewy & perfect for breakfast or snacks. No oven is required & they are so much nicer than store-bought!
Picture for one minute, one of these homemade English Muffins, straight off the griddle, spread thickly with my Easy Vegan Butter and topped with a dollop of vegan lemon curd ......
I have been eating these English Muffins like they are going out of fashion recently and even I stopped in my tracks at the thought. They are quite simply, irresistible.
They really aren't all that difficult to make either. They do however take a bit of time but almost all of that is hands off time and it is so, SO, worth the wait. See my video below for a step by step guide.
You can also make the dough for these English Muffins in a bread machine if you have one. Directions are given below.
No oven is required. They get cooked on a griddle or in a skillet. That's what gives them their beautifully golden tops and bottoms. And those beautifully golden tops and bottoms give them their distinctive chewiness. Watching them grow on the griddle is so fun too. They really are like little puffy clouds!
They are just perfect while very fresh, eaten just as they are. Nothing can beat them right off the griddle! However, they really come into their English Muffin-ness properly when split and toasted. Their little nooks and crannies get all crispy and golden and they are the perfect vehicle for all sorts of toppings.
Serving Suggestions
Vegan butter and jam is my favourite topping for these muffins, but they also work incredibly well with all sorts of other accompaniments. Try them:
- Topped with your favourite tofu scramble
- Used as a base for a vegan eggs benny (there is a recipe in my cookbook)
- Turned into mini pizzas for the kiddos
- Used instead of bread for sandwiches or as an alternative to burger buns
- Toast and top with your favourite toast toppings (avocado, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms etc).
Fork splitting
What the heck is fork splitting? Well, if you want maximum nooks and crannies for superior butter catching, use a fork to split your muffins rather than using a knife. I really should have shown you how in my video but I didn't think about it until afterwards. I might make a quick add-on next time I make them but until then, here is a pretty rudimentary video that shows how.
More English style recipes
Recipe video
Recipe
Homemade English Muffins
Author:Ingredients
- 375g / 3 cup all purpose white flour (strong white flour in the UK) , you can also sub half of this for wholewheat flour. No more than half though as otherwise they will end up heavy
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast , sometimes called quick or fast action yeast
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 30mls / 2 tablespoons refined coconut oil , measure in liquid form and make sure it is at room temperature when added. You can sub this for any other flavourless oil or vegan butter
- Approx 200 mls / ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons tepid water , you might need a little more
- some extra flour for kneading and rolling
- Optional cornmeal for dusting
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
- Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer
INSTRUCTIONS
- If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, add all ingredients (except the cornmeal) to the bowl and mix for around 7 - 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. My Kitchen Aid Pro suggests using setting 2 for dough. Once it starts coming together after a minute or two in the mixer, give it a little poke and add a drop or two more water if it feels dry, giving it a chance to mix in between additions, until it is a very slightly tacky to touch dough.
- If you do not have a stand mixer, add all of the dry ingredients to a large bowl. (See recipe notes for bread machine advice).
- Pour in the water and liquid (but room temperature) oil then stir briefly to combine and absorb the dry flour. Add a little more water as required to make a very slightly tacky dough.
- Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for at least 10 minutes until the dough is completely smooth and elastic. If after a few minutes of kneading it feels sticky, add a tablespoon of flour at a time, kneading in between additions. It should be slightly tacky but not sticky.
- When kneaded properly, if you put your hands either side of the ball of dough and squeeze inwards, it should bounce back slowly when you let go.
- Once the dough is kneaded adequately and is smooth and elastic, place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Use a bowl cover, damp clean dish towel or cling wrap. Leave in a draft free area until it has doubled in size (around 1 hour although this will vary depending on how warm the environment is). You will get the best flavour by not rushing it so I advise just leaving it on the kitchen counter and not moving it somewhere really warm to speed it up.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle it with cornmeal or flour if you don't have cornmeal.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out with a rolling pin until it is about 1 inch thick. Make sure it is even all over.
- Use a cookie cutter (about 3 inches in diameter is good) to cut rounds and place them on the prepared baking sheet. If you don't have a cookie cutter use the top of a glass or a mason jar lid. Be sure to cut carefully and get as many as you can out of the first batch of rolled dough because the muffins from the first batch are always slightly better than those made with the remaining dough.
- When you have cut as many as you can, ball up the remaining dough as gently as you can and re-roll it then cut out the remaining muffins.
- Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with more cornmeal (or flour) then cover and leave again until almost doubled in size. It won't take as long this time. Usually about 30 - 40 minutes.
- If you have a griddle, heat it to a medium low heat. I have an electric Cuisinart Griddler and set mine to 350°F. If you don’t have a griddle you can use a heavy frying pan or skillet instead.
- When the griddle is to temperature, or when your skillet is preheated, place as many muffins as will fit comfortably (with sufficient room to turn them easily), VERY gently on the griddle. It’s important to be as gentle as possible because you don’t want to knock any of the air out of them.
- Cook for 5 -7 minutes until beautifully golden on the bottom, then VERY gently turn them over and cook for another 5- 7 minutes.
- Remove and place on a cooling rack.
Jess says
can you use gluten free all-purpose?
Melanie McDonald says
I've never tried making them with gluten-free flour so I don't know how well they would turn out.
Jessica Gibbon says
these look amazing!! quick question, should i oil the griddle or the skillet? or cook it dry? thanks for the recipe! :)
Melanie McDonald says
I never do. They should be fine without. Enjoy!
Ace Ayala says
Hi, I just wanted to ask about the type of cornmeal I should use for this recipe should use. Should I use finely grinded cornmeal or should I use medium grind cornmeal?
Melanie McDonald says
It doesn't matter. Whichever you would prefer the texture of. I use whichever one I have at the time.
Jess the Baker says
Ok, so should we be using bread flour or all-purpose? Those flours have different gluten contents and will make a difference. You say all-purpose/strong flour (if in the UK) but again, all-purpose is NOT the same as strong flour.
In the UK vs. the US:
“Plain Flour” = All-Purpose
“Strong Flour” = Bread Flour
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm very familiar with the flour types as I'm English and live in Canada and spend a lot of time in the U.S (in normal times).
As per the recipe you need to use strong flour if you are in the UK or all-purpose flour if you're not (i.e in the US or Canada).
Plain flour in the UK is not the same as American and Canadian all-purpose flour and there is no flour labelled as all-purpose there.
Plain flour has a very different protein content and isn't good for making bread. All-purpose flour in Canada and the US really is all-purpose. You can use it to make bread, cakes and pastry etc.
Strong flour in the UK has a very similar protein content to all-purpose flour in Canada and the US. About 12 %.Plain flour has less than 10.
If you are in the US or Canada you could actually use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour but I prefer how the muffins turn out with all-purpose flour, hence the reason it's called for in the recipe.
Zach says
Can I let the dough sit overnight to rise? If so, would I need to change anything in the recipe?
A Virtual Vegan says
That depends. You could put it in the fridge overnight to proof for the first time, but how much it will slow it down will depend on the temperature of your fridge. The first time you do it will be a bit of an experiment.
Linda says
Fabulous recipe. They turned out perfect. So soft and fluffy. I really appreciate how well tested your recipes are and you giving weights. Cups never turn out right for me when baking.
Sophie says
Seems like others are also having the issue of the dough being too dry. I followed your recipe exactly and the dough was so dry that it would not even come together into a ball. I more than doubled the amounts of liquid (water and oil), and it was still too dry. Maybe worth re-testing this recipe, since I think this dough should be fairly wet. Comparing with other recipes (vegan and non-vegan), this one has much less liquid.
A Virtual Vegan says
Sorry you had problems, but the flour to liquid ratio is perfect in this recipe. All of my recipes are tested thoroughly by myself and a team of recipe testers before they are published. The number one reason the dough would be dry is that cups were used to measure the flour. They are a highly inaccurate way to measure. Literally every time you fill a cup it will hold a different weight. For example, if you scoop flour up in a cup it will hold over a third more than when you spoon the flour into a cup. If you accidentally shake it down a bit in the cup you will end up with even more. When making bread it is imperative that you measure accurately to get a good result especially with a low hydration dough like this one. I hope that helps!
jeannette says
can I just use reg flour
A Virtual Vegan says
That depends what you mean by regular flour. I would say all-purpose flour is regular flour.
Clara says
Hi, I got a fairly good rise on these but I can really taste the baking soda. Do you think the recipe would work using just yeast? Thanks!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm sure you could. Baking soda is something that's always been used in English Muffin recipes in our family through the generations though so I've never tried them without. You likely won't get quite the same texture.
Julie says
They were ok. I didn’t get a good first rise...the dough was a bit dense. They grilled great but they were close textured and I could taste the baking soda. Probably goes back to not getting a good rise but Idk what I did wrong.
A Virtual Vegan says
Always happy to troubleshoot!
Did you change anything at all? Like the type of flour? It has to be all-purpose flour or a 50/50 all-purpose and wholewheat mix.
Did you weigh the flour and use measuring spoons for the yeast, baking soda etc? If you didn't that will likely be a reason the dough was dense because the balance of flour to water wouldn't be exactly right. It's really important to weigh ingredients when baking for good and consistent results.
Is your yeast fresh? Has it successfully made other yeast recipes? It's possible to get a dodgy container from time to time ( i had one that didn't work at all form Costco last month), and once opened it starts losing its power after about 3 months.
Did you knead it thoroughly?
Did you use lots and lots of flour when kneading and rolling? This in effect alters a bread recipe because you're adding more flour than the recipe calls for to the dough and will make it dense.
How long did you leave it to rise? The rising time will be different for everybody. Sounds like you just didn't give it long enough. Even dense dough will rise if the yeast is ok and there's enough gluten formation. You need to leave it for however long it takes to double. It could take an hour, it could take 4 hours. That first rise is crucial for good results.
Hope that helps you deduce what might have happened!
Lola says
These were okay. I made them with the kitchen aid mixer but the dough did not end up as described so I added a bit of water and oil then mixed it some more.... it didn't help a lot. I was afraid to over knead it so I just went with it they were still okay.
Murray says
A bit confused re the flour. 375g is a little less than 2 cups but the recipe states 3 cups?
A Virtual Vegan says
The recipe is correct. 1 cup of all purpose/bread flour is 125g so 3 cups is 375g. The correct way to measure a cup of flour is to spoon the flour gently into the cup then level it off without compacting or shaking it down at all. That will give you approx 125g. Having said that cups are notoriously inaccurate and I don't advise using them for baking recipes or recipes that use flour or flour-like substances. It's always best to weigh with a digital scale. It's impossible to get accurate and consistent results using cups. Every single time you fill a cup it weighs a slightly different amount, and if you accidentally compact the flour a bit or scoop it up into the cup you can end up with a lot more than was intended. Sometimes by up to a half. And to make it even more confusing 1 cup of wholewheat flour or 1 cup of spelt flour weighs a different amount to 1 cup of all purpose flour.
So the easy answer is to always weigh when baking then you completely eliminate any potential inaccuracy.
I hope that helps!
Christina says
Hi! I am looking to make these ahead of time -is this doable? Can I leave the dough in the fridge at all overnight? Or they need to be made all in one shot?
A Virtual Vegan says
They actually reheat brilliantly in the oven or are great toasted so you could make them ahead of time then freeze them for up to 3 months. But if you want to make the dough in advance you might get away with leaving the bowl of dough to rise in the fridge overnight but it totally depends on how cold your fridge is. It might be pushing it and it might end up overproofed. Or you could make them as instructed, shape them, lay them on a lined tray and freeze them like that right away. Once hard you can take them off the tray and bag them up or put them in containers. When you want them lay them out on a lined tray and allow to defrost, come to room temperature and almost double in size, then cook. A few options for you! Hope that helps!
Annemiek says
So, what about crumpets? As a Dutchie, they are hard to come by in the Netherlands.. but the craving is real! Please help me out!
A Virtual Vegan says
We love crumpets! In fact I was only talking about making a recipe last night. I need to get some crumpet rings first though and with things as they are that will have to wait for now. It's definitely on my list to do one day though!