There’s lots of markers of the start of the best part of the year… AKA October through December, when the temperatures start cooling and the holidays start rolling in. But one of my favorites is the return of the Great British Bake Off! It comes out continuously weekly the best time of the year, and despite it being filmed in summer, where we have to watch the bakers sweat through their clothes while making ice cream outside, it’s the epitome of a cozy show. Netflix put it at the top of my feed recently, likely because the new season will be starting on Friday, so I started rewatching a few episodes for fun. And it’s always inspires me to try out some new things in the kitchen!
These English muffins were subconsciously inspired by watching. They didn’t make these in the episodes I watched, but when I was concocting a breakfast sandwich recipe, I thought, “well, why not make the English muffins from scratch?” Because it feels a bit like a technical challenge!
I then looked it up – and they did set this as a technical challenge! In season 4, episode 2, which is unfortunately not on Netflix.
Sometimes I think I could do pretty well on Bake Off. Other times I think I may just be too American. I would put peanut butter in everything. My brownies would be too fudgy. I would never go near a rose extract, and probably wouldn’t make anything “boozy” enough. I would probably accidentally make a jam when they want a jell-o, just because they call it “jelly.” They would ask me to make a choux and I would think I was being funny and say “bless you.” I think I might like it when cakes are stodgy.
The technicals could theoretically be my time to shine, if it’s an even playing field with a recipe nobody knows. However, I don’t do well under time crunches, and I think that the “identical” aspect that they ask for so much would be an issue for me. Case and point… my English muffins turned out roughly the same sizes, but definitely not identical. And a few were truly wonky:
Oh well! Good thing I wasn’t competing. And good thing they still tasted good, despite their appearance! My only complaint is that they turned out small – but that’s more an issue with the size of the cookie cutter I had on hand than anything else. So while I probably won’t be vowing to never buy an English muffin from the store again, this was a fun experiment.
And cheers to a new season of bake-off, starting Friday!
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PinIngredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add the flour, yeast, and salt. Mix briefly.
- In a separate jug, add the milk, water, and butter. Pop it into the microwave for 15-30 seconds or until it’s lukewarm and the butter has melted. Take care not to let it get too hot.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until you form a dough. The dough will be quite soft and a little sticky
- Once the dough has come together, just scrape down the sides of the bowl and cover tightly with cling wrap and a clean kitchen towel. Now let it sit at room temperature for a minimum of 12-18 hours.
- After 12-18 hours, the dough will have doubled in size. Turn it out onto a floured surface. Cover with cling wrap and a kitchen towel, and let rest for 10 minutes.
- After resting, the gluten will have relaxed. You can now roll it out to slightly under an inch in thickness. Using a 3-inch cookie cutter dusted in flour, cut out rounds and transfer them to another baking tray lined with parchment. Any scraps can you re-rolled and made into another muffin.
- Cover the muffins with plastic wrap and a tea towel and let them rest for about 40-45 minutes. After 45 minutes, the dough circles will have puffed up a little.
- Heat a large nonstick frying pan over a steady, medium to medium-low heat.
- Using a flat spatula, carefully move over the English muffins onto a nonstick frying pan and cover with a lid.
- Leave at least 2 inches between each muffin. Take extra care when moving your muffins to avoid compressing the dough and knocking out the bubbles.
- Cook on this side for about 6-7 minutes. The steam created with the lid on will help the muffins rise and cook through fully.
- Flip over and cook on the other side for another 3-4 minutes.
- Set the muffins aside to cool down before eating them fresh. These muffins also toast really well.
Store for 4 days at room temperature or freeze for up to 8 weeks.