My sister gave me some sourdough starter back on Mother's Day and I have been having so much fun baking things with it. 4th of July weekend, my family came to stay with us and I/we made Sourdough Crackers (yes, crackers!) and these Sourdough English Muffins my sister has been making. YUM!
These muffins come together so easily and they turn out crispy on the outside,fluffy on the inside with that fabulous, tangy flavor only sourdough can deliver. They remind me of the Australian Toaster Biscuits that were popular for awhile (and which I haven't seen in my local grocery store for at least a few years now). One thing about working with sourdough, you need to allow more time than you would for other types of breads. In this case, making the dough the afternoon before and finishing the muffins the following morning. They are super easy to make though and once you've made your own, you'll never want store-bought again!
Start by placing milk and butter in a microwave safe container and microwaving it on high for just 30 seconds - you actually don't want the butter to melt, just to soften a bit. Much as with good pie crust or puff pastry, those bits of butter are what creates the unique texture of an English Muffin. You need all those fabulous nooks and crannies so your butter can melt into them. You'll mix in salt, honey (or sugar), and some yeast into that until it's all incorporated and then add your flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter until the following morning (which is when the fun really begins).
In the morning, you'll gather the dough into a ball, cut the dough into rounds using a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter and let them sit for 30 minutes before cooking them, They'll look like this:
Believe it or not, you don't bake them, you cook them on a griddle or in a cast iron skillet.
Before you know it you have a stack of English Muffins, right off the griddle, hot and ready for butter, jam or whatever you like!
I made a video of the process too, I hope you find it helpful:
We made Egg, Bacon and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches with them - they were so good!
I hope you'll try these out and let me know how they turn out or if you put your own special twist on the recipe. Speaking of the recipe:
Sourdough English Muffins
2/3 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Unsalted Butter
1 Cup Sourdough Starter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
1 TBLS honey (or sugar)
1 Cup flour (I used bread flour)
Measure milk and butter into a microwave safe container and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Measure sourdough starter into a large mixing bowl and add the milk and butter, salt, yeast and honey (or sugar). Mix well. Add flour and mix well. The dough may be sticky at this point, that's ok. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit overnight (or at least until it doubles in size).
The next morning, gather the dough into a ball and knead more flour into it as needed (depending on the moisture content of your starter) until it comes together in a soft ball (think biscuit or scone texture). Dust a cutting board or other working surface with flour or cornmeal (I used semolina flour) and turn the dough out onto the board. Pat it into a flat disc, dust with flour or cornmeal, and using a rolling pin, gently roll it to about 1/2 inch thickness . Cut into discs with a large, round cookie or biscuit cutter and set cut discs aside - being sure to dust them fully with cornmeal or flour. Re-form the pieces of dough into another ball and repeat until all the dough has been formed into discs, forming the final muffin by hand and flattening slightly with the rolling pin. Let cut muffins rest uncovered for 30 minutes.
Preheat a griddle or cast iron skillet to medium-low heat. Place muffins on preheated griddle and cook until golden brown on both sides. Remove from heat, split with a fork and serve hot.
Until next time - Ciao!
