English Muffins for the First Time

3/15/11: Homemade English Muffins

They always say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I don't mind this bit of advice, whatsoever, for breakfast foods tend to be my favorites. Eggs, toast, bacon, French toast, waffles, pancakes, bagels, and of course English muffins; when they make the scene, you know I am not far away.

I've tried making many a breakfast dish from scratch but up till a few weeks ago, I never gave English muffins a try. To me, they have always sounded a bit tedious and I didn't like the idea of a yeast dough being grilled. Scary sounding, don't you think? So when one evening came along when there wasn't a real need to make a full meal, I decided to give these muffins a try.

The recipe I chose to use was published in the Early Spring 2009 issue of The Baking Sheet. I wish I could type out the recipe here but it is copyrighted material. However, I noticed that the King Arthur's Flour website has some English muffin recipes available. So take a look at their Breakfast Sandwich Muffins and this English Muffin recipe. They may not be exactly like the recipe I found in the Baking Sheet, but the latter one does come close.

The making of the dough was very easy to execute, the only part that needs skill is the frying. I used a small non-stick skillet for the frying since I was making such a small recipe. (I would have used the king-sized griddle we have if the whole family was attending.) When frying, there is a need to keep the burner on low heat. So the muffins do take a while to thoroughly cook. I do, however, like my muffins to have a crispy exterior, so near the end of the cooking time I turn up the heat and allow them to form a crust.

I do not own special English muffin cutters so I did as the magazine suggest and use cleaned tuna cans. Works perfectly fine!

So here are the muffins. . .

I had my muffin with a smidge (OK, maybe a big smidge), of blackberry jam and a fried egg. They were wonderful! This makes me wonder. . . Do I love breakfast because of the inclusion of butter and jam in almost every single dish? Could be. ;)