English Muffins

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy-based frying pan or flat cast-iron griddle
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Bench scraper or palette knife
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Clean tea towel

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the dough

   Tip the flour into a large bowl. Salt on one side, sugar and yeast on the other. Keep the salt and yeast apart for a moment, the salt will knock the yeast back if they meet straight off. Make a well in the middle and pour in the warm milk and the beaten egg. The milk should feel like a baby's bath on the inside of your wrist, no warmer. Bring it together with a wooden spoon, then with your hands, until you have a shaggy, sticky dough.

   If the milk is too hot, you'll kill the yeast and the dough will sit there sulking. Warm, not hot. Trust your wrist.
2. 2

   Knead in the butter

   Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about ten minutes. It will be soft and a little tacky to begin with. Resist the urge to pile in more flour. After five minutes or so, start working in the softened butter, a small piece at a time, kneading it through until the dough turns smooth, supple, and slightly glossy. It should pull back gently when you press a finger into it.

3. 3

   First rise

   Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean cloth, and leave it somewhere warm-ish for an hour and a half, or until it has roughly doubled. Don't worry about the clock. Look at the dough. When it's puffed and pillowy and a fingertip pressed into the side leaves a slow, lazy dent, it's ready.

4. 4

   Shape the muffins

   Knock the dough back gently, just enough to deflate it. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into eight equal pieces. Shape each one into a smooth ball by cupping your hand over it and rolling against the bench. Press each ball down into a flat disc about two centimetres thick. Don't overthink the shaping. They want to be a bit rough around the edges. That's part of the charm.

   Weigh the dough and divide by eight if you want them even. I usually just eyeball it. Slightly mismatched muffins are a sign someone made them by hand.
5. 5

   Second rise on semolina

   Dust a baking tray generously with semolina or polenta. Lay the discs on top, leaving room between them, then dust the tops as well. Cover loosely with a cloth and let them prove for another forty-five minutes. They should puff up and look soft and sleepy, like they've been napping in flour.

6. 6

   Cook on the griddle

   Set a heavy frying pan or a flat griddle over a low to medium-low heat. No oil, no butter. Just a dry pan. The heat is everything here, and lower than you think. Slide the muffins on, a few at a time so as not to crowd them, and cook for seven to eight minutes a side. You're listening for a quiet sizzle, not a hiss. The bottoms should turn a deep, even gold and the muffins should puff up dramatically as they cook. Flip them with a palette knife and do the other side. If they colour too fast, the heat is too high. Pull the pan off for a minute and start again. Patience.

   Tap the side of a cooked muffin and listen. It should sound hollow, like a tiny door. That's how you know the inside is set.
7. 7

   Cool, split, and toast

   Lift the muffins onto a wire rack and let them cool completely. This matters. Cutting them warm tears the crumb and you lose the airy honeycomb you've worked for. When you're ready to eat, take a fork and prise each muffin open all the way around its waist, then pull it apart with your hands. Never a knife. The fork leaves the ragged peaks and hollows that catch the butter. Toast the cut sides until properly golden, butter them while they're still hot, and eat them at once.

Chef Tips

• •The heat is everything. Too hot and the outsides scorch before the middles set, leaving you with a doughy centre and a bitter crust. Low and slow. If the first one comes out wrong, adjust the heat and try again. The pan tells you what it needs.
• •Don't skip the semolina. It's not decoration. It stops the muffins sticking, gives the outside that gentle grit and crunch, and is the small detail that makes a homemade muffin taste like a proper one rather than a flat bread roll.
• •Day-old muffins are arguably better than fresh. The crumb firms up overnight and they take to toasting the way they were always meant to. Make a batch on Saturday, eat them all week.
• •Eat them with butter and a good honey, or with a poached egg and a smear of brown sauce, or split and toasted under a slice of melted cheddar with a dash of Worcestershire. There are few wrong answers here.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be made the night before. After the first knead, cover the bowl tightly and put it in the fridge to rise slowly overnight. Bring it back to room temperature for an hour before shaping.
• •Cooked muffins keep in an airtight tin for three or four days and only get better for toasting.
• •They freeze beautifully. Cool completely, bag them up, and freeze for up to two months. Split and toast straight from frozen, no defrosting needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 105g)