Homemade English Muffins
Love English muffins? Then try your hand at making a batch of these Homemade English Muffins!
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I made a batch of these Homemade English Muffins several years ago when I was taking a commercial baking course. I decided to hone my skills at home one day while my wife was at work. I pulled out the flour, yeast and other ingredients and got to baking. One tiny little problem. The recipe was scaled for bakery production. I ended up with about 8 dozen English muffins. Oops.
English muffins are really just a vehicle for all sorts of fun toppings. My favorite is just the simple butter and jam, but the list of toppings doesn’t stop there. Peanut butter and Nutella both deserve a spot in that list, too. And English muffin pizzas are a fun twist as well. Oh, and of course egg sandwiches built on English muffins earn an honorable mention. One English muffin. So many awesome ways to eat it!
Sure, I know some of you are thinking, well if I want English muffins, then I can just buy a pack at the store. Yes, yes you can. And they’re delicious. But there’s something fun about tackling baking projects just for the sake of baking. Tell me I’m not the only one who thinks that way…
I don’t make Homemade English Muffins all the time. I don’t have time for that. But every once in a while? Sure, that’s a fun little project! Plus, it’s pretty awesome to impress folks with your baking skills.
Oh, and before I leave you, I should share a little baker’s note about the starter in this recipe. Starters (or preferments) are used in lots of bread recipes, and they add flavor and texture to your finished product. Don’t skip out on this step! We use a starter in our pizza dough recipe, and a couple times we’ve skipped it when I’ve *ahem* forgotten to mix the starter the night before. The difference is noticeable. Will the recipe still work if you don’t pre-start a portion of the dough? Sure. But it won’t taste as good or have the same texture. It’s absolutely worth the extra couple of minutes to pre-start that dough!
What is your favorite way to eat an English muffin?
Have you ever attempted making English muffins at home?
Ingredients
For the Starter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup water
- ¼ tsp active dry yeast
For the Dough
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup milk warm
- cornmeal for baking pan
Instructions
For the Starter
- Using a medium bowl, combine all ingredients until smooth. Cover and let sit at room temperature overnight.
For the Dough
- Using an electric mixer, add all ingredients to the bowl along with the starter from the previous day.
- Mix on medium speed for 6-7 minutes.
- Cover bowl and place in a warm location for 1 hour. (Tip: I just place the bowl in the oven and turn the oven light on.)
- Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper; sprinkle parchment generously with cornmeal.
- Once risen, turn dough out onto floured countertop and roll into a large square ~½" thick. Use a 3” biscuit cutter to cut rounds of dough and place 2" apart on prepared baking trays. (Note: As a guide, each biscuit should be ~¼ cup of dough.) Continue cutting rounds and rerolling scraps until all dough has been used.
- Cover pans lightly and place in a warm location for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Place large skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes. Cook the muffins in the skillet (in batches of 3-4 depending on the size of your skillet) for 4-5 minutes per side, or until crispy and light golden brown. Transfer partially cooked muffins back onto parchment-lined sheet pan.
- Finish cooking the muffins in the oven for 6-8 minutes.
- Split with fork and eat while warm, or let muffins cool before splitting and toasting them.
I love the idea of using a starter…adds a bit of tanginess to the muffin. I love making homemade English Muffins. They are so much better than the store bought ones. I kind of like the idea of your commercial sized batch…I’d have enough in the freezer to last us a little while! 🙂 These always disappear super fast!
The starter is one of my secret weapons when it comes to baking, Kathy! It brings along so much flavor for so little effort…but it does require a bit of forethought. Yeah, I won’t even tell you how long it took us to eat that first ‘commercial-sized’ batch of English muffins…hah!
Oh wow – during my college years, Thomas English Muffins were like a good friend! Though I never made them – never thought I could actually but yours look stellar, David! And… my favorite way to eat ’em is with jam – just plain jam – getting that jam into those nicks and crannies is something else!
Happy Monday my Upstae NYC friend!
I totally agree, Shashi! My favorite way to eat English muffins is with a bit of salted butter and then some nice strawberry or grape jam. Yum! Try making some at home sometime when you’re bored (like that ever happens…) 🙂
Hi David! I love baking (and cooking) just for the pure pleasure of it! I make an English muffin bread which is pretty tasty, but you make these sound so easy and delicious I’m going to give them a go! Homemade jam is what I like best on them! 🙂
I’m with ya, Dorothy! Sometimes you want to make something at home just to say you made it at home! These English muffins totally fall into that category. It’s fun to say, “Hey, I made those!” And yes, homemade jam is the way to go!
These look amazing! Baking is so relaxing and whipping up a batch of these for breakfast throughout the week sounds so fun 🙂
I agree, Medha! I know you can pick up English muffins in the store, and they taste great. But I also find baking to be incredibly relaxing. And having a fresh homemade English muffin is never a bad thing! 🙂
Have heard it before,but necver tasted..looks awesome
Thanks, Moumita! English muffins are a classic, and they’re really quite tasty. I love slicing them into two halves and then spreading butter and jam on top. Yum! Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting. 🙂
No I have never made English muffins before but you are inspiring me David! I need to make these, and I think my favorite way to eat them is with simple butter and jam! Btw what did you do with those 8 dozen muffins?! 😛
Hahaha…well, let’s just say it took a very long time to eat those 8 dozen muffins. We had bags of English muffins in our freezer for months. Granted, they were a bit smaller than the storebought ones…but still. 8 dozen is a lot of muffins! I think my wife was about to kick me out of the house as an entire section of our freezer became an English muffin haven for a while there. 🙂
hahaha I don’t blame her!! Seriously 8 dozen is a lot even if they were small!!
I’m in awe of anyone who can make homemade English Muffins. I’ll just send you my address and have you ship a batch to me! 🙂
Sounds good! I’ll take any excuse to bake more…haha! 🙂
I never had a real freshly “baked” one. These look a million time better than the ones i buy from the store. I like mine toasted with just a little butter and sprinkle some sugar
Butter and a touch of sugar sounds like an excellent topping for English muffins, Rahul. These are definitely fun to make at home. I know you can pick ’em up at the store, but sometimes it’s fun to make something just because. 🙂
David! As you know, I’ve got some chicken salad that’s just screaming out for these homemade English muffins! How come were not neighbors? I totally get you about baking for the sake of doing it. Ivery been wanting get to make these, but the recipes I read were quite a bit more complicated. Now that you’ve shown me these, I’m definitely goingredients to give it a shot!
Dude, we totally should be neighbors! It would be like ebony and ivory (sorta) or yin and yang (sorta). Your chicken salad + these English muffins = bliss. Give this recipe a shot sometime. You know, just because you can. But make sure to have chicken salad on hand. Oh, and if you’re making these for chicken salad, I would make the muffins a bit larger in diameter so they can hold more chicken salad goodness. Just sayin’.
I have never tried English muffins before. I love baking and this one is just amazing. Going to try this out tomorrow 🙂 Thanks for the lovely share 🙂
Thank you so much, Kushi! I had the same reaction when I learned how to make English muffins years ago. I still sometimes buy ’em from the store because it’s nice and easy…but I also find it quite relaxing to bake up a batch of these at home. I do hope you enjoy these (both the process and the final result)! 🙂
Talking about the toppings, I like cream cheese (Currently, I’m choosing salmon cream cheese) or an egg + caramelized maple bacon. These muffins look fantastic (Especially those, buttered). You’re a bad guy, David. I wasn’t planning to bake anything for a while, but now I’m not quite sure about my decision. Wait! What about butter and lavender honey, eh?!
I’m a huge fan of egg sandwiches on English muffins! In fact, that’s often my go-to lunch when we don’t have leftovers hanging around the house. But the caramelized maple bacon? That’s a whole new level of awesomeness right there! And lavender honey is totally allowed. Maybe honey with bacon crumbed on top? That’s allowed, right?
You know, we don’t eat English muffins in England as much as everyone thinks we do 😉 But I sure do love them! Especially with a runny poached egg on top. Ooooh yeah!
Hah! I’ve never even thought about that one, Dannii. But you live in England. Doesn’t that mean you eat English muffins all day long? 😉
I’m a big fan of the nooks and crannies. It’s fun to work your toppings all around them. My mom used to make English muffin pizzas when I was a kid (not from scratch, she can’t cook) and I still have fond memories of that particular combo.
These look like a great way to do breakfast. I want to try!
English muffin pizzas are totally a legit snack/meal, Mir! I remember having those when I was younger, too. I managed to eat this entire batch with just butter + jam, but next time I’m turning some of them into pizzas. The nooks and crannies are perfect for pizza sauce! 🙂
I love baking with yeast, but have never made English muffins. Your English muffins look so tasty, now I want to make some too. I bet they taste so much better than the ones you buy in the store.
Oh, they definitely do taste better, Dawn! I’m a fan of going homemade whenever possible, and making homemade breads (including these English muffins) is right up there at the top of my list of favorites! 🙂
This isn’t something I have ever made but they sound so good, what a great colour too.
I thought the same thing when I first learned how to make homemade English muffins. But they’re really fun to make at home…and quite tasty, too! Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting. 🙂
I make bread a lot, but I’ve never made English muffins. I clearly need to change that because they look so easy and have to be way better than the ones from the grocery. I love that your first attempt made 8 dozen! LOL! My husband’s always making fun of me for making way more than we would ever need of different dishes because the reason is that I can’t divide fractions! 🙂
You totally need to change that, Rachelle! English muffins are actually pretty easy to make…who’d have thunk it?? 🙂 Just make sure to check the recipe…no one needs 8 dozen English muffins. Trust me.
David these sound great. My Mom made sourdough English muffins a couple of times when I was a kid and they were really good. I’ve never been very good at the sourdough starter thing though so I haven’t made them myself. I’m definitely going to give these a try though. Thanks so much for this recipe!
Thank you so much for the comment, Mike! I have a sourdough starter in the fridge, and I remember to stir it and add flour every couple of weeks. But I never think about pulling it out. I bet sourdough English muffins would be amazing! The overnight starter on these helps build flavor without having to mess with sourdough starters. (It’s not the same flavor as sourdough.) Either way, give these a shot! It’s pretty awesome to say that you made your own English muffins! 🙂
8 DOZEN!!!!! Dude, think about how many glorious crannies and nooks could have been buttered up 😉
PS- Epic pics mate- The final melted butter shot = boss.
Oh, those 8 dozen glorious nooks and crannies were totally buttered up…for like 3 months. We seriously had a bag of English muffins in the freezer for months after that epic adventure. Oops. 🙂
Nooks and crannies, perfect for the melted butter. And I love them really toasted, with peanut butter. OR some of Jeff’s Chicken Salad.
If you make that bakery production recipe send a bakers dozen to SD. Gotta have that starter! #WolfpackMuffinMan
I totally need to try this famous Jeff’s Chicken Salad. Or is it Famous Jeff’s Chicken Salad? Either way, I love chicken salad! Haha…I don’t think Laura will let me make bakery production amounts again after that mistake. It was pretty epic though! 🙂
You’re right, they’re something so yummy about a good ole English muffin! Actually, I’m a bread fan in general… baguettes, pizza dough, pretzels, a whole wheat loaf, bagels, I like pretty much it all 🙂 I’ve never made English muffins at home before so I think I need to give these a try! My favorite way to eat them is with PB, banana slices, cinnamon & honey. So good!
You and me both, Nicole! Actually, one of my favorite meals is just a huge hunk of Italian bread and some good olive oil. I know that’s not technically a “meal,” but that won’t stop me! Give homemade English muffins a shot sometime. It’s kinda fun to say you made your own! I make mine a little smaller than the storebought version…that way I can have more. Good logic, right? 🙂