For Reals English Muffins

So the mister wants to know…"Why would anyone ever buy those crappy english muffins from the store when they could be eating these?"

Good question…And we will all answer…."Never again! Because I now make the sickest E.M.s around.!"(E.M.s is the cool short way to say english muffins and now that you are going to make your own….man, your so cool!)

These E.M.s are perfect. Easy to make, not overly fussy, and you end up with a super yummy, extremely versatile, individually portion super sweet little disk of bread. And the best part is..nooks and crannies! I think that is why I decided to make these E.M.s,  so Nick and I can talk the about nooks and crannies…(Sometimes we need light conversation)

 

We start with flour and salt whisked together in a bowl. The honey, yeast and warm water are getting on proofing in a jar. An egg waiting to be cracked, some milk, and 2 tablespoons of butter. All this good stuff equals…nooks and crannies!

Oh you like my nifty dough whisk….me too, I use it all the time. Maybe I should have a dough whisk give away  ……maybe…..

Everything all mixed together, dumped onto a floured surface and kneaded for 10 minutes by hand…..If you have a stand mixer, you can use it if you want, but you are missing out on the fun of doing it by hand….

When the dough has been sufficiently kneaded, gather dough into a nice ball, coat with a little oil and place back into bowl. Cover with a towel and stick in a warm place to rise for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.

When dough has doubled, punch down and plop out onto floured surface. Dust the bottom of a griddle or in my case, two cast iron pans, with corn meal. Divide dough into 8-10 equal balls and smash into 2 inch thick disks. 

Place on griddle or pans and sprinkle more corn meal on top of each E.M. Cover and let rise for another 15 minute. 

Now the E.M.s  have rested, turn the griddle (or pans) on to low heat. Once your griddle (or pans) gets hot, continue to cook that side for another 7-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Flip and cook other side for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Once browned, check for doneness with a thermometer. The inside should reach 200 degrees.( if you don't have a thermometer, fork split one open and check…. you are going to eat it anyway) If the outside cooked faster then the inside, no worries, just pop them into the oven at 350 for 8-10 minutes. I had to pop mine into the oven for to cook completely.

 Remove form griddle, let cool a bit, and ……Fresh, fluffy fat, fantastic….Everything and more that a real english muffin should be. Split open with a fork and……. the nooks and crannies! So spot on.  Serve with anything your heart desires…I served these with whipped honey butter…. and eat the only kind of E.M. you will ever again eat. Grocery store english muffins be damned!

Enjoy and Happy Tuesday!

-C

English Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 1/2  cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoon butter at room temperature
• 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• cornmeal for pan

Combine warm water, honey and yeast in a bowl to active..about 5-10 minutes or until yeast is foamy.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Mix in butter(I use my fingers) When yeast mixture is done proofing, whisk together mixture with the egg and milk. Add wet  to dry and mix until just incorporated  Dump out onto floured surface and knead dough for 8 minutes, adding a bit of flour whenever dough starts to get too sticky.  Roll into a ball, coat with oil and place back into bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise for 60 minutes or until sought has doubled in size.

Once the first rise is done, deflate dough and divide into 8 equal pieces(10 for a slightly smaller muffin).  Smoosh each ball into a flat disk, about 2 inches thick) and place on a cold cornmeal dusted cast iron griddle. (I used 2 cast iron pans) Sprinkle tops of muffins with more corn meal and let dough rest for another 15 minted.  Turn burners on low heat. Let griddle get hot and continue to cook the muffins for another 10 minutes or until golden brown. Flip and cook opposite side until gold brown and remove from griddle. To make sure the muffins are cooked completely, stick an instant read thermometer into the center…it should read 200 degrees. (if you don't have a thermometer, split one open… the tester E.M.)  If the E.M.s are not completely cook, just stick in the oven on 350 for 5-10 minutes or until cooked throughout.

Remove and let cool.  To serve, split open with a fork and give a light toast. Spread with butter, jam, peanuts butter, anything you want…maybe  make E.M pizzas! 

Honey Wheat Pull Apart rolls

HORRAY, its Saturday!!! I don't care that I have a bunch of laundry and house work to do, bills to pay, a mangy dog to groom… I get to do it all at home with the music blasting,(maybe some  holiday tunes) a lot of coffee, in my comfy sweats and the oven on. Weekends are always a mixed bag of crazy for me but I can usually count on being at home for a chunk of the morning or afternoons and that's when I jump at the chance to make me some yeasted bread. Give me a couple of hours, my list of chores and watch me go.. I can mix and knead,, set aside to rise and hit up cleaning that toilet. Go back and knead, divided and rise again, then go fold all the laundry. Stick the bread in the oven and watch out, I am mopping the floors. I am nothing if not a fantastic multitasked, much like these rolls. You can serve them as a side for dinner , use them as a sandwich roll, or eat them as the star with a dab of butter and a drizzle of honey. The possibilities are endless. This particular recipe is fantastic for may reasons….  Its pretty simple, not to many ingredients and is made with whole wheat flour. If you don't want 16 rolls, you can make the dough, bake half and freeze  the rest. You could even bake into loaves of bread instead.Yeah, sounds good right?  Go ahead, you know you want to. Just do it!I always gather the ingredients.. I have learned over the years that if I have all my stuff out and measured in front of me, I will almost never forget something and that I make less of a mess. It also helps that I find it pretty. So, flours and salt are whisked together. The yeast and honey in a bowl waiting to be proofed. The butter in need of more melting and an egg.. Pretty. Honey and yeast mixed with a cup of warm water.  BE CAREFUL with the temperature of the water.. If its to hot, the yeast will kill the yeast and you will have to start over again, but I trust you won't do that.Now that the yeast is active, mix in melted butter and egg. (Make sure the butter is not hot, warm is ok)  Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix.

   

I have a super awesome dough mixer , it helps to mix and not completely stick like it does to a wooden spoon. Dont have one? Use a wooden spoon, it works the same with a little more stickiness..You have a stand mixer? Well fancy you. No I am not jealous,(maybe a little). I like using my hands when making bread, but you? Go ahead, use your mixer, its cool with me. So mix you dough, you want the dough  wet and  sticky but still able to roll into a ball. If you need to, add a pinch more of flour, just enough to help form a ball.  When ball is formed, drizzle oil and rub all over and place in bowl with a damp towel. Let sit somplace warm to rise for about an 45 minutes or unit dough has  doubled in size. A good warm spot..Try the top of the fridge, thats my rising spot.

Once it has doubled, roll out onto a nicely floured surface and..my favorite part,  punch it down and knead for a few minutes…. This dough doesn't need a lot of kneading, just enough to reform ball and get some air out. Now divide and place into well buttered pans. I used two 9 inch cake pans, but a 13 X 9 pan or baking dish would work or loaf pans if you want loaves. Just make sure to really  butter the pans.

                                                           Little ball of dough turned into big balls of dough. (Yeast is so cool!).Into the oven they go.  Right before I baked them I gave the tops a little milk wash, just for color. Do it if you want, you could even do an egg wash, but it's really not necessary. Oh boy… Fresh from the oven…Take a bit of butter and melt over the top….So lovely! Who wouldn't want to just tear these beauties apart?

Now eat.. Eat with jam, eat with cheese, eat with peanut butter or with a bit of honey. Or, eat as is…..Just eat it and enjoy you labor of love and the satisfaction that you just made those delicious rolls that you are eating.

Honey Wheat Pull-apart Rolls.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 white whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 teaspoon yeast
• 1 egg
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons butter(to rub over baked rolls)

Makes 16  good-sized rolls

In a large bowl whisk together both flours and salt.

In a smaller bowl add warm water, yeast and honey. Stir and  let sit for  5 - 10 minutes or until the yeast has grown and is foamy. Meanwhile, melt butter and let sit for 5 minutes. When the yeast has proofed, whisk together with butter and egg. Add to dry ingredients.

With a dough spoon , wooden spoon, stand mixer  or your fist, mix (or knead) until the dough comes together and begins to form into a ball. You want the dough to be wet and sticky but add a pinch or two of flour if its to wet and not forming a ball.

Coat dough with a little oil and place back into large bowl. Cover with a towel and place in a warm place(The top of the fridge is great) Let rise for 45 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

When dough has doubled, dump dough onto a well floured surface, flour up you hand and punch down the dough and knead for a few minutes. Divided dough  16 even balls.  Now is a good time to preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place in greased pans ( 8 in each) and cove with plastic and let rise for another 20-30 minutes or until dough has doubled and filling out the pans.  When the second rise is done, place in oven and bake for 25 minutes or until a nice light brown. If you want a darker crust, right before baking, lightly brush the tops of rolls with butter. As soon as the rolls are removed from the oven take the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter( one tablespoon for each pan) and melt over top of  rolls

Note..If you want to freeze any rolls, place in a pan after fist rise and stick in freezer until frozen Transfer to a airtight bag. When you want to use, simply pop out of freezer and let sit for about and hour. Bake as directed above.