True open-crumb English muffins

Credit and permission to share: @FromNewJoisey

What’s not to love about an English recipe.... from the USA!  I love muffins full stop, but confess have never made them but I will now - this recipe screams MAKE ME, NOW!  I basically love all food which is usually just ‘something with bread’ in my experience. 

You will need: 

Many English muffin recipes promise muffins with “large nooks and crannies”. The instructions say fork-split the finished product because using a knife destroys the nooks & crannies. What? We don’t cut bread slices with a fork. Why would we be told to open an English Muffin with one? A fork is required only if a muffin has a tight closed crumb that needs to be textured to mimic nooks & crannies.  

I set out to duplicate the large “nooks and crannies” found inside the most popular store-bought English muffins and after a year, succeeded. And without using huge amounts of yeast. Are you ready for my secret? 

Temperature! Most recipes have you use a skillet or oven heated to medium temperature – 325F to 350F.  This is what causes the fail. We don’t bake bread at those low temperatures, so why muffins? To get that desired large open crumb you need that initial “oven spring” (rapid expansion), that only comes from high temperature! 

Makes 8 x 75 G open crumb muffins 

INGREDIENTS: 

360 G bread flour  

245 ml water (68% hydration) 

1/2 TSP instant yeast (commercial yeast is powerful – a little goes a long way) 

½ TSP diastatic malt powder (optional – to boost rise) 

7.5 G fine sea salt (approx. 2%) 

1 TSP sugar 

1 TSP vegetable oil (to retain moisture) 

INSTRUCTIONS: 

To the water, add the dry ingredients and lightly mix by hand or with stand mixer. 

Add the oil. 

Knead 5 minutes. 

Cover and rest 1 hour at room temperature. 

Bulk ferment in refrigerator 12 to 18 hours. 

Remove from fridge and divide into 8 equal portions. 

Ball up each piece in the palms of your hands. 

Place your dough balls into an airtight container lined heavily with corn meal.  

Sprinkle some corn meal onto the tops. 

Develop at room temperature 2 to 4 hours until dough balls have spread out & have at least doubled in size. 

Heat a 12” cast iron skillet to 425F. I use a digital thermometer. 

Place four of the risen muffins into the hot pan. 

After 2 minutes they will have sprung adequately. 

Reduce the heat to around 350F to avoid burning. 

Cook an additional 4 minutes for a total of 6 minutes. 

Flip and cook the opposite side another 6 minutes. 

Before starting on the 2nd batch of four, increase skillet temperature to 425F and  

repeat the process.