Hello, friends!

Today I made Sourdough English Muffins. I have to confess that I love having my sourdough starter. I love it so much that I gave it a name: Beast!

Sourdough starters have a reputation for being high-maintenance. Feeding a sourdough starter involves combining starter, flour, and water in a particular ratio to ensure the starter has the “food” it needs to stay healthy and active. With required sourdough feedings, so it will stay healthy, you will have to discard or throw 3/4’s of it. Which you always hate to do!

Wondering what to do with my sourdough starter discard, I thought English Muffins would be a great idea. Baking with sourdough adds depth of flavor to all baked goods. The fermentation process produces a slight tang to any baked good.

These amazing homemade English Muffins are scrumptious and tangy little gems. They’re are surprisingly easy to make and so much better than store bought. There’s something about the way butter melts into all the nooks and crannies of a toasted English Muffin.

Ahhh, Sourdough English Muffins!

Tie on an apron and turn up the oven, Let’s Bake!

For the Muffins:

2 tablespoons sugar

2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 cup sourdough starter, ripe(fed) or discard

7 cups flour

1/2 cup nonfat dry milk

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature

1 tablespoon salt

Cornmeal

Directions:

Combine all of the dough ingredients, except the cornmeal.

Mix and knead – by hand, mixer, or bread machine – to form a smooth dough. The dough should be soft and elastic, but not particular sticky; add additional flour if necessary.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and set aside to rise for about 1 1/2 hours, or until it’s noticeably puffy. After the first rise, you may place the dough in the fridge for a few hours or overnight for a more pronounced sour flavor. Then, let rest at room temperature for an hour before you continue as described below.

Gently deflate the dough, turn it out into a lightly floured work surface, covering it , letting it sit for a few minutes, to relax the gluten.

Divide the dough into half, working with one piece at a time. Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough into 3/4- to 1-inch thick. Cut out 3-inch rounds using a cookie or a biscuit cutter, or a wide mouth glass. Re-roll and cut the remaining scrapes. Repeat with the remaining half of dough.

Place the rounds, 2-inches apart onto cornmeal sprinkled baking sheets. Sprinkle with cornmeal, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until light and puffy, about 45 to 60 minutes. If the dough has been refrigerated overnight, the rise time will be about 2 hours.

Heat a lightly greased skillet or cast iron pan slowly on medium heat. Also, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and have ready a baking sheet waiting in the oven.

Working in batchers, using a spatula, carefully transfer the muffins to the skillet without deflating. Don’t over crowd the muffins. Keep uncooked muffins covered while cooking. Cook the muffins for about 10 to 12 minutes on the first side, until lightly browned. Flip the muffins gently to avoid deflating. Cook on the other side until lightly browned.

Transfer the cooked muffins to the prepared baking sheet in the oven to bake for 6 minutes. Remove when finished and transfer to a rack to cool.

For the best nooks and crannies, split the muffins with a fork or by working your thumbs around the edges to pull them open a little at a time. Toast before serving with butter and jelly. Store leftovers in an airtight container.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bake some LOVE!

Eileen~