No Knead English Muffins

These English muffins are soft and airy on the inside and crisp and crusty on the outside. When split with a fork, they are loaded with "nooks and crannies."

These English muffins are "baked" on a griddle rather than in the oven, and the dough is one-third whole wheat flour, which gives them a slightly sweet hearty flavor.

I've made English muffins using a variety of methods and dough types, including thick dough and batter-like dough. This dough is somewhere in between. It can't really be shaped, but it doesn't need to be contained by English muffin rings. The first word that comes to mind to describe it is "blobby."

These English muffins require and overnight rise on baking sheets before baking. This helps develop flavor as well a light, airy interior. Don't worry too much about getting these English muffins perfectly round when you shape them. I actually used an ice cream scoop to portion the dough and plop them onto the baking sheets.

You will also need a generous amount of cornmeal to keep the dough from sticking. The cornmeal also adds a fabulous crunch to the muffins. You could also use course semolina.

These were a huge hit in our house. They're very tasty toasted for breakfast topped with eggs or preserves, and are also wonderful for open faced sandwiches with melted cheese on top.

This month the Bread Baking Babes are making English muffins, a recipe chosen by Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms. This recipe was adapted from Serious Eats. It's hard to believe that, after almost ten years of baking together, the Babes had not yet made English muffins!

Yield: 10 to 12 muffins

No-Knead English Muffins

ingredients:

• 285 grams (2 cups) bread flour
• 140 grams (1 cup) whole wheat flour
• 11 grams (2 3/4 teaspoons) Diamond Crystal kosher salt, or 11 grams (1 1/4 teaspoons) table salt
• 4 grams (1 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
• 340 grams (1 1/2 cups) cold milk, any fat percentage
• 100 grams (1/4 cup) honey
• 1 large egg white, cold
• Corn meal or semolina for dusting
• 2 tablespoons of fat or oil for griddling. I used bacon fat. 

instructions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, and yeast. Add the milk, honey, and egg white, and stir with a dough whisk or large spoon until you have a smooth dough, about five minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside to rise for about 4 to 5 hours, until more than doubled. 
2. When ready to shape the dough, very generously sprinkle a rimmed baking sheet with cornmeal/semolina. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, drop twelve portions of dough, about 75 grams each. You can weigh one dollop and then eyeball the rest. You can use your fingers to nudge the blobs into rough circles if necessary. They don't have to be perfect. 
3. Generously sprinkle the tops of the dough pieces with cornmeal/semolina, and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours, and up to 42 hours. 
4. Preheat an electric griddle to 325 degrees F, or heat a heavy skillet over medium low heat. Add half of the fat to the griddle, let it melt, and then place half of the muffins on the hot griddle. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes on one side, until golden brown. Flip the muffins over with a spatula, and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack. Repeat with the second half of the muffins. 
5. Split the muffins with a fork and toast them before serving. I individually wrapped leftovers and stored them in the freezer. 

http://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2017/11/no-knead-english-muffins.html

The Bread Baking Babes get together each month to make a bread chosen by one of us. The Babes who baked along are:

• Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth
• A Messy Kitchen – Kelly
• Judy's Gross Eats - Judy
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
• Notitie Van Lien – Lien
• Bread Experience - Cathy
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie
• My Kitchen in Half Cups - Tanna
• Feeding My Enthusiasms - Elle