Whole wheat English muffins
These English muffins are so vastly different from our sourdough English muffins, both in terms of flavor, texture, method, and time. Our sourdough English muffins are bready and made in the traditional way of a yeasted bread - risen, shaped, proofed, cooked - and in order to develop the sourdough flavor, all of it done over the course of 12-24 hours. These whole wheat English muffins, on the other hand, are soft and wheaty, and the dough is almost more of a batter that gets scooped onto a griddle, flipped, and finished off in the oven - all in a wonderfully short 2 hours. They aren’t perfect circles and they look pretty rustic but they are undeniably yummy. You can get up a little early and make these for a same-day late breakfast or brunch. Kind of magical if you ask me!
whole wheat english muffins
yields 6 large English muffins
Ingredients
2 tsp active dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water
1/2 cup yogurt or buttermilk
1/2 cup warm milk
1/2 tbsp honey
4 tbsp butter, melted + more for cooking
1 scant tsp kosher salt
1 cup (125g) all purpose flour
1 cup (125g) whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
Instructions
In a large bowl, combine the warm water and active dry yeast and let sit for a few minutes.
Mix in the warm water, yogurt, honey, butter, and salt. Add the flours and baking soda and stir well to combine. The dough should be pretty loose, but thicker than a pancake or cake batter, almost like a muffin batter. Cover and let sit for an hour or longer until puffy and doubled in size. (Put it in a warm spot for the hour; or if you need to stretch the time a bit, find a cooler spot.)
When the dough has risen and you’re ready to cook them up, set the oven to 350 and sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, throw in a half tablespoon of butter in and swirl around to coat. Using a shallow ladle, large spoon, or measuring cup, scoop about 1/2 cup of dough onto the griddle. Using your fingers (easiest), gather the edges into a mound in the center to make it a little neater and regular shaped. Don’t bother being too picky about their look! Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 3-5 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom and the edges are looking a bit set. Flip and cook another 2-4 minutes.
Transfer to the baking sheet and finish off in the oven for another 6-8 minutes or until baked through. I took the temperature to check this - they should register at around 180.
Let cool, then slice - or to be really authentic, use the tines of a fork to prick into the english muffin in a complete rotation and enjoy all the nooks and crannies that method produces.
