Sourdough English Muffins

English muffins get their distinctive flat sides and open crumb because they're “baked” on the griddle instead of the oven. They're kind of like puffy pancakes made of soft dough instead of batter and taste delicious split open and topped with butter.

This recipe uses the easiest English muffin method out there. The secret is the softness of the dough. For bread dough, it contains a relatively high amount of liquid. Ordinarily, such doughs are somewhat difficult to handle, but this recipe solves that problem by using a muffin tin as a kind of proofing basket. This allows you to portion the muffins with a spoon instead of the standard tedious methods for dividing and scaling bread dough and the cups keep the wet dough from spreading too thin during the overnight refrigeration.

Once cold, the dough is much easier to work with and the combination of cold dough and high hydration generates a lot of steam inside the muffins when they hit the griddle. The steam expands all the little bubbles created by the fermentation and—voilà!—beautiful nooks and crannies. Nooks, crannies, and sourdough: what could be a better breakfast?

Even though this version of the English muffin is made with sourdough starter, these muffins have a slight sweetness due to the honey. If you would prefer a truly tangy English muffin, you may omit the honey and give the muffin dough a longer period of refrigerated fermentation, which tends to bring out the natural sourdough flavor.

This Basic Sourdough Starter Is Simple Enough for Beginners