Homemade Sourdough English Muffins Recipe

Making homemade sourdough English Muffins is a time-consuming process — let's just be clear about that from the start. The hands-on work doesn't take too long, but waiting for your dough to rise is a bit time-consuming. But hey, when you take those first bites, you'll know it was all worth it. "Making bread is a really fun and rewarding thing to do, and there really is nothing like freshly baked, homemade bread," says chef and recipe developer Jennine Bryant of The Marshside Pantry. Once you start baking your own bread. you'll never want to go back to store-bought!"

As long as you go into this recipe ready to be patient, you're sure to come out with some muffins that are well worth the wait. As for how you'll enjoy them? Well, that's up to you. "Egg, cheese, and ham sounds delicious," says Bryant, adding: "There are so many great serving ideas. Egg and bacon breakfast muffins, cream cheese and smoked salmon muffins, ham and cheese. And if you are English, you might enjoy some marmite and cheddar! Or you could go sweet with some strawberries and cream, Nutella, or peanut butter with bananas. So many delicious options."

Given the time factor, let's get cooking!

It really doesn't take too much to make these muffins, at least in terms of ingredients. You'll need about a half cup of an active sourdough starter, some granulated sugar (or you can use honey), warm water, three cups of all-purpose flour, a bit of salt, and some cornmeal.

Just do make sure to measure your ingredients with care and handle them exactly as laid out here. "It's important to get that ingredient balance right from the beginning," says Bryant. "You don't want to be adding ingredients later, or else you'll upset the careful balance," and that can lead to muffins that are too dense and tough.

Combine the sourdough starter, sugar, warm water, flour, and salt in a bowl, and mix them all together well with your hands. Cover the dough and let it rest for an hour. Then, using either an electric mixer with a dough hook (or using your hands again), knead the dough for 10 to 15 minutes until it is soft and stretchy.

Now put the dough into a greased bowl, cover it with a tea towel, and let it sit in a warm area for between eight and 10 hours. When this time is about up, prepare a tray with greaseproof paper, then pour out a layer of cornmeal on top of the paper — this will stop the English muffins from sticking as they rest after the next step.

Okay, enough waiting! Once the hours have passed, turn out the dough onto a floured surface, and press it down until it is about one inch thick. Now, using a three-inch cookie cutter, cut out your English muffins and space them out on the tray prepared with the corn meal. Alternatively, if you don't have a cookie cutter, you can divide the dough into 12 even portions, roll them into balls, and then gently press their tops to flatten them into a muffin shape.

Now leave the dough to rise for another hour or two, covering it lightly with a towel again.

Heat a skillet or nonstick pan to medium-low heat (very lightly grease your pan if it's not nonstick), and then place as many muffins as you can reasonably fit into the pan, bearing in mind that they will grow more as they cook. Cook the muffins for five minutes on one side, and then turn them over to cook for five minutes on the other side. When done, they should be gently darkened on both sides.

Once they are cooked, take your English muffins out of the pan and put them on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then serve them toasted with plenty of butter and jam or with whatever you best like on your sourdough English muffins!