I’m an English Muffin fanatic. They’re complete breakfast heaven to me, especially when turned into a breakfast egg sandwich. I vaguely remember baking my first batch eight or nine years ago and as far as I remember, they turned out pretty good. So, now that I have time and space to do some baking again, Homemade English Muffins were on the top of my list.
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Recipe Inspiration and Adjustments
After looking at a good 20+ recipes, I decided to work off of this one on allrecipes.com. After reading a bunch of reviews, I made a few changes.
It seems that there are two keys to getting an English Muffin with the classic “nooks and crannies” they are famous for. First, make sure the dough stays soft and loose. This means not adding too much flour during the kneading process and kneading for a shorter length of time (about 5 minutes). Second, letting the dough rise only once (as opposed to the usual two for most breads) allows giant gas bubbles, rather than small uniform bubbles, to form. The muffins turned out nice and light with a decent amount of nooks and crannies. There weren’t enormous pockets like the store bought muffins but I’m willing to trade some of that for a muffin that only costs seven cents (and is pretty fun to make).
Serving Suggestions
English muffins are great for more than just eating toasted with butter and jam…although they would taste amazing with homemade Pumpkin Butter! I also love to make mini-pizzas with them, or my make-ahead breakfast sandwiches. I also love to smear them with a little hummus and add a fried egg for a different sort of savory breakfast sandwich.
How to Store English Muffins
After baking your English Muffins, make sure to let them cool completely. Once they are cooled, you can either freeze or refrigerate them. When refrigerated they’ll keep for about a week. If frozen, they’ll keep for months. When freezing, make sure to use a heavy duty freezer bag to keep air out and prevent the muffins from drying out. They should thaw quickly at room temperature, or if pre-sliced, can go straight from the freezer to the toaster.
Love making homemade bread? Check out our Bread Recipes category!
Homemade English Muffins Recipe
Servings 12Ingredients
- 1 tsp active dry yeast ($0.10)
- 1 Tbsp sugar, divided ($0.05)
- 1/2 cup warm water ($0.00)
- 1/2 cup milk ($0.15)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.27)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, divided ($0.36)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 1/4 cup cornmeal ($0.06)
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast and half of the sugar into 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl, and let it sit for about 5 minutes, or until it has developed a thick foam on top.
- While waiting for the yeast, combine the milk, butter, and the rest of the sugar in a measuring cup or microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, then stir until the butter is dissolved. Add an additional 10 seconds if needed. You want the milk warm enough to melt the butter, but not scalding.
- Once the yeast is foamy, pour the milk and butter mixture into the bowl, along with 1 cup of the flour, and the salt. Stir until the mixture is mostly smooth. Add the second cup of flour, about 1/3 cup at a time, stirring to combine each time. Finally, begin to add the third cup of flour, 1/3 cup at a time, until you can no longer stir it with a spoon. At that point, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, dusting with small amounts of flour as you go. Once finished kneading, you should have used 2.5-3 cups flour total.
- Let the dough rest for 15 minutes, then roll it out to about 1/2-inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter or sharp edged drinking glass to cut several discs out of the rolled dough. Cut them as close to each other as possible to leave few scraps. When you can cut no more circles, ball the scrap dough up, flatten it once again, and cut a few more. Place the cut muffins on a baking sheet coated with a liberal layer of cornmeal.
- Let the muffins rise in a warm moist area for about 1.5 hours, or until they are slightly more than double the size. (I placed a casserole dish full of steaming water on the bottom rack of my oven and placed the baking sheet on the top rack to keep the muffins moist as they rose.)
- When the muffins are large and fluffy, it’s time to cook them in a skillet. Heat a cast-iron or non-stick skillet over medium low heat. Once the skillet is preheated, carefully use a spatula to lift 3-4 muffins from the baking sheet and slide them into the skillet, along with some cornmeal. Let the muffins cook 3-4 minutes, or until lightly golden brown on the bottom. Carefully flip the muffins and cook for 3-4 minutes on the second side. The muffins will puff further as they cook in the skillet. Once the muffins are golden on both sides and sound hollow when tapped, transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
- Once completely cool, split the muffins with a fork and toast in a toaster or the oven. Or, transfer the cooled muffins to an air-tight container and keep in the refrigerator for up to one week, or the freezer for up to three months.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Cast Iron Skillet
- Wire Cooling Racks
- Mixing Bowls
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Homemade English Muffins – Step By Step Photos
Begin by combining 1/2 cup warm water with 1 tsp yeast and 1/2 Tbsp sugar. Stir to dissolve, then let them sit until a thick layer of foam develops on top.
While waiting for the yeast to foam, combine 1/2 cup milk, 2 Tbsp butter, and the second 1/2 Tbsp sugar in a measuring cup or microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, then stir until the butter melts. You can do an additional 10 seconds in the microwave, if needed, but try to get the milk just warm enough to melt the butter, not scalding.
Once the yeast is foamy, pour in the milk mixture, 1 cup flour, and 3/4 tsp salt. Stir until the mixture is mostly smooth.
Stir in a second cup of flour, about 1/3 cup at a time, stirring until incorporated before adding more.
Finally, begin to add a third cup of flour, again a small amount at a time, until you can no longer stir it with a spoon. At that point, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, adding small amounts of flour as you go. Only add enough flour to keep the dough from sticking, as adding too much can cause the dough to get stiff.
After kneading, you should have used somewhere between 2.5 to 3 cups flour. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
Roll the dough out to about 1/2-inch thickness, then use a cookie cutter or sharp-edged glass to cut as many circles into the dough as possible. Cut the circles close to each other to leave as little scrap dough as possible. Gather up the scraps, form them into a ball, press the dough out once more, then cut a few more circles.
Cover a baking sheet liberally with cornmeal (this is 1/4 cup of cornmeal spread out on a large baking sheet). Arrange the muffins on the cornmeal, pressing one side into the corn meal, then flipping them over and pressing again, making sure there is plenty of cornmeal under each one to prevent it from sticking as they rise.
For reference, here is a side view so you can see how thin they are. Let the muffins rise in a warm, moist area for about 1.5 hours or until they’re slightly larger than double their size. I put a casserole dish with steaming water on the bottom shelf of my oven and placed the baking sheet with the muffins on the top rack (oven turned off) to create a nice warm environment for them to rise.
The Muffins should be very large, fluffy, and delicate after rising. Make sure they’re not touching each other because pulling them apart could cause them to deflate.
Once risen, it’s time to cook them in a skillet. Heat a cast iron or non-stick skillet over medium-low. Once preheated, use a spatula to carefully lift a few of the muffins off the baking sheet and onto the skillet, along with some of the cornmeal. Cook on each side until golden brown (3-4 minutes per side). The cornmeal will keep the muffins from sticking (the cornmeal in the skillet in the photo above is after 3-4 batches, each batch adding more to the skillet). The muffins will puff even further in the hot skillet.
Transfer the cooked English Muffins to a wire rack to cool.
Once cool, either split with a fork and toast, or transfer to an air-tight container (like a gallon-sized freezer bag) to store in the refrigerator or freezer.
These Homemade English muffins are absolutely to-die-for with butter and jam! Light and fluffy, with very crispy edges and crunchy cornmeal bottoms!
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How much flour should I use? I don’t understand because the ingredients list says to 3 cups, yet when following the recipe, I only used 2 1/4 cups (1.5 cups for initial mixture + 3/4 cups mixed in). Where does the other 3/4 cup go?
Step four, just after you mix in that 3/4 flour, you’ll knead the dough for about five minutes. As you knead the dough, you’ll need to continually add a little flour at a time. Even though you sprinkle very little, it adds up over the course of 5 minutes. Plus, you’ll need a little later to dust the countertop when rolling and cutting the dough. The total amount will vary, but it will be around 3/4 cup. Sorry for the confusion!
Instructions arent clear, how much milk am i suppose to use for the butter mixer. wasted butter, milk and flour. terrible
Did you even read the recipe??? All the ingredients are clearly listed.
Beth, wanted to say I found your website via Pinterest, and I’m making these muffins for the second time. They’re absolutely divine, no more store bought english muffins for me :)
I’m making these right now, I’m not sure what I may have done wrong, my first rise hasn’t risen. I’ve never baked before like this, Do I need to keep the dough warm or should it be cold?
It should be warmish, probably above 70 degrees or so.
Can I substitute some or all of the flour in this recipe for wheat flour?
I wouldn’t substitute more than half for whole wheat. Any more than that and it tends to have quite noticeable effects on the texture.
I almost forgot how great this recipe was! My Plan to Eat recipe box just looks like your blog! <3
If you don't already use Plan to Eat….try it! I fell in love immediately. And add me as a friend! Sbrennnan or click my website to get it free for 30 days!! Making these soon!
My plantoeat acct looks just like this blog too! hah.
Can I make a couple batches of these muffins and freeze them? Would I freeze them before or after baking?
Bread products generally freeze very well. I would definitely freeze after baking.
I made these today and after a setback they did come out great. I did not add enough flour to the dough before the first rise. And after the end of the second rise it was too sticky. I rolled it out on my board and added a little bit more flour to it before I cut the muffins. I wasn’t going to let all of that effort and product go to waste so I’m glad that it did work out. They are just now cooling and I will split them pretty soon and see how they turned out.
I have never tried anything like this at all and usually have horrible luck with yeast dough. This seems to have worked like a charm. Without realizing it, I made 15 instead of 9, but they are currently cooking and I cannot wait to try them!
Thanks
If I double the recipe, do I automatically double the yeast?
Correct. You would want to double all of the ingredients.
Great, thanks!
Just wanted to be sure – I’ve read recipes that don’t, and guidelines that say that 1 tablespoon will leaven 3 to 6 cups of flour so I wasn’t sure what to do!
Sure, no problem! The amount of yeast used actually depends on a couple of factors, especially the rise time. For instance, I have a no-knead recipe that only uses 1/4 tsp of yeast, but it’s left to rise for 12+ hours so the yeast has plenty of time to grow and multiply. :)
I figured it might have something to do with that and with how fluffy these need to be, but I’m only starting out with yeast, at least in the kitchen – I’ve worked with yeast in research labs but somehow baking with it seems much more intimidating!
I have these on their final rise right now. I doubled the recipe and subbed whole wheat flour for half of the total flour. So far, so good!
Does anyone know approximately how many muffins this makes? Feeding a few people and not sure if to double the recipe.
I made them today and they came out perfect! Can’t wait to taste them. Thanks for the recipe.
First time was pretty much a fail although I ate them anyway. Second time better rising but cannot get them done in the middle. Will hope the 3rd time they will be “charming”. :-)
Hi, I’m from the UK and was wondering what kind of flour you used? Would it be bread flour, plain flour or self-raising? Is this the same kind of flour you used for the no-knead cinnamon rolls?
Thanks!
Just regular all-purpose flour, although bread flour would work as well. Just don’t use self rising flour. :)
Hey Beth!
I found your site a few weeks ago and I love it!
Do you know if a product like saf-instant yeast would work as well as active dry yeast? I have a pound of the blue label variety in my house and I want to try to use most of it before it goes bad. A pound is a lot of yeast…
It sounds like it is an “instant” yeast variety, which you can use in place of active dry in any recipe. Keep the yeast in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and it should stay viable for at least a year! I’ve had a pound of yeast before, too ;)