I haven’t baked any bread in a long time, mostly because I don’t eat bread very often lately. I do love to bake, though, so when I came across this recipe for No Knead English Muffin Bread on KitchenParade.com, I knew I had to make it, even if just for fun. If you’re a bread person and eat it often, making your own bread can be a huge money saver. An artisan loaf at the store will run you between $3-$4, but you can make it at home for less than a dollar. If you’re intimidated by baking bread, a “no knead” recipe like this is perfect to get you started and a little more comfortable with the bread making process.
What makes this bread “English Muffin” bread? I dunno, just the heavy coating of cornmeal and delicate crumb, I guess. To me English Muffins are a bit more “eggy”, but this bread is still great all the same. So, we’ll just call it English Muffin bread for fun, deal?
Want to try making regular English Muffins? Check out my Homemade English Muffins recipe!
No Knead English Muffin Bread
Servings 12 1 slice eachIngredients
- 2 1/4 cups flour (plus some for dusting) ($0.38)
- 2 tsp (or one 1/4 oz. packet) instant yeast ($0.19)
- 1 Tbsp sugar ($0.03)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.03)
- 1 cup warm water ($0.00)
- 2 Tbsp cornmeal ($0.08)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour with the yeast, sugar, and salt. Add one cup of warm water and mix with a hand mixer on medium speed for three minutes. Use a timer to make sure it is mixed for a full three minutes.
- Begin to add the remaining 1 1/4 cups of flour, a small amount at a time, until you can no longer use the mixer. At that point, use a large wooden spoon to stir the rest of the flour into the dough. The amount of flour needed may be slightly more or less depending on the moisture content of your flour, but you should aim for a very soft, pliable, slightly sticky dough in the end.
- Coat a loaf pan with non-stick spray, then dust the inside heavily with cornmeal (about 2 Tbsp). Sprinkle a little extra flour onto the dough to keep it from sticking to your hands and mold it into a rough loaf shape. Place the loaf in the pan, cover with a damp paper towel, and let rise for one hour, or until the loaf has risen higher than the top of the loaf pan.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake the risen loaf for 30-45 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when tapped. If the top begins to brown too much before 30 minutes, cover with foil to reduce further browning (I covered mine after 20 minutes).
- Remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool completely before slicing.
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Nutrition
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How to Make No Knead English Muffin Bread – Step by Step Photos
Start by combining 1 cup of flour, 2 tsp instant yeast (or one 1/4 oz. packet), 1 Tbsp sugar, 3/4 tsp salt, and one cup of warm water in a large bowl. Mix the ingredients using a hand mixer set on medium speed for three full minutes. A word to the wise, start the mixer on low then increase to medium once it starts to come together, so you don’t spray flour all over your kitchen. ;) This mixing action partially develops the gluten, which is a substitute for the kneading process.
After mixing for three minutes, begin to add the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour, a little at a time. Once it becomes too thick to use the mixer, use a large wooden spoon to stir in the rest. The total amount of flour you need may be slightly more or less, depending on the moisture content of the flour. The end result should be a soft, pliable, slightly sticky dough (no piles of dry flour on the bottom of the bowl).
Prepare a loaf pan by coating it with non-stick spray, then using about 2 Tbsp of cornmeal to dust the inside. This creates a nice thick crust of crunchy cornmeal on the outside of the bread—just like an English Muffin!
Sprinkle a little flour on the dough and your hands to keep it from sticking, then shape it into a rough loaf. It doesn’t have to be perfect. If you *want* to knead it a couple times, it will make the dough a bit more even and pretty, but it’s not necessary. Place the loaf in the prepared pan.
Cover the loaf pan with a damp paper towel and let it rise for one hour or until it rises up out of the top of the loaf pan. I let mine go for about 1 hour and 15 minutes because it was a tad chilly in my house. Again, the lumpy shape of the top can be eliminated by working the dough just a bit before shaping it into a loaf.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, then bake the English muffin bread for 30-45 minutes, or until it’s golden brown and sounds hollow when you tap the crust. If the top begins to brown too fast (it needs to be in the oven for at least 30 minutes), you can cover it with foil to slow the browning process. I ended up adding foil at about the 20-minute mark and baked for 30 minutes total.
Letting the loaf cool completely before slicing it is one of the hardest things to do, but one of the most important. The english muffin bread is soft and squishy when warm and trying to slice it in that state will tear it apart or flatten it completely. Neither is good. So, let that bread cool!
Once it’s cool, slice it, toast it, and slather it up with some butter and jam!
Homemade bread with no fancy machines and no fancy skills needed!
I don’t use cooking spray so I’m going to try buttering the pan instead. Hoping it works!
I’ve made this recipe tens of times now and it’s my go-to for a quick and easy loaf of bread for the week. Absolutely delicious. :)
Bread turned out great, but I’m sure would have been better had the damp paper towel not been on the top. It stuck to the risen dough. I peeled it off carefully but some of the dough came off with it. Was afraid it was going to deflate, but it was ok. Next time will use greased plastic wrap.
Please tell me what size loaf pan you use. Thanks.
A standard loaf pan 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 x 2-1/2 inches
I don’t have a hand mixer. Just an immersion mixer. Will that work too? Thanks!
No, unfortunately an immersion blender will not mix the dough correctly.
Another great Budget Bytes bread recipe. I love your thin pizza crust and bagel recipes and this one was good too!
What is the best way to save this bread to ensure that it will still be delicious for a few days after baking?
I like to let it cool completely, then I keep it in a gallon-sized zip top bag in the refrigerator.
I bake a lot of bread, due to vegan bread is so expensive. This is seriously the best bread, no knead focaccia is second now.
I tried this recipe yesterday! It’s amazing, super nice, tastes super good… too good, actually. The base of the bread, with all that cornmeal it’s delicious, maybe I should try to add some of that over the top :)
Could I use White whole wheat flour or wheat pastry flour?
I haven’t tried this with whole wheat flour, but generally I don’t suggest substituting more than 50% of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat, or else you’ll have too much of a texture change and you may need to increase the liquid as well.
It doesn’t get any easier than this and it’s a great recipe if you’re afraid of using yeast because it’s almost foolproof. Wonderful taste and texture.
This tastes great! Mine didn’t rise at all in an hour and I ended up leaving it over night. It doubled in size but didn’t reach the top of the loaf pan. Not sure what I did wrong but I think I will try again and let the yeast activate in the warm water for a while before I mix in other ingredients.
Is this All Purpose Flour or Strong White / Bread flour?
all-purpose
I put the dough together around noon. When I returned home around 6 it had fallen! I baked it anyway and am so glad I did. Although the bread didn’t have a proper crust (it stuck to the top of the dishcloth used during the rise) and was rather dense–it was still so moist and delicious. This recipe should really be called “no fail” because it’s so easy and comes out tasty even when you neglect it. Thank you!
I made this yesterday before Ms. Hurricane Irma came through SC. I let it rise for over an hour, and it didn’t come over the top of the pan (I could have covered it better). I decided not to wait longer in case I lost power (I didn’t til hours later). It isn’t “soft and squishy,” but it isn’t too dense and is VERY yummy. :)