Thursday, January 24, 2013

English Muffin Bread

Damian loves English muffins.  If we have home-baked bread and store-bought English muffins in the house, he will usually go for the muffins.  Alas, I am too lazy to make English muffins from scratch.  Then I came across this recipe for English muffin bread.  This was perhaps the easiest bread I have ever baked.  I scaled the recipe down, since I only have two loaf pans and the recipe makes three loaves.

Here is what you need for two loaves:


  • 3 2/3 cups warm water
  • 4 teaspoons Kosher salt
  • 4 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 packets instant yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons)
  • 7 1/2 cups bread flour (all purpose will do, too)
  • melted butter (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
  • cornmeal
  • non-stick spray
Start by stirring the water, salt, sugar, and yeast together in a mixing bowl.  I used my stand mixer with a paddle attachment, but this can be mixed by hand, too.



Add the flour and mix until the dough just comes together.




The dough will be loose, stringy, and very sticky.



Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick spray, and set it in a warm place to rise.  



You want it to double in size.  It will take about an hour, though this batch was ready to go after about 30 minutes.

Prepare your loaf pans by spraying them with non-stick spray and adding a handful of cornmeal.  Turn the pan to coat the bottom and sides with the cornmeal



Spray your hands with the non-stick spray and divide the dough between the loaf pans.  You want the pans to be only about halfway full.



Did I mention the dough is very sticky?



Cover the loaf pans with your oiled plastic wrap and let the dough rise again.  Preheat the oven to 350 while you wait.  You want to be ready to go when your dough is!  The bread is ready to put in the oven when the dough has risen to the top of the pans.



Bake for 30 minutes, then brush the tops of the loaves with the melted butter.  Then put the bread back in the oven for ten more minutes.



Turn the loaves out onto a cooling rack immediately, and brush with melted butter again.  Allow to cool, then enjoy!



This bread was a huge hit.  The first two loaves disappeared in only a couple days.  I'm pretty sure my toddler ate about half a loaf by himself yesterday.

2 comments:

  1. Yummy! I've actually made english muffins once or twice. They can be...difficult. But if you manage it they are way tastier than store bought. But english muffin bread is a way easier and just as tasty alternative.
    Oh - a note about the non-stick spray. I wrecked my muffin pans with this stuff so I have learned my lesson. It turns out the expellant in these cans sticks to the baking pans and doesn't come off (even with hot soapy water). It created this residue which I never really thought about, until chunks of it started coming off, with bits of the metallic part of the baking pans, and baking into my muffins. Gross! It's a pain in the rear to grease pans with butter, but you may save yourself from having to buy new pans in the future. Thus ends this PSA. =)

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    1. Butter tastes better, anyway. Thanks for the tip!

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