HOMEMADE ENGLISH MUFFINS

We are an english muffin eatin' kind of family. Frankly, I'd rather have
muffins over toast any day. My son likes them with melted cheese inside
and calls it a "cheese muffin". I use the muffin rings to cook eggs then add them to the muffin with sausage or bacon and cheese for an incredible breakfast sandwich!
I've always loved them and now that I
make my own, I can't see why I'd ever buy them again, these taste so
much better. 

Here's all you'll need. Pretty basic stuff, except for the dry milk. It was hard to find as I haven't purchased this in well, forever! Here's a hint, it's usually on the bottom shelf of the baking isle near the flour.

Add the dry milk, sugar and shortening to a large bowl. Add the hot water and stir to dissolve.

In a separate bowl, combine the yeast and sugar and WARM water, not hot. Stir GENTLY to dissolve. We don't want to disturb our little yeasts too much.

Add the yeast mixture to the dry milk, which is now wet, and add the sifted flour.

Stir until it looks like this.

Cover and place in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

30 minutes later...

Just before cooking, add 1 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt. This is going to create all those nooks and crannies.

Get out your muffin rings. Or egg rings, or hash brown rings. Whatever you call them, now you need them. These are actually a little small, 4". I would prefer they didn't have handles as these really should be covered for cooking. I'm upgrading to 6" rings with lids so I can really get this thing going.

Heat the grill to medium heat. Spray the inside of the rings with nonstick spray and I like to sprinkle in corn meal for a traditional english muffin feel.

Use my handy dandy 3 T ice cream scoop

Scoop in 1 scoop. Wait about 30 seconds, scoop in another. This creates the "fork split" feature. Or just dump it all in at the same time if you don't care about that... Okay, before we move on, I just have to tell you about the consistency of the batter/dough. I want to warn you so you're not caught off guard when  making these and lose your appetite. It's a strange consistency, how can I say it.... Gelatinous? No, it's worse than that. Okay, I'll say it... mucousy. Please trust me when I say that it's hard to deal with here, but it'll totally be worth it when they're cooked!!

Cook for 5 to 6 minutes.

Normally you would flip these with the rings on them, but since mine have handles, I remove them now.

Then flip them. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes. They are already mostly cooked, they just need the top browned.

Remove and enjoy!!

Oh, the nooks and crannies!!

Here are these muffins with eggs and cheese. I used the muffins to cook the eggs in and also cut the cheese into rounds. Feel free to add bacon or sausage and it's the perfect breakfast sandwich!

English Muffins

Adapted from Alton Brown – Food Network

Print version 

Ingredients

1/2 cup non-fat powdered milk

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon shortening

1 cup hot water

1 envelope dry yeast

1/8 teaspoon sugar

1/3 cup warm water

2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

Non-stick vegetable spray

Corn starch for grill

1 tsp baking soda

Directions

In a bowl combine the powdered milk, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon
of salt, shortening, and hot water, stir until the sugar and salt are
dissolved. Let cool. In a separate bowl combine the yeast and 1/8 teaspoon of
sugar in 1/3 cup of warm water and rest until yeast has dissolved. Add this to
the dry milk mixture. Add the sifted flour and beat thoroughly with wooden
spoon. Cover the bowl and let it rest in a warm spot for 30 minutes.

Preheat the griddle to 300 degrees F or medium on griddle over flame on
stove.

Add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 tsp corn starch to mixture
and beat thoroughly. Place metal rings onto the griddle and coat lightly with
vegetable spray. Using 3T ice cream scoop, place 2 scoops into each ring and
cover with a pot lid or cookie sheet and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the
lid and flip rings using tongs. Cover with the lid and cook for another 2 to 2
minutes or until golden brown. Place on a cooling rack, remove rings and cool.
Split with fork and serve.