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English Muffins

A soft dough muffin made with milk, water, yeast, salt, sugar, and flour, baked on a griddle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Henrietta Latham Dwight · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 3 ingredients
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English Muffins

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Combine half a pint of hot milk, half a pint of hot water, half a yeast cake, an even teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoon of sugar, and about a pound and a half of white flour.

  2. Dissolve the yeast cake in a little tepid water and add to the batter when lukewarm.

  3. Stir the milk and water mixture into the flour while hot.

  4. Beat the batter very hard for ten or fifteen minutes; it should be a soft dough.

  5. Set the dough to rise overnight.

Shape and rise

  1. Flour the board well, drop the dough in large spoonfuls onto the flour, flatten with the hands and form into shape.

  2. Let the shaped dough rise on the board in a warm place.

Bake and serve

  1. When ready, bake on a griddle heated only half as hot as for griddle cakes.

  2. Flour the muffins and bake slowly on one side for six minutes; then turn and bake the same on the other side.

  3. Split, toast, butter immediately, and put together again.

By Henrietta Latham Dwight. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

White flour (in the method)
Forms the main structure of the dough that holds the muffins' shape.
Yeast (in the method)
Produces gas that makes the dough rise and gives the muffins an airy texture.
Milk
Adds richness and softness to the crumb.
Water
Hydrates the flour so it forms a soft, workable dough.
Sugar (in the method)
Feeds the yeast and adds mild sweetness and browning.

The step that matters

Keep the griddle low. A griddle heated only half as hot as for griddle cakes lets the centre cook through slowly. Too much heat browns and scorches the outside before the inside sets.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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