English Water Muffins
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Combine flour, tepid water, yeast, and salt in a large bowl; beat thoroughly.
Cover the bowl and let the mixture rise overnight.
Shape and cook
In the morning, flour a clean surface and roll out the dough very thin, using minimal flour.
Cut out muffins using a small tin pail cover, aiming for 5 inches in diameter.
Lightly butter a griddle and place the muffins on it; let them rise briefly.
Move the griddle to the front of the stove and bake the muffins slowly, turning them often to keep both sides flat.
Serve
Once baked, tear the muffins apart, butter them, and serve three stacked together, cut across the center.
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.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and chew.
- Yeast
- Produces gas during the overnight rise, leavening the dough so the muffins puff.
- Tepid water
- Hydrates the flour and activates the yeast while keeping the dough workable.
The step that matters
Rolling the dough very thin with minimal flour. Thin dough cooks through on the griddle and stays flat, while excess flour dries the surface and can make the muffins tough. Turning often on slow heat keeps both sides even.
“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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