English Muffins

First off, thanks to my first (and only follower at this point) Megan, from Food and Whine. Thank you for your lovely comments and also for posting this Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin recipe. I made them the with the cinnamon and raisin on Wednesday night and they were so good I made a regular batch on Thursday night so I could make my own egg muffins with them. I absolutely love how light and chewy they are (at least mine were).

Had I ever known how easy english muffins were to make I wouldn't have ever paid over $3.00 for six of them at the grocery store! And...I didn't knew they cooked on an electric fry pan either. Boy, I really must be living a sheltered life.

Semi Whole-Wheat English Muffins

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons of honey
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
.25 ounce package of active yeast

1 cup whole wheat flour
4-5 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
cornmeal

Heat milk in microwave for 1 1/2 minutes so it is hot enough to melt the butter. Add honey, butter, and salt to milk and set aside until milk is lukewarm.

In a warmed mixer bowl (do this by running bowl under hot tap water) add water and yeast until yeast forms a foam over top of water (about 5 minutes should do it). In a separate bowl, whisk together whole wheat flour, 2 cups all-purpose flour and sugar. Add to your yeast/water in the mixing bowl and turn mixer on low (speed 2 for a KitchenAid) using the dough hook. Let mix in for 2 minutes. Add remaining flour slowly, 1 cup at a time. Once all flour is incorporated, mix for an additional 2 minutes.

Place dough in a greased bowl, turning dough over so top is greased. Cover and put in a warm place to double in size for about 1 hour (I always turn my oven on 400 degrees for 2 minutes, then turn off oven and place dough inside oven). Punch dough down and divide in half. Roll dough out on a very lightly floured surface to about 1/2" thick. Cut out circles depending on how large you want your muffins. First I used a 2 1/2" biscuit cutter and those turned out too small so on my second batch I used a cup that had about a 3 1/2" diameter and these were prefect for my eggs and turkey the next morning.

Place about 1/2 cup cornmeal in a soup bowl. Lightly press both side of english muffin in cornmeal and place on baking sheet. Let muffins rise until doubled again, about 45 minutes.

Cook muffin on a very lightly greased (I gave it a very quick spray with Pam) electric fry pan at 275-300 degrees for 7-10 minutes on each side. They cook quickly so make sure to keep an eye on them so they don't burn. While the muffins are still warm...poke holes all the way around the middle of the muffin so they easily pull apart.

Enjoy!