English muffins made easy | one more griddle baked bread...
English muffins are the easiest breads to bake. And they are baked without an oven. So all you friends and readers who have been suggesting me to posts a bread that can be baked without an oven, here is another for you. The first one I posted for you was the griddle Focaccia that had become very popular. Interestingly, that was also made using sourdough starter. It's not my fault, sourdough proliferates fast when you revive it and then pushes you to experiment more. So I make pancakes and griddle Focaccia and sometimes these English muffins. These are so easy to make, to refrigerate and even to serve that you would feel like making them every week. And see how versatile these are. They taste yummy with jams and marmalade, with runny or firm egg scramble, with any stir fry saucy veggie, all as toppings. I even make quick pizzas with them when required.
For those who avoid wheat and gluten, these English muffins can be made using a mix of Soy flour and millet flours as well. See how I did a multi grain English muffin long back..
I know you are wondering why these English muffins are square. I don't make the dough runny and do not use a ring to bake these. A soft dough rolled up and then cut with the help of a square cutter is much more easier and cleaner to work with. See how...
The dough is rolled out into a 1 cm thick sheet, then cut out into squares, I used a cracker cutter. Then I arranged the cut breads onto a hot cast iron griddle. Use any flat base heavy griddle you have.
Cover the griddle and wait till the upper surface changes color, you would see the breads have fluffed up. Flip and cover the griddle again and let the other side brown lightly. Remove from the griddle and keep them wrapped in a cloth napkin. Repeat making more English muffins till you finish the dough.
To open these English muffins you have to slit the bread from one side and open it using your thumb For the square ones you might need to slit them from all four sides, especially when the bread is 100%wholewheat. Once slit, they just open freely and you can see a spongy interior.
And you can always make the round ones..
Just keep them wrapped with a cloth napkin in a closed lid container and refrigerate for a week or so. And now see how versatile they are...
I even made pizzas with them...
Just spread thin slices of tomatoes, some chopped garlic, mozzarella cheese chopped into bits and some fresh herbs. I used Basil and Oregano. Drizzled Extra virgin olive oil and microwaved. Yes it's quick and an easy snack or meal whatever way you want it.
And now how to make the dough for this wonderful griddle baked English muffin recipe. I use sourdough starter so I just add equal amounts of starter (poolish) and dry whole wheat flour, 2-3 tbsp of milk powder or some fresh cream, salt to taste and knead a loos soft dough. Let it rest till doubled and then make a ball and roll out on a flat, dusted with flour, surface. Cover the rolled out sheet with a cloth napkin rinsed with warm water and rest the sheet till it has risen a bit. Proceed with cutting and baking on the griddle.
In case you are using dry yeast (instant or active) , a 25 gm sachet would be good enough for 4 cups of flour. Just salt to taste and knead with warm milk or soy milk. Knead till the dough is smooth, cover and let the dough rise, knead once more and roll out, rest the rolled out sheet for a while till it rises a bit, cut the shapes you want and bake on the griddle.
You can always make the English muffins using a tacky wet flowing dough, using ring moulds on the griddle, like Alton Brown does it.
Here are the round ones with fried eggs and square ones with marmalade.
The English muffins freeze well and you can thaw and reheat them whenever required. Freezers are wonderful to own if we have a hectic schedule. Read more.
Now don't complaint that you can't enjoy home bakes breads without having an oven.
How would you like your English muffins?
wow this looks so cute :) love the ones with tomatoes :)
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