Homemade English Muffins

These homemade English muffins are so incredible! They have the famous nooks and crannies that hold all that yummy butter and honey. Or of course, you can make a McDonald’s copycat Egg McMuffin with them!

I grew up eating a lot of English muffins. Toasting them and adding butter, jelly, jam, honey, etc. was always one of my favorite ways to eat them. Of course, you can never go wrong making a breakfast sandwich with it. Bacon, eggs, and cheese nestled in between two halves of homemade english muffins, so yummy!

They are very easy to make at home, and guess what, you can cook them right on the stovetop. As long as you don’t make them too thick, that is. If I can do it, you can do it. Let’s get started!

What is an English muffin?

English muffins are a round flat piece of yeast-based bread which are traditionally small and commonly sliced down the middle horizontally. Here in the United States, they are toasted, and then things like butter, jam, honey are spread on them. Despite the name, they aren’t really muffins, they are a small piece of bread.

Or breakfast sandwiches are made with them, the most famous of which is the McDonald’s Egg McMuffin.

Step 1: Gather the ingredients

In order to make yummy homemade English muffins with those fun little pockets of air, you need just a handful of everyday ingredients. Chances are you already have the ingredients at home:

• Milk – I generally use whole milk, but you can use other milk such as skim, almond, etc.
• Sugar – Just a small amount of sugar to add a little bit of flavor and help the yeast along.
• Water – I usually use filtered water, because my tap water tastes gross.
• Yeast – You can use active dry, instant or rapid-rise yeast.
• Shortening – Or you can use oil or butter as well.
• Flour – All purpose flour is preferred with this recipe, although bread flour will work, the texture will be a little different.
• Salt – This will add flavor and enhance the flavor of the other ingredients.
• Cornmeal – Just a tad of cornmeal for dusting the top and bottom of the homemade English muffins.

Step 2: How to make homemade English muffins

Begin by prepping the yeast. Heat the water in a small bowl until it is between 105 and 115 F. Pretty much lukewarm. Add a pinch of sugar and stir with a fork, then add in the yeast and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes until it gets foamy.

If after 10 minutes, the mixture isn’t foamy, then you should probably start again, the yeast may be bad/old or the water was too hot or not hot enough.

Now take the milk and heat it in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds until it bubbles slightly. Or heat it on the stovetop. The goal is to scald it not boil it. Why scald the milk? Scalding the milk will help with flavor as well as the rising process. Add in the rest of the sugar to the milk, and stir to dissolve it.

Technically you can just heat up both the water and the milk together with the sugar and then add the yeast, without scalding the milk, but this is how I always do it and was taught to do it.

Step 3: Complete the bread dough

Time to finish the homemade English muffins dough. Melt the shortening or butter if you are using those, it will only take a few seconds in the microwave. Make sure it isn’t too hot. Add that to a large bowl. Also add in the yeast mixture and the warm milk. If the milk is still really hot, allow it to cool for a few minutes.

Mix all the liquid ingredients together. Then add in about 1 cup of the flour. Mix it with a whisk, fork, or wooden spoon. Then add in another cup of the flour, and sprinkle the salt on top. Or mix the salt with that cup of flour first and then pour it in the bowl.

You could just mix the salt in with the three cups of flour, but you may not use all of the flour, which would leave out some salt as well.

At this point, the dough will come together and be fairly sticky. Pour it out onto a floured surface and then knead the dough, for about 8 minutes, and add the remaining cup of flour as needed until the dough doesn’t stick anymore. You will likely still have about 1/4th of a cup of flour leftover.

Once done kneading, shape the dough into a ball and place in a large bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray or lightly oiled. Cover it and place in a warm place to rise. Let it rise for 1 to 2 hours until the dough at least doubles in size.

Step 4: Shape the dough into discs

Now once the dough is done rising, punch the dough down and then roll it out on a floured surface into a large circle that is about 1/2 of an inch thick. Next, use a round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter and cut out 10 to 12 circles of dough.

If you don’t have a cookie-cutter, divide the dough into 12 equal chunks and then roll them into a ball and then roll them out flat with the rolling pin.

The leftover dough you can knead back together and cut more out of that. Dust a sheet pan with cornmeal and then place the discs of dough on top. Then dust the tops with cornmeal. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for another hour.

Step 5: Cook the homemade English muffins

Turn the heat on your stovetop burner to medium heat. Add a skillet and allow it to heat up. Cast iron skillets work awesome if you have it, otherwise use a standard non-stick skillet. Spray the skillet with a bit of cooking spray.

Add enough muffins to the pan to fill up the bottom. Allow each size to cook for 6 to 8 minutes until golden brown. Once they are done cooking, put them on a plate.

If you have really thick English muffins, you will probably want to bake them in the oven or about 5 minutes at 350 F/176 C, after cooking them in the skillet. This will ensure the inside is completely cooked.

Step 6: How to cut an English Muffin

There are a couple of ways to cut your homemade English muffins. Traditionally, you would take a fork and poke it in the side all around and then pull the top and bottom half apart, this helps create the nooks and crannies.

You can also just cut it in half with a knife, haha. They will taste exactly the same, just look a bit different on the inside.

Now you can add whatever you want to them. They are so good toasted!

Step 7: Homemade copycat McDonalds Egg McMuffin

Now all you need to do to make a copycat Egg McMuffin, is fry up an egg, and some bacon, and some cheese and stack them in between that yummy homemade english muffin. Enjoy!

How long do homemade English Muffins last?

You can store them in a ziplock bag or in an airtight container and they will last about a week at room temperature, or a bit longer in the fridge. Or you can certainly freeze them, and they will last a few months.

Here are some other recipes you may like:

Key Lime Pie

Homemade Beignets

Easy Fluffy Pancakes

Cinnamon Toast

Homemade Hot Dog Buns

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5 from 1 vote

Homemade English Muffins

These homemade English muffins are great with yummy nooks and crannies to hold that melted butter and honey or jam. Or use them for copycat McDonald's Egg McMuffins. They are so easy to make too!

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Resting Time2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Course: Bread, Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: American, British, English

Keyword: dough, easy, yeast

Servings: 12 people

Calories: 146kcal

Author: Matt Taylor

Equipment

• baking sheet
• Skillet
• Plastic wrap
• Wooden spoon
• Bowls
• Fork
• rolling pin
• Round cutter (cookie or biscuit) or shape with hands
• cooking spray
• Spatula

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of milk 125ml
• 1 Tbsp. of white granulated sugar 12.5g
• 1/2 cup of water 125ml
• 1 1/2 tsp. of active dry yeast 5g
• 2 Tbsp. of shortening 24g
• 3 cups of all-purpose flour 375g
• 1/2 tsp. of salt 3g
• cornmeal for dusting

Instructions

• Heat up the water in a small bowl until it gets to between 105 F and 115 F (40 to 45 C). Add a pinch of the sugar and the yeast to the water. Mix with a fork and then wait for 5 to 10 minutes until it gets foamy.
• In a separate bowl, add the milk and the rest of the sugar. Heat the milk in the microwave or on the stovetop until it just barely bubbles on the edges, not boiling. Stir to make sure the sugar dissolves. Allow it to cool, while waiting for the yeast.
• Add the yeast mixture and the warm milk to a large bowl. Melt the shortening, if using that, or butter, and add that to the liquid mixture. Add about 1 cup of the flour and whisk it in. Add another cup of flour and add the salt as well, stir it in with a wooden spoon or use a stand mixer with a dough hook.
• At this point, the dough will come together and be fairly sticky. Place the dough on a floured surface and knead it for 8 minutes adding more flour as necessary. Or use the stand mixer. Make sure to keep adding flour until it is no longer sticky.
• Once done kneading, shape the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray or lightly oiled. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours until doubled.
• Punch the dough down and then roll it out into a large circle or rectangle that is about 1/2 inch thick. Use a round cooking or biscuit cutter and cut out perfect circles of dough. Or cut the dough into 12 equal pieces and then roll them in balls and roll them out flat with a rolling pin. Bring any scraps of dough and knead them together and then repeat. You should have around 12 total depending on the size you make them.

  Place them on a sheet pan dusted with cornmeal. Then dust the tops with cornmeal and cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for another hour or so.
• Heat a large skillet or griddle on medium heat. Spray it with cooking spray or use a tiny bit of oil. Place several discs of dough on the pan and cook that side for 6 to 8 minutes until golden brown. Flip it over and cook the other side. Place them on a plate, while you cook the rest of them.
• Poke a fork in the side all around the muffin then pull it apart with your fingers, or just use a knife to cut them in half. Toast them and then spread butter, jam, honey, etc. on it. Or make a McMuffin, with egg, cheese, and bacon or sausage. Enjoy!

Video

How to Make English Muffins | Easy English Muffins McDonalds Egg McMuffin Copy Cat Recipe

Notes

Tried this recipe?Mention @WPRecipeMaker or tag #wprecipemaker!

Nutrition

Calories: 146kcal

Do you like the recipe? Please give it a rating and comment down below, I really appreciate it. If you make it tag me on Instagram @inthekitchenwithmatt. Also, sign up for the newsletter so you won’t miss out on any of my new posts and recipes.