Homemade English Muffins Bread Machine Recipe

Freshly baked homemade English muffins with a crispy crust and a soft buttery center for a special breakfast. You will be surprise how easy it is to make them, either in a bread machine or with a mixer. Top them with butter and jam or bacon and egg, you will never buy them already made again.

Jump to:

• Difference between English muffins and regular bread
• Bread machine vs regular mixer
• Other tools you need
• How to make English muffins
• How to make sure the muffins are cooked
• Making muffins on the outdoor bbq
• How to eat English muffins
• FAQ
• 📋 Homemade English Muffins

Difference between English muffins and regular bread

English Muffins are bread rolls usually used for breakfast. They can be served with regular butter and jam or with a more substantial breakfast with bacon, eggs, and sausages like the American egg Benedict.

The main difference between English Muffins and regular bread rolls is the way they are cooked. The Bread rolls are baked in the oven while the English muffins are grilled on a skillet or griddle.

Compared to my homemade panini bread rolls, English muffins don't have eggs. However they do have milk and butter, so they are not vegan.

This is why English muffins are lighter than regular rolls, and well combine with a rich breakfast with sausage, bacon, and sunny-side-up eggs.

Bread machine vs regular mixer

To make the dough for the English muffins, you can either use a regular mixer or the bread machine.

The difference is that with the bread machine you put all the ingredients in, the wet ingredients first then the dry ingredients, and the bread machine does all the rest.

The basket will warm up just enough for the yeast to activate and the dough will come out perfectly without any effort.

Once the dough is ready you can proceed into cooking them.

Instead, with the regular mixer, you have to activate the yeast first, then prepare the dough, then let it rest.

It is not difficult to do either way, but if you do the dough with a bread machine you can focus your attention on some other tasks, which is a great time saver especially if you have a hectic life.

I do prefer to use a bread machine, and you can read more in my article here: Bread machine. You can find more of my favorite kitchen items in my amazon shops: Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

If you don't have a bread machine, you can find detailed instructions to make the dough by hand or with an electric mixer in this article: Brioche & Bread Rolls' dough without a bread machine

Other tools you need

The English muffins are grilled, therefore you need a griddle or a skillet with lid to cook them.

It is very important to have a lid as they need to be covered to properly cook inside.

The muffin dough is very soft, and to make a nice round muffin shape, the dough should be poured into a mold when cooking on the griddle- measuring approximately 4 in - 10 cm in diameter.

For that, I use the side ring of the  Mini hinged cake molds, as an alternative, you can use metal cookie cutters. You will need 4 rings otherwise you have to cook them one by one.

I also recommend heavy-duty fire gloves BBQ as you will have to remove the molds to turn the muffins.

I also use a silicone brush to butter the skillet and the molds.

How to make English muffins

Prepare the dough

Making the dough with the bread machine

1. Mix together all the wet ingredients: milk and melted butter
2. Mix together all the dry ingredients: flour, salt, sugar, and yeast
3. Pour in the bread machine basket, first the wet ingredients and then the dry
4. Turn the program to "dough" (no cooking) and let it run, normally the dough will be ready in 1.5 hours

If you don't have a bread machine, you can find detailed instructions to make the dough by hand or with an electric mixer in this article: Brioche & Bread Rolls' dough without a bread machine

Getting ready to cook them

Prepare all the tools you need while the griddle is heating on the fire, you will need:

• 4 ring mold diameter 4 in - 10 cm
• A brush for butter
• 20 gr of butter slightly warm
• The spatula to flip the muffins
• Fire kitchen gloves for high temperature

Once the griddle is hot, you are ready to proceed.

Warning: the griddle should be at medium heat. Too hot will burn the base of the muffins, too low will not cook the inside.

Cooking the muffins

1. Butter the griddle
2. Butter well the inside of the rings with the brush
3. Place the rings on the hot griddle
4. With a large spoon pour the dough inside the rings
5. Cover the top and let it cook for at least 10 minutes.
6. You don’t need to smooth the top of the dough as the muffins will fill the mold as they rise while cooking.

7. After 10 minutes, check the base to see if it is brown and the muffins hold their shape. If they do open the molds and remove them
8. Turn the muffins on the other side
9. Lower the heat in the griddle, and cook the muffins covered for a further 7 to 10 minutes. You need to ensure that the griddle is not too hot; otherwise, it will burn the outside of the muffins.
10. Once the cover of the grill is down ensure sufficient heat builds up inside so that the muffins will bake properly.

How to make sure the muffins are cooked

• It is important that the griddle is not too hot to burn the muffins and not too low otherwise the muffins will not cook properly inside.
• To be sure the muffins are cooked inside, insert a pin inside the muffins; if they are done it should come out clean. If there are residuals of fresh dough attached to the pin they need to cook longer.
• If you need to cook the muffins longer but the outside is getting burned, put them in the oven at 355 F - 180 C.
• Once you make them a couple of times, you will find out the best setting for your stove
• When they are done, let the muffins rest for a few minutes as they will be easier to cut.

Making muffins on the outdoor bbq

During the summer I make the muffins on my outdoor Weber barbecue. I bought a griddle just for that.

There are 2 main advantage of making the muffins on the outdoor barbecue:

• As I usually serve an Irish breakfast with my muffins, I can cook the sausage and the vegetables on the same griddle and keep them warm
• When you close the cover of the barbecue, I can create a griddle/oven combination to grill and bake the muffins at the same time. As there is a thermometer on the Weber cover, I can check the temperature and make sure my muffins are not burning

Otherwise, you can simply serve them with butter and jam, and that is what my friend Beth did.

As part of a Recipe exchange from our Facebook Group International Food Bloggers Cooperation, my friend Beth from Binky's Culinary Carnival had to choose a recipe from my blog and make it herself.

I was not surprised when she decided to try this Homemade English Muffin, she also has two boys age 18 and 26.

They loved them so much and she has already made them 3 times, and I think she is still going for more.

Check out her blog and her amazing pictures. She has wonderful homemade jams to serve them with.

FAQ

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