Friday, January 7, 2011

How to Slice an English Muffin

I keep my sourdough starter in a bowl, covered with a cloth and a heavy plate. That way, anytime I want to use it, it is ready. I feed it every day a little bit. I add a couple Tablespoons of flour and the same amount of water, and stir it in. Here is the bowl, uncovered:



I wanted to make sourdough English Muffins for breakfast this morning, so I started them last night using Erin's recipe at Gnowfglins. They are so quick and easy and we love them! They are good fresh and warm from the griddle, later in the day for a sandwich or quick "pizza" base, toasted for breakfast, and if you slice them, properly, and freeze them, they keep well. Here is the batch I made this morning:



Do you know the proper way to slice an English muffin? What you do is slice into the edge all around, and then holding both sides, one in each hand, twist the muffin and the 2 halves will break apart:



and then you'll have this lovely, crumbly texture that when toasted, grabs the butter and tastes and feels fabulous in your mouth!



Here are the muffins, sliced (properly) and stacked up, ready to be wrapped and frozen. These are the ones that were left after breakfast today:



We ate them warm with butter and this yummy honey which I buy here.



Here you can see it... butter and honey... yummy goodness!



Incidentally, the muffins look very very brown in these pictures. I assure you they are not burnt. I did not bake mine as long as the recipe states. You need to see what works with the cooking set - up you have. This is our second batch. The dough in the first one was not as stiff, but this recipe is very forgiving and it is hard to mess up. Truly. Enjoy!

5 comments:

  1. Interesting. thanks for sharing, I had never heard the proper way to slice one before. I will have to try it now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We love english muffins but I have always baked them in the oven. We will have to try these.

    I just wanted to let you know that I gave you a Stylish Bloggers Award. If you would like to participate please go here http://purpledancingdahlias.blogspot.com/2011/01/stylish-blogger-award.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well done for winning the giveaway book on A Joyful Chaos! You have "my" dishes--the blue & white Yorktowne from Pfaltzgraft. They are unfortunately not made any more as I have tried to find replacements whenever I visit my family in the States. If you know of anywhere that stocks them, could you let me know. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Becca, thank you for telling me about the giveaway. I never would have noticed without you reminding me!

    I had no idea that Yorktowne isn't made anymore. That is very sad. And it makes me glad that we bought mine in time. I had admired them for decades, but bought them only a few years ago. You can often find pieces on Ebay. I also quite often pick up extra pieces at thrift stores. Good luck in your search and thank you again!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would almost argue that the splitting is what makes or breaks an English Muffin. Yes, you could fork-and-tear to get the desired texture, but for a consistently uneven split (yes, I hear the irony in that phrase, but bear with me) then you should use an English Muffin splitter - I got mine from http://www.SiriusChef.com and it's made my English Muffins better than any store-bought pre-cut ones.

    ReplyDelete