Easy English Muffin Recipe

Whether you are a beginner or seasoned baker, this is THE English Muffin Recipe you need to create the softest, fluffiest English muffins EVER. You’ll be how surprised at how easy these yeast based muffins are to make, plus they’ll be ready in around two hours!

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you will know that my absolute favourite breakfast is the classic English Muffin Breakfast Sandwich. I have shared my Pork Breakfast Sausage Patty recipe and today is the day I am thrilled to share this homemade English Muffin Recipe with you.

The BEST English Muffin Recipe

I am so excited to share this recipe with you today! It’s the final part of a trilogy of breakfast recipes I developed in honour of the Breakfast Sandwich. You may also recognize these golden beauties from another breakfast classic; Eggs Benedict. In fact, when I’m out for brunch (and there’s no breakfast sandwich available) I will order Eggs Benny ONLY if it comes on top of an English muffin.

Who knew homemade English muffins were this easy to make? I sure didn’t. Now that I know, I always have some on hand in the freezer. This recipe creates some of the best English muffins I’ve ever had and believe me, there’s no replacement for fresh and homemade. Once you make them, you’ll never go back to store bought!

These muffins have that signature crispy chewy golden exterior with a famously light and airy interior. When you open them up, do so by inserting a fork all the way around middle of the muffin. Pull it open and you will see the signature nooks and crannies English muffins are known for.

These empty honeycomb-like spaces are where all the melted butter and jam (or honey) congregates…are you drooling yet?

What is an English Muffin?

Obviously, you know what an English Muffin is or you wouldn’t have read this far! Generally, they are small round yeast leavened flatbreads that are cooked on a griddle. Muffins, not to be confused with American style sweet quick bread muffins, are meant to be pried apart, then eaten with butter and jam. They are great as part of an English breakfast or as a pick me up with tea.

Some fun non-traditional ways to eat English muffins are:

• Stuffed with cheese and grilled…like a grilled cheese sandwich.
• Served toasted and enjoy with soup.
• Topped with pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings to make tiny pizzas.
• Dipped in egg/milk/sugar mixture and eaten as ‘French Toast’.

Ingredients You’ll Need

I’m willing to bet that you have most, if not all of these ingredients handy in your pantry/fridge right now. So really…you COULD make these English Muffins right now! Just think: In the time it takes me to write and edit this post, I could be eating another batch of freshly baked English muffins!

• Milk
• Butter
• Salt
• Sugar
• Egg
• Flour
• Yeast
• Cornmeal

Any kind of milk will do for this recipe, in fact you could even use water in a pinch. I always make mine with 1 % milk fat milk.

Although I’ve seen other English muffin recipes with vegetable oil, I prefer to make mine with softened unsalted butter. Because…butter is better! You can use salted butter as well, just be mindful of how much salt you add to the dough. Reduce as necessary.

Sugar gives these muffins a slight but not overly sweet flavour profile. It also makes it easier to achieve the nice golden brown outer crust everyone loves. Feel free to replace the sugar with a honey, if you like. I personally like my honey ON my toasted English muffin!

Flour is the basis of every dough recipe. This recipe contains unbleached all purpose flour exclusively. However, feel free to replace 1/2 to 1 cup of the AP flour with whole wheat flour. You can also use bread flour for this recipe.

Cornmeal an important addition to English muffins. Come to think of it, I have never seen any without it. Have you? If you make this recipe, you’ll notice the dough is quite sticky during the shaping step. Coating the muffin in cornmeal makes them easier to transfer the dough to the griddle.

Last, but certainly not least…Instant Yeast has a lower moisture content and is milled finer than active dry yeast. It is faster acting and does not need to be ‘proofed’ in liquid like active dry yeast.

How to Make this English Muffin Recipe

Begin by warming up the milk (stovetop or in the microwave) until it reaches between 120 F -130 F. Do not allow it to warm up past 140 F. This is the temperature that yeast begins to die off and we need that yeast nice and active!

Next, add the warmed milk, yeast, melted butter, egg, salt, sugar, and flour to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix the dough on low speed until it comes together, then increase speed one step up. Knead the dough on low medium speed until it forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Scrape the sides of the bowl and tidy the dough into a ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or beeswax wrap and place in a draught free area. I use my oven with the light left on, or use the proof setting.

Either way works. Be sure to tell everyone in the house that there’s dough proofing in the oven. Believe me, accidentally turning the oven on with dough proofing inside can have disastrous consequences!

Allow the dough to rise until it has almost doubled in size (roughly an hour). When it has done proofing, remove it from the bowl and separate it into eight equal portions. Sprinkle 1/4 – 1/2 cup of cornmeal onto a plate.

Using your hands, roll each dough portion into a ball, then flatten it on the cornmeal crusted plate. Push it down until it is the shape of an English muffin and ensure the two flat sides are lightly coated in cornmeal. Place the muffing on a parchment lined baking sheet.

To cook the muffins, lightly grease an electric griddle or griddle pan and heat it on its lowest setting. Cook the muffins on low for 7-15 minutes per side. Remember, you want a nice golden exterior and a fully cooked fluffy interior.

If you find the muffins have browned too quickly (leaving the insides raw), you can finish baking them in a 350 F oven for ten minutes or so. They will be just fine, no worries!

Make this English Muffin Recipe Ahead of Time

Just like my homemade pork breakfast sausage patties, this English muffin recipe is perfect for make ahead meal prep. While most people think Breakfast Sandwiches are best for breakfast…I love them so much that sometimes I have them for a quick lunch.

If you want to freeze these English muffins, I recommend you let them cool to room temperature then place in a ziploc bag. Alternatively, they fit nicely into a repurposed bread bag. Place the muffins inside the bag, twist the end and then fit the bag over the muffins a second time so they are ‘double bagged’.

Freeze for 1-2 months only, any longer and they will start to dry out. Thaw in the microwave for 30 seconds, then coax the muffin open using a fork. Toast the muffin, then slather on butter and jam or make a breakfast sandwich.

If you make this English Muffin recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Pinterest for my latest recipes. Also, if you do make this recipe please tag me on Instagram, I’d love to see what you guys are making! Thank you so much for reading my blog.