Muffins, the English Style

Dough , dough , dough, bread and rolls ! What else to do ? How bout a muffin? The prestigious english muffin, used to  store-bought variety? Here’s a winner from the famous duo, (Paul and Mary, if you are a fan of the British Baking Show, from the master class series, where they reveal the elements and techniques behind the challenges) a simple basic technique that doesn’t require oven baking!

Ready, set, …… BAKE!

Goes together quickly if you have the elements in place, prepare to hand knead the dough for about 10 minutes.

place the flour in a large bowl

place the yeast on one side , the salt on the other (mistakenly the sugar in the photo, but I am not in competition)

Add the rest of the ingredients….

I elected to mix everything in the bowl versus the countertop, prepare to have on hand tied up in the muck, some flour close by and start the kneading for about 10 minutes, this is one of the types of dough that will pull together into a soft clump, don’t be tempted to add any more flour than absolutely necessary.

Ready for the first rising to a double size, oil it up.

Roll out the dough after the rise to about 2.5 cm thick, close to an inch and cut to biscuits 3 and 1/2 inch diameter, 9 centimeters if you are british. I got less than the 8 muffins I would go a bit thinner on the dough, some were combined and re-rolled a bit thinner. Lightly flour and dust the trays, here the polenta, or semolina is not an ingredient in the muffins but is a major component of the feel and texture of the finished product, don’t omit as the even the presentation of the muffins and mouthfeel will suffer. Second proof is about 30 minutes, the yeast very active and pillowly muffins are the result.

A griddle or a cast iron pan well heated then put on low distributed heat, time the muffins, 5 to 6 minutes PER SIDE, know the attributes of your baking iron or pan as to shuffle the muffins on the iron to attain the browning and the necessary baking time needed.

I didn’t skimp on the semolina/flour dusting even on the griddle. Even while baking on the iron, still raising a bit.

Flip the babies, and bake another 5 to 6 minutes.

Ummm…… the smell of the dough and the semolina baking !!!

The muffins are higher in height than the store-bough variety so I turned the flame to almost nill and shuffled them several more minutes to insure they were baked internally.

After baking let them cool a bit to utilize any internal heat to finish baking.

The final test, hand split, (don’t get caught using a knife to separate the muffin !) broiled and buttered !

I’ll let your eyes be the  judge !

Butter addition is excellent to taste the yeasty goodness of the muffin, but a fried soft  egg would be a crowning achievement  to the nooks and crannies. ! Jam anyone?

Crumpets

When is an English Muffin NOT an English muffin? Properly call it a Crumpet !

Today’s cooking assignment: Crumpets, I’ll leave the tea selection up to you but the theme here is Afternoon Tea and Crumpets. (I wonder why ? )

Me, I had morning coffee and wanted something fresh in the line of bread dough etc. After the caffeine kicked in it was griddle cakes  inspired by Betty Crocker International Cookbook recipe “Crumpets” (page 280,1980 General Mills) referred to also as “Pikelets”.

Get out the griddle, or cast iron fry pan.

Dissolve yeast with warm water in a large bowl,

let sit a couple of minutes till bubbly.

Add sugar, salt, flour, scalded milk, then cooled, and  butter.

  also 2 eggs,mix all to make a yeasty batter.

Let the batter sit till it doubles and is frothy. 

now, fire up the griddle with a ring, use can use the old tuna can trick, I have a hamburger ring that I use.

Spoon in the batter to the ring (buttered) over medium heat.

once they set, remove ring, cook and flip till done

you can gently pull them apart, if you like, and eat them with jam or jelly or plain butter, cream etc.. I had some Blackberry Chipotle Jam  for a bit of a POP!

Now I’ll leave the Tea selection up to you (and your additive from the Royal Flask). Don’t forget to raise your pinky when you hoist your teacup.

Tweet and/or Like some of your British friends. Wish them well.

And that’s bloody well good!

tea, courtesy of JLM