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Sourdough English Muffins
As a kid, my weekday breakfasts were cold cereal and a piece of fruit. This made the Saturday morning treat of eggs, bacon, and toasted English muffins that much more special. Somehow since childhood I lost my taste for store-bought English muffins. Recently, though, I realized how simple it is to make English muffins from scratch, and how delicious they are naturally leavened and using some whole grain wheat.
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This Sourdough English Muffin recipe doesn’t need to be saved for the weekends. There is no kneading or stretching and folding. You can bulk ferment during the day and proof cold at night; or bulk at night and proof at room temperature in the morning. Regardless of your timing, serving the muffins just-baked isn’t crucial because they’re best if opened and toasted. I find the texture is good when toasted up to 3 days after baking (store in a bag or bread box).
To maximize the nooks and crannies, don’t use a knife to slice open the English muffins. With a fork, poke in a circle around the side of the muffin, then pry apart the halves. Do this before freezing, too, so you can go straight from the freezer to the toaster.
In developing this sourdough English muffin recipe, I used two recipes as springboards: one from Cultures for Health (similar ingredients but less flour) and one from the packaging of Breadtopia’s English Muffin Rings (cooking process and temperature). Metal rings for shaping and cooking the muffins are helpful and make for a uniform appearance, but aren’t absolutely necessary. This recipe makes 10 muffins, but I explain how to adjust it down to 8 if you want to use two packs of four muffin rings. I prefer baking the English muffins because it requires less effort and vigilance, but I give instructions on using a skillet too. You can also hybridize the methods and fry pre-shaped muffins.
The total flour weight in the recipe is 435g (3 1/4 cups) and about 40% is whole grain flour. I chose Kamut / khorasan for my whole grain flour because I think it’s a good buttery-not-sweet wheat for English muffins, but I also had delicious outcomes with whole grain spelt, whole grain conventional wheat, and Breadtopia Select bolted flour. I also used all purpose flour instead of bread flour on one occasion (with the whole grain spelt) and the results were just as good as with bread flour.
Sourdough English Muffins
This sourdough English muffin recipe is low effort and high satisfaction. It's made with ancient grain wheat and has plenty of nooks and crannies to hold butter and jam. Perfect for an everyday breakfast or a treat for houseguests.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
Instructions
Shopping List
Weighing and Shaping Sourdough English Muffins
Photos of the Oven Baked Process
Photos of the Skillet Batter Process
Sourdough English Muffins