English Muffins, Mastered

There are two types of bread I've tried to make over the years that have failed miserably: pita bread and English muffins.

It doesn't help my pride that every time I read a recipe for either one of those it's being touted as the absolute easiest kind of fail-proof bread to make.

Sadly, that hadn't held true for me.

Well, a month or so ago I started noticing regular (read: daily) charges from McDonald's.  Obviously my husband had developed a new habit on his way to work!

Turns out two Sausage McMuffins and a Diet Coke had become his latest go-to breakfast.

Setting aside the obvious issue of how unhealthy it is to eat a breakfast like that every single day, I immediately decided that if he was going to eat sausage breakfast sandwiches every morning I would at the very least save some money and make them at home for him to take with him.

I'm frugal.

Then, after a couple of weeks of buying store-bought English muffins I decided that I would save even more money and try my hand at making them myself one last time.

Thankfully, this time they turned out beautifully!!

Really the recipe isn't all that different from any other bread recipe.  It's a beautiful soft dough made with milk.  The biggest difference between this bread and other yeast breads is that rather than baking the English muffins in the oven they are cooked on the stovetop in skillets.

You should have seen my kitchen- I decided to save time rather than cooking them in small batches and I had a skillet on every burner on my stovetop going at the same time!

It made quick work of things.  :-)

These turned out so nicely.  After splitting with a fork they toasted up nicely with lots of nooks and crannies.  Personally, I love mine with marmalade or Ma'am's Hot Jam, but my husband enjoyed his with a slice of American cheese and either a sausage patty or a slice of Canadian bacon.

Next time I will make a double batch (if my husband keeps up this breakfast sandwich habit!) since they defrost beautifully after freezing.

I'll never buy store-bought again!

English Muffins

Click to see the recipe on Allrecipes.com

1 C milk

2 Tbsp white sugar

1 (.25 oz) package active dry yeast

1 C warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1/4 C melted shortening

6 C all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, shortening and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise.

3. Punch down. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or empty tuna can. Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.

4. Heat greased griddle. Cook muffins on griddle about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat. Keep baked muffins in a warm oven until all have been cooked. Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage. To use, split and toast. Great with orange butter, or cream cheese and jam.

•