Wild Yeast

Notes from my kitchen, in which I bake bread and raise a few other matters

Sourdough English Muffins

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Wish I was an English muffin
‘Bout to make the most out of a toaster
— Simon and Garfunkel, “Punky’s Dilemma”

Sourdough English Muffins

If you want to make the most out of your toaster, lose the Thomas’ and grace it with these instead.

Inspired by several talented bakers at The Fresh Loaf who have produced various takes on the English muffin in recent months, I finally could stand it no longer, and had to try them for myself. I see why they have been so popular. The bang for the buck is tremendous; they could not be easier, yet the result is outstanding.

The recipe uses just the amount of starter I’m “discarding” from my evening feeding, so I don’t even have to have planned ahead to make them (always a bonus in my world). Ferment the sponge overnight, and it’s a simple affair in the morning to mix and cook them.

Sourdough English Muffins

Yield: 8 – 10 muffins

Time:

  • Mix and ferment sponge: 8 hours
  • Mix and shape final dough: 15 minutes
  • Proof: 45 minutes
  • Cook: 15 minutes

Sponge Ingredients:

  • 110 g ripe 100% hydration sourdough starter
  • 160 g flour
  • 100 g whole wheat flour
  • 276 g milk (I used lowfat 1%)

Final Dough Ingredients:

  • 75 g flour
  • 3/4 t. salt
  • 1 t. baking soda
  • 1.5 t. agave nectar (or honey)
  • all of the sponge

Method:

  1. In a medium bowl, mix the sponge ingredients until just combined. Cover and let rest for 8 hours or overnight.
  2. Add the final dough ingredients and mix to roughly combine. Turn the dough out onto the counter and hand mix for about 7 or 8 minutes, or until the surface becomes quite smooth. The dough will be very soft, and sticky at first. Resist the urge to add more flour; it will become less sticky with mixing.
  3. Flour the counter and your hands well, and roll or pat the dough out to a thickness of about one-half inch. Cut the dough into 3-inch circles and place them on semolina-dusted parchment paper.
  4. Cover and let proof for 45 – 60 minutes.
  5. Lightly oil a griddle and heat it over medium-low heat. Cook the muffins for a total of about 7 or 8 minutes on each side, until browned and the sides are firm. I find I get a better shape to the muffins if I flip them every couple of minutes for the first few minutes.
  6. Cool on a wire rack. To get the best nooks and crannies for toasting, split the muffins with a fork rather than a knife.

Sourdough English Muffins

CommentsLeave a comment

  1. Excellent, Susan. I appreciate your ferreting out the grams, too. I’ve made these three times and added different amounts of flour each time. Is that roughly the whole 2 3/4 cups called for in the original recipe? When I made them with just enough flour to do what could be called ‘kneading’, the texture suffered some. But when I made them with only 2 cups, they spread and were more like thick pancakes. But I didn’t want to over-mix just to ‘dry’ them out, presuming that gluten development was not a goal here. The middle ground worked best for me, just call me Goldilocks…so I’ve been wondering what other people’s experience was.

  2. Nice! I made them this weekend and they were delicious! I love English muffins and I will make them again and again,…
    🙂

  4. When you say that you are using the amount that you are “discarding” from your evening feeding, are you talking about ‘evening feeding on a buildup’ or ‘evening feeding of the starter just to make sure it stays viable’? (I hope that made sense!)

    -Elizabeth

  5. Browndog: I think it’s about 2.5 cups of flour, but of course that depends on how you measure the cups. (That’s why I always weigh flour, and I’m VERY opinionated about this!) If you wanted a wetter dough/batter, you could use English muffin rings (or tuna cans with both ends removed). I’ve not done that so can’t vouch for it but I’ve seen the rings around.

    Bart: The muffins on your site look wonderful.

    Marta: Thanks. I think you’ll find them to be very easy and tasty.

    Elizabeth: The second one. I try to find something to do with my “waste,” like saving it for pancakes, or now, these muffins.

  6. Katie’s recipe at tfl had a range of 2-2 3/4 cups of flour, yes, whatever that means. 2 1/2 sounds like what worked best for me. I much prefer to use scales than ‘random’ measuring, though, so I’m happy you posted the gram amounts. Making a batch today.

  8. Thanks for the clarification. And that’s most useful to know. I was under the impression that the “waste” was somehow inviable and it’s nice to know that I don’t HAVE to throw it out.

    Although I vaguely remember seeing something about times after feeding in Nancy Silverton’s Bread from La Brea Bakery – ah here it is: (or am I misreading this?)

    a starter is at its optimum strength and flavor 8 to 12 hours after it’s fed, and drops off considerably in quality beyond that range

    and a little earlier in the book:

    let it ferment 8 to 12 hours, definitely not more than 15 hours

    -Elizabeth

    P.S. My regular starter feedings are in the morning, but perhaps I should switch to evening feedings so I don’t have to discard the extra…

  9. Browndog, I hope yesterday’s batch was as fantastic. The ones you posted on TFL really lit a fire under me to try them.

    Mimi, the muffins on your blog look really terrific already!

    Elizabeth, to further clarify: I feed my starter twice a day, so the starter I’m putting in the muffins is just ripe, not over-ripe. When I referred to saving it, that would be for pancakes or as an extra flavor boost in something that does not derive all its leavening from that starter. I am going to post soon on how I maintain my starter.

  10. And again, thank you for the further clarification, Susan. That makes much more sense.

    Wow! You feed your starter twice a day to maintain? (I’ve been feeding mine once every three days.)

    I like to use the extra that is created midday on a buildup day when I feed the starter 3 times. I have added it to naan, biscuit or pizza dough.

    But now I really want to try making English muffins!

    -Elizabeth

  13. Well, I also made these today and they did not turn out. I have no idea where I went wrong. HELP!

    • I made them today and it was a test of frustration. The dough ends up being much too sticky to roll out and really was quite a mess!

  14. Hi Susan! I was looking around for inspiration to get myself and my poor, neglected starter out of a winter funk, and I think it’s definitely time to try these. They sounded familiar… I’d come across this a few months ago: http://www.monticello.org/jefferson/dayinlife/breakfast/fun.html. The proportions are different (and very basic… no helping ingredients, just the basics) but the idea and the method is similar. I’m sure the “two table spoonsfull of yeast” means starter… I don’t think commercial yeast had been invented. Anyway, kind of fun. Happy Winter!

  15. Jennifer, can you be more specific about what didn’t work?

    Helen, great to hear from you. Your blog’s been awfully quiet lately 🙂 Thanks for the link!

  16. Thanks for the “what to do” with the starter that could’ve been tossed. I admit it, I’m unnaturally attached to my starter and hate throwing it away. 😉

  17. I (finally) made these yesterday–they’re WONDERFUL! I had no problems at all with the dough (and even had to convert the measurements, because my digital scale died). I used Trader Joe’s white whole wheat flour, because I was out of regular whole wheat–they turned out perfectly. And the dough was soft and delicate and lovely to handle; super-light, almost like a biscuit dough, but with the stretchiness of a typical sourdough. It reminded me why I love breadmaking so much, because the tactile aspect is such a pleasure. I think these will become a regular on the menu–thanks!

  18. When you say “…roll or pat the dough out to a thickness of about one-half inch.”, do you mean 0.5 or 1.5 inches? I rolled it out to 0.5 inches, they were great but came out very thin, hence my question.

  19. Susan
    I just wanted to clarify,
    when you say flour you you mean bread flour or plain flour?
    Also if you didn’t have whole wheat flour handy could you use a substitute?

    thanks

  20. shuli, that’s 0.5 inches. They should rise to about one inch when proofed and cooked. I think you don’t want them too thick or they won’t be cooked in the middle.

    johnny, I use the flour I use for bread, which is described here:
    http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2008/06/23/flour-101/
    If you don’t have whole wheat I might try rye, or just use more white flour (you’ll want to reduce the liquid just a bit in that case).

  21. Hi there,

    I have been reading your blog for quite a while now, and really enjoy all your recipes. This is my favourite one of all! Last time I made them, I accidentally put in the baking soda twice. Which resulted in, not muffins, but scones. And they would have probably been quite nice had it not been for the mouth-puckering disgusting baking soda flavour.

    I was wondering if you knew what effect the baking soda has on the baking formula, and exactly what it is in this recipe that makes them that lovely muffin consistency as opposed to bread-like or cake-like or scone-like.

    Thanks

    -Rebecca

  22. Rebecca, the (alkaline) baking soda reacts with the acidity of the sourdough and this produces carbon dioxide gas. This extra gas makes the holes bigger than they would be with yeast alone (fermentation of which also produces carbon dioxide).

  23. Thanks for such a fabulous blog! I found your site while searching for a sourdough pancake recipe (yours turned out scrumptious), and have been periodically trying new recipes that catch my eye (today, the overnight ciabatta). I made these muffins while my folks were visiting. So easy and super yummy! Between my girls and me and the grandparents, the entire batch was gone in short order. I was a little nervous that the dough didn’t seem to do much during its final proof but they puffed up beautifully during cooking. Perfect english muffins. Thanks for the advice about flipping often and then forking them open. Definitely made a difference.

  25. I couldn’t resist the urge to add more flour. I wasn’t able to mix this by hand. It was just a big sticky mess. They turned out ok, but not as great as I was hoping. Is it easier to mix it in a Kitchen Aid?

  26. Since we eat English Muffins everyday for breakfast, I was able to try again. With the kneading advice from Susan, I made sure not to add any extra flour. It was messy, but it worked. They seemed a bit chewy to me (I like a crunch on the outside), but they did have lots of nooks and crannies.

  27. Great recipe! The English muffins turned out great! Thanks so much for providing fellow bread fanatics with such a great resource of information!

    A neighbor living on the peninsula, who dearly misses Berkeley and especially the Berkeley Bowl’s bulk section.

  28. Found this wonderful-looking recipe via a search on tfl. I would love to NOT throw away dough when making a starter, but my question on these muffins is this: can I still make these muffins if I have a stiff levain? It is fed with 1/3 cup water and 1 cup flour, so it is not 100% hydration. I am just beginning to understand the “formula” references….
    Many thanks and blessings to you for sharing your expertise!

  29. I just made these for tomorrow morning. I can’t wait.
    We’ve already loved the bagels and soon to come the 47% Rye bread! Dinner tonight was sourdough pancakes. Can you say carb overdose? But at least it is healthy carbs!!!
    Plus, this German girl was brought up on bread and loves to live on bread.
    I love your website … so many delicious bread recipes … so inspiring. Thank you!!!

  31. Heike, if I were going to try this, I’d mix the sponge in the morning, then in the evening mix and shape the muffins and put them in the fridge right away, to cook the next morning.

  32. Just made these two seconds ago and they are delicious and so easy! I’d tried them before with a different recipe and they ended up hockey pucks that the compost pile heartily enjoyed. Thanks for a great recipe!

  33. The recipe says to leave the sponge overnight…is it okay to leave milk overnight without it going bad? Or do you leave it in the fridge overnight?

    Thanks – eager to try it out!

  35. What exactly do you mean by “mix by hand”… because it was so sticky, I kinda twirled it over itself, keeping it together and minimizing sticky contact with the counter.

  36. Tried these last week and they’re terrific! Thanks very much.

    I did make a change, though. I found the dough so sticky that it was worthless to try to cut them into circles. Instead, I just tear off a blob from the dough, toss it between my floured hands a few times to get it into a round shape, then drop it onto the griddle.

    But this means I do not follow the final “proof” step. Am I missing anything by not doing the final proof?

  37. You stated on an earlier post “If you don’t have whole wheat I might try rye, or just use more white flour (you’ll want to reduce the liquid just a bit in that case)”. How much would you decrease the milk in the sponge? I will be substituting the whole wheat flour with all purpose flour. Thank you for your help

  38. Jennifer, tweaks almost always require experimentation, but I might start with 250g of milk and then add some to the final dough if it seems too dry.

  39. Hey Susan, I’ve been making english muffins for a few months now and decided I’d give a different recipe a try. If I were to make the sponge tonight, but couldn’t make the muffins until tomorrow night, should I keep the sponge at room temperature all that time or should I keep it in the fridge. It’ll probaby end up being a little less than 24 hours from the time the sponge is made until I make the muffins. Thanks!

  40. You you should edit the blog subject Sourdough English Muffins | Wild Yeast to something more specific for your blog post you make. I liked the post however.

  41. Ok made recipe as described. left over night, got called out in the morning so came home at lunch to shape and ‘bake’….. very wet dough, very hard to handle, shape… waiting for my very irregular muffins to rise so i can cook……hmmm.

    photo to come

  42. These are unbelievably good! Thank you for sharing the recipe 🙂

    I subbed in soy milk and maple syrup. They were brilliant – and so easy! I’m grateful to have something to do with my ‘discards’.

    Becky

  43. Oh my, I can’t wait to try these! Could you use this same recipe to make a loaf instead? I love English Muffin bread and I love sourdough…so I’m hoping this recipe would work in a bread pan too.

  44. This recipe was my first attempt at baking anything sourdough. They taste great, but in the nooks and crannies department, they look more like sandwich bread as opposed to english muffins. I am still very new to this so I am not sure what I did worng. Any suggestions? We will still eat them by the way. My husband thinks they taste great!

  45. April, try it and see!

    Stephanie, it’s hard to say; could be your starter was not active enough, or the dough was insufficiently or overly mixed, overproofed, etc. Glad they’re still edible, though!

  46. Just wanted to say that I’ve made these a few times now and they are the best English muffins I’ve ever had!! I think they get better every time I make them 🙂

  47. Just made these and the dough was very wet and difficult to work with. I measured the ingredients to be more precise but had to add more flour to get a manageable dough to cut and proof. Have not baked them yet as they are now proofing. Next time you make them, could you post a picture of the dough before and after kneading so I can see what consistency I am striving for?
    Thanks

  48. Hello, if I’ve done my calculations correctly, by adding only 76 grams of flour to the final dough, you get a roughly 70% hydration dough. Is this the correct hydration? I get a more of a batter than a dough. Of course I must say that I don’t have any whole wheat flour on hand so I substituted with my regular white flour, and my regular white flour is italian “farina di grano tenero ‘0’” which seems to absorb a little less liquid than american flours. In any case, can someone describe what would be the ideal consistency of the dough so I can try to “adapt” the recipe to my flour and situation. Thanks

  49. Had a second go at these–this time with a local sourdough starter and an attempt at “all-purpose” flour.
    In Florence, Italy that meant a guestimate of semolina, soft winter wheat and kamut flours to arrive at ?11-12% protein?.
    Anyway they came out great. Last time I made muffins they had to proof for a really long time to be overproofed and full of holes; these were less so but very tasty.
    Pictures on my blog: rospobio.blogspot.com

    Thanks for the recipe; I’m a frequent lurker.

  52. These are so good! Have made them a few times now, and the first was the best (beginners luck, I guess!). I think I tend to rush the proofing stage. Tomorrow, though, I’m trying again and setting my alarm early so I won’t need to rush. Here’s hoping the kids sleep in long enough for these to bake!
    By the way, your sourdou recipe selection is fantastic, AND I liked it so much I finally bought a scale. No more guessing!
    Keep up the wonderful kitchen magic!

  53. Let me just say that they were amazing! :). So glad to stumble across this recipe!! They are definitely hard to handle being so wet, but i think it’s worth the trouble!

  54. Amazing! I followed the measurements pretty much exactly (love my kitchen scale) and the results were perfect! I did actually forget to add the honey, but I don’t think it didn’t make much of a difference to the final product.

    I’ll agree that working with the wet dough is challenging, but the high hydration made for a great end product. I opted to use my KA mixer and dough hook for 3 minutes instead of hand mixing. After the dough was well mixed, I turned it out onto a floured surface and lightly sprinkled flour on top. The idea was to keep the outer surface of the dough floured enough to not stick, but not work too much into the dough and change the hydration.

    Instead of rolling, I gently patted down the dough to a height of 2-3 cm and used a drinking glass (rim dipped in flour) to cut out the circles by pushing down the glass and then gently wiggling it to separate the muffin from the rest of the dough.

    The dough didn’t rise much during proofing, but got excellent “pan spring” and doubled in height while cooking the first side.

    Great recipe, thank you!

  55. Leaving the milk out on the counter for 8 hours… Won’t it spoil? Does the yeast eat it before it has a chance to spoil? Can the sponge be left in the fridge? I’ve never baked like this before, so I am a bit nervous, but at the same time, totally excited to try it! Thanks for all these great recipes! My starter is back to full force and ready to bake with again! 🙂

  56. Lisa, the bacteria in the sourdough keep the milk from spoiling. If you leave the sponge in the fridge, it will slow down the yeast activity too much and the sponge will not ferment properly.

  57. I LOVE these english muffins! What a great way to use up starter that would otherwise be tossed, and what’s better than a breakfast sandwich made with a homemade english muffin?? I didn’t have regular milk in the house, but did have buttermilk, so I used that instead. Delicious! To make mixing the sticky dough a bit easier, I hand mixed on a silpat. Still sticky, but at least the dough sticks to the surface less. Thanks, Susan!

  58. Oh my! My first turn at making anything sourdough (apart from crumpets and that’s kinda cheating) – after having issues with a starter with a wonderful history, I changed flours and voila, my starter started to do what it was supposed to! Decided to make these, and was doubtful they would work (due to my previous starter issues) but they turned out PERFECTLY! I hadn’t realised your ‘bread flour’ is wholemeal, so used white, and ended up having to use extra, but they were so tasty, great texture on the inside, and great crunch on the outside. Thank you!

  60. Hi, I accidentally put my baking soda in before letting it sit out overnight:( do u know if it’s ruined or if I might need to add more tomorrow? Thanks!

  61. Hi thank you for your recipe, I have made it once so far and everyone loved them. I would like to let the sponge ferment for 24 hours hoping to get more lactobacillus in my muffins. Can I do this? Thank you, sherry

  62. Ps…I can place it in a room temperature of 68 degrees for the 24 hours. Thank you again as I am trying to feed my family healthier foods and your recipe is a hit!

  63. I have made this recipe several times (I also found it at The Fresh Loaf originally) – I use unbleached white flour (hubby not a whole wheat fan) & may omit the baking soda depending on the starter I use …I find this recipe quite simple & such treat!

  64. Just made for first time today using spelt flour / white- they look awesome! My partner loves English muffins – will never buy from shop again!

  66. Hi,

    I love your blog…frequent visitor here as well as TFL. Decided to make English muffins using your recipe and they turned out great. Lots of “oven spring” once they hit the cast iron. Its a great way to use my sourdough discard.

    Just one question/observation: your recipe calls for 100 grams whole wheat flour…yet your pictures look like they don’t have any whole wheat at all…my crumb was much more brown. Any chance the pictured muffins were just bread flour? Thanks for the great blog.

    Dwight

    • I did use whole wheat flour but perhaps the lighting of my photos made it look otherwise. As expected, the crumb is darker than you’d get with all white flour, and lighter than with all whole wheat.

  67. I know this is an old post but I just had to comment! Simply delicious….I followed the recipe exactly, as far as the ingredients, but instead of kneading the dough on a floured surface…I decided to leave the dough in the bowl and use my silicone/plastic spatula to kind of fold and flatten the dough onto it’s self over and over again for the 7-8 minutes. The dough is of such high hydration that instead of trying to roll the dough out to cut into the shape I wet my hands(each time) under running water and used the spatula (each time) to pick up the dough and grabbed a handful then patted the dough (with wet hands) to form the 3 in. round. 1/2 in. thick muffins! Worked like a charm….muffins came out beautifully moist with all the nooks and crannies! Thanks again for the recipe!

  68. This is the best recipe ever!! Thank you Susan! I do everything you say to do in your recipe and I use a slap and fold technique I learned from Jacob Burton. My muffins are full of nooks and crannys! Thank you so very much! Sherry

  69. I made these today. My mixture only made 6, but they were quite large lol.
    I used white flour all the way through, and lactose free milk. Was a little bit concerned because they didn’t rise during proving, but this didn’t end up being a concern because they rose really well in the pan.
    I can’t wait to toast one for breakfast tomorrow. Infact, I might just sneak out later tonight and have one then.

  70. Hi:

    This recipe works dairy free as well; I tried both with light coconut milk (trader joe’s variety, least amount of additives), and also made my own hazelnut milk. The coconut milk smelled smothing vile, but tasted fine. The hazelnut milk based one was sublime.

  71. Hi! Thanks for your amazing blog, which I recently discovered. I’m a novice at baking bread from a home-grown starter, and this seemed like a great, easy recipe to try out a starter that I’ve been cultivating for a while. The muffins turned out nice and fluffy for me, and the flavour was *perfect*, but — no nooks and crannies! They were like normal rolls or biscuits on the inside. What did I do wrong?

    I added more flour than listed, enough to actually make the dough hold together and not stick to my hands — so perhaps that is my problem? But I don’t see how I could add less and still have a workable dough.

    Or maybe I left the starter too long before harvesting from it to make the sponge? I’m not yet great at discerning when the starter is “ripe”…

    Please…diagnose a novice’s muffins!

  72. I’ve made these muffins numerous times…both with the whole wheat and with all white flour…they are awesome either way! My question is if I can substitute the milk with buttermilk…only because I have some that needs using up.

    Thanks,
    Sher

  73. Hi Susan,
    Was just recommended this blog by a long time reader friend! I’m about 3 weeks into a sourdough journey with a starter said friend gifted me that has been alive and kickin’ since the 90’s. It’s at a 60% hydration and i wonder how to adapt these great recipes to work with it as is. i always create my levain with a piece of chef from last weeks batch of farm bread (the chef is roughly the same hydration as well). so i’d like to keep the hydration stable around 60% so i can continue on my journey- but experiment with your blog every once in a while! suggestions? thanks 🙂

  74. This recipe is excellent! Made them using 100% whole wheat flour, whole wheat starter, honey, & let proof for 12 hours. Turned out fluffy, light, and nutty. Will be keeping this recipe and making again!!

  75. Hi Susan,

    I was wondering if you knew of any substitutes for some of the salt and the baking soda? My husband cannot have much salt and both the baking soda and salt are just way too much.

    Thanks,
    Cherri

  76. This is such an excellent recipe – it is in regular rotation around here, and everyone is so happy when I make them! Thanks!

  77. I made these the other day and they’re absolutely the best english muffins I’ve ever eaten. I found that I had to add some flour in to even get a dough to form. No amount of kneading ever reduced the stickiness, and I just ended up with a giant club of it stuck to my hand. I also added 1/4 cup of wheat germ (just because I thought it would be delicious and I didn’t want to add too much flour) during the final kneading and it gave the muffins a wonderful flavor.

  78. I made pumpernickel sourdough english muffins using this recipe as a base – it worked great!
    I used the basic ratios substituted for traditional pumpernickel ingredients:
    Bread flour for white flour (to help with gluten development)
    Rye for whole wheat
    5g cocoa powder for some of the 75g white flour in final dough
    1.5 T molasses for 1.5 t agave
    And I added 1 t caraway seeds

    I found the final dough really difficult to work with. I divided and shaped using wet hands, some didn’t look great but they all cooked up beautifully. Those I cooked in my (well seasoned) cast iron skillet looked better than those I cooked in my nonstick skillet. Next time I’ll take the extra time to cook them all in cast iron. Thanks for the great basic recipe!

Trackbacks

  7. […] that got me through those terrible (and hopefully) last days of winter. Before I discovered the Wild Yeast sourdough English muffin recipe , I would make sourdough pancakes every weekend to give my starter a refresher. I’m really […]

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