Homemade English Muffins

Method

1. Make the dough: combine flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Add warm milk and melted butter. Stir until a soft dough forms, then knead for 6 minutes until smooth and slightly tacky. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and rise for 1 hour until doubled.

2. Roll the dough to 1/2-inch thick on a cornmeal-dusted surface. Cut 3-inch rounds with a cutter. Dust the tops with cornmeal. Place on parchment and let rise for 30 minutes until puffy.

3. Cook on a dry griddle over medium-low heat for 7–8 minutes per side until golden brown and cooked through. The muffins should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. The low, slow heat cooks the interior without burning the exterior.

4. Cool on a wire rack. To serve, split with a fork — pierce around the equator, then pull apart. The fork-split creates the nooks and crannies that are the entire point of an English muffin. Toast and butter generously.

Equipment

• Large mixing bowl Recommended: Vollrath 13-Quart Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl
• Griddle or large skillet Also good: Victoria Cast Iron Griddle
• 3-inch round cutter
• Rolling pin Recommended: J.K. Adams Maple Rolling Pin
• Muffin pan
• Wire rack Recommended: Checkered Chef Stainless Steel Wire Rack

Chef Notes

• The most important thing: Cook on a griddle or dry skillet over medium-low heat, not in the oven. The griddle gives English muffins their unique flat shape, golden exterior, and soft interior. Baking them produces a completely different texture — more like a dinner roll.
• Split with a fork, not a knife. Piercing around the equator with a fork and pulling apart tears the crumb, creating the signature nooks and crannies that catch butter and jam. A knife cuts cleanly and destroys the texture.
• Medium-low heat is critical. Too high and the outside burns before the inside cooks. 7–8 minutes per side at medium-low gives you a golden exterior and fully cooked interior.
• Dust generously with cornmeal on both sides before cooking. It prevents sticking and adds the classic gritty texture on the surface.
• The dough should be soft and slightly sticky. Don't add too much flour — a wetter dough produces a more open, holey crumb.

Common Substitutions

Ingredient	Substitution	Notes
Butter	Ghee or olive oil	Ghee for similar richness. Olive oil for dairy-free.
Whole milk	Oat milk or almond milk	Oat milk is creamiest. Almond is thinner — add 1 tsp oil.
Bread	Gluten-free bread or lettuce wraps	GF bread varies by brand. Lettuce wraps for low-carb.
All-purpose flour	Gluten-free 1:1 flour blend	Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur GF blends work best.
Flour tortillas	Corn tortillas or lettuce wraps	Corn is gluten-free. Lettuce for low-carb.
Sugar	Coconut sugar or maple syrup	Coconut sugar is 1:1. Maple: reduce liquid slightly.

What You're Practicing

Griddle-cooking bread teaches you about stovetop baking — using direct contact heat instead of oven heat. The same technique is used for naan, tortillas, crumpets, and flatbreads. Understanding how different heat sources (oven vs. griddle vs. grill) produce different textures is a fundamental baking concept. Visit Techniques for more on stovetop breads.

The fork-splitting technique teaches you that how you cut bread affects its texture. Tearing creates rough surfaces with more surface area (better for catching butter); cutting creates smooth surfaces. Visit Pastry Foundations for more on bread techniques.