Sunday, April 13, 2014

Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins

 That's right, english muffins! If you are a bread customer visiting my blog for the first time, welcome! This is a forum for my creative adventures (mostly culinary the last few years), and starting this week I will be using it sometimes to share pictures of my weekly special.
  I also share recipes for most of the products that I sell. None of my recipes are secret, and I'm not afraid to share my knowledge. My baking service is just that, a service for busy people that enjoy homemade, healthy, preservative free baked goods. If you have the time to bake your own at home, power to you and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. If you want to leave it to me, wonderful! I love feeding people.
Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins (adapted from many recipes, all of which are easy to find)

Night Before:
 1 cup starter
2 tablespoons molasses
1 cup whole milk
1 cup warm water
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 cups unbleached white flour
    Mix together until flour is moistened. It will be very wet and shaggy, but that's ok. Cover with a clean towel and leave out over night.

Next morning:
1 tsp baking soda
1-2 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp salt
cornmeal for dusting

Mix in the baking soda, salt. In a mixer with a dough hook (or a wooden spoon, changing over to hand kneading) add the flour half a cup at a time until you have an elastic moist dough that isn't tacky anymore. Then give it a good work out for about five minutes.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to about 1/2 inch thickness, keeping it even through out. Use a 3 inch biscuit cutter or a drinking glass to cut your muffins. Gather the scraps and roll out again to get as many circles as you can. Place them on a baking sheet lined with wax paper and sprinkled with the cornmeal. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warmish place for about an hour.

Warm your griddle on medium and lightly oil. Place as many muffins as you can comfortably fit in the pan and grill for 2-3 minutes, depending on how hot your pan gets on medium. you want them nicely browned but not too crispy. Flip over and cook for another 2 minutes. This will leave them ever so slightly under-baked in the middle, giving you a classic result when toasted. Repeat with the rest. Store in an air tight container in the fridge. YUM!