Easy Oven Baked English Muffins

Delicious English muffins full of nooks and crannies. A simple oven recipe to start your day with something special for breakfast.

This is my first recipe in several months. The kitchen is not totally restocked. We are still sorting things out but I have wanted to try this for several months.

As usual I read many recipes and honestly for a simple thing like an English Muffin they are all over the place. Some of the common things I didn’t like:

• The need for multiple muffin rings
• The stove top method. You are talking about standing at a stove for multiple batches at 15 to 30 minutes each. And then some recipes still required finishing in the oven.
• Some had lots of ingredients and steps. I’m too simple for that.
• Did I say I didn’t like the stove top method and all the rings?

So I looked for an oven baked method. There were several at King Arthur Flour but they were variations of the same recipe and the method struck me as needlessly complicated. It involved flipping hot trays over. Plus some odd ingredients.

There is a great discussion at Sheryl’s Blog about the history of English muffins which are really American and related to English crumpets. She included some old cookbook references (that I read) and used “raise until it drops” method. Which is just mixing and letting it rise at room temperature overnight, and the rise will stop and the dough will “fall in upon itself”…. I liked the idea. Sounded great for nooks and crannies.

So my plan.

• Use the raise until it drops overnight rise method.
• No egg. Many recipes had an egg. Food safety first and always here. The egg setting overnight at room temperature bothered me a lot. I know cooking would kill bacteria.
• I needed a little dryer dough. All the recipes had very moist dough. I wanted it to stand up enough not to make Peta bread and not need baking rings. I only had one.
• Preheat the baking tray with the oven to get better browning (it worked)
• Cook to 200 degree internal temp.

Rating:

A very nice breakfast treat. I’m between a 4 and a 5 but it is only a muffin.

Tired Dogs

Notes:

Add a little cinnamon and raisins for a special treat. If you like a thicker muffin, make six not eight.

These should freeze well. They should spoil in a few days so if you are not consuming them in a few days please freeze them.

If you don’t have a baking ring, you can use a tuna can or something similar. You also could from them by hand but the more you play with the dough, the less nooks and crannies.

Warm 1 cup milk in the microwave to about 100 to 105 degrees (about 30-40 seconds). Also melt 1 tablespoon butter (about 10 seconds).

Combine the warmed milk, melted butter, one tablespoon sugar and one package (2 1/4 teaspoons) quick or rapid yeast. Mix well and allow the yeast to proof for about 5 minutes until starting to foam a little. Add 2 1/2 cups of flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix well.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to set overnight at room temperature.

The dough will “fall in upon itself”. Cut some 4-5 inch squares of parchment papers for later use. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with a large nonstick jelly roll tray in the oven.

Turn the dough onto a floured surfaces and gentle roll up and then cut into 8 equal pieces. Be gentle with the dough.

Place some cornmeal in a shallow bowl. Gently form the dough into balls and coat with the cornmeal.

Place a 3 inch cooking ring on a piece of the parchment paper. Drop the coated balls of dough into the ring and flatten gently to fill the ring then “dimple” the center in about a quarter of an inch. This will help it bake flatter. Repeat for all the dough balls. Allow to rest 30 minutes for any residual rise to occur.

Remove the preheated tray from the oven. Place the muffins on the tray and dust with a little more cornmeal.

Bake for 10 minutes. Flip the muffins. Bake another 8 minutes or so until color is nice and internal temperature of 200 degrees.

Move to cooling rack. Allow to cook at least 5 minutes before serving.

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4 from 10 votes

Easy Oven Baked English Muffins

Delicious English muffins full of nooks and crannies. A simple oven recipe to start your day with something special for breakfast.

Prep Time40 mins

Cook Time18 mins

Total Time58 mins

Author: Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

Course : Bread

Cuisine : American

Keyword : Comfort Food, Delicious, Traditional

Servings/Adjust Amount: 8

8

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 package rapid dry yeast - or quick
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal

Instructions

• Warm 1 cup milk in the microwave to about 100 to 105 degrees (about 30-40 seconds). Also, melt one tablespoon butter (about 10 seconds).
• Combine the warmed milk, melted butter, one tablespoon sugar and one package (2 1/4 teaspoons) quick or rapid yeast. Mix well and allow the yeast to proof for about 5 minutes until starting to foam a little.
• Add 2 1/2 cups of flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix well.
• Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to set overnight at room temperature.
• The dough will "fall in upon itself". Cut some 4-5 inch squares of parchment papers for later use. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with a large nonstick jelly roll tray in the oven.
• Turn the dough onto a floured surfaces and gentle roll up and then cut into eight equal pieces. Be gentle with the dough.
• Place some cornmeal in a shallow bowl. Gently form the dough into balls and coat with the cornmeal.
• Place a 3-inch cooking ring on a piece of the parchment paper. Drop the coated balls of dough into the ring and gently flatten to fill the ring than "dimple" the center in about a quarter of an inch. This will help it bake flatter. Repeat for all the dough balls. Allow to rest 30 minutes for any residual rise to occur.
• Remove the preheated tray from the oven. Move the muffins on the tray and dust with a little more cornmeal.
• Bake for 10 minutes. Flip the muffins. Bake another 8 minutes or so until the color is nice and an internal temperature of 200 degrees.
• Move to a cooling rack. Allow to cook at least 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe Notes

Add a little cinnamon and raisins for a special treat. If you like a thicker muffin, make six not eight.

These should freeze well. They should spoil in a few days so if you are going to use them over time. Freeze them.

If you don't have a baking ring, you can use a tuna can or something similar. You also could shape them by hand but the more you play with the dough, the less nooks and crannies

Nutrition Facts

Easy Oven Baked English Muffins

Amount Per Serving

Calories 179 Calories from Fat 18

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 2g 3%

Saturated Fat 1g 5%

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.1g

Monounsaturated Fat 0.4g

Cholesterol 5mg 2%

Sodium 163mg 7%

Potassium 123mg 4%

Total Carbohydrates 35g 12%

Dietary Fiber 2g 8%

Sugars 3g

Protein 6g 12%

Vitamin A 2%

Calcium 5%

Iron 10%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Have a question or something not clear? Ask in the comments.

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Nutrition is for one serving. Number of servings is stated above and is my estimate of normal serving size for this recipe.

All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.

If you like this recipe or find it useful, the pleasure of a nice 4 or 5 rating would be greatly appreciated.