Organic English muffins

English Muffins
Make your own English muffins - why not? While it does take a bit of time to slowly dry-fry these muffins in order to give them their signature crisp crust and moist interior, the process isn't difficult. And the result is
this world.
PREP
25 mins
BAKE
25 to 30 mins
TOTAL
2 hrs 20 mins
YIELD
16 large (3" to
31/2") English muffins
Ingredients
- 13/4 cups (397g) milk, lukewarm
- 3 tablespoons (43g) butter, softened
- 11/4 to 11/2 teaspoons salt, to
taste
- 2 tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 41/2 cups (540g) King Arthur
Unbleached Bread Flour
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- King Arthur Semolina Flour or farina, for sprinkling the griddle or pan
Instructions
Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Combine all of the ingredients (except the semolina or farina) in a mixing bowl, or the bucket of your bread machine.
2 This is a very soft dough, so you'll need to treat it a bit differently than most yeast doughs. If you have a stand mixer, beat the dough using the flat beater paddle until it starts coming away from the sides of the bowl, and is satin-smooth and shiny; this will take about 5 minutes at medium-high speed. When you lift up the beater, the dough will be very stretchy. If you have a bread machine, simply use the dough cycle.
Scrape the dough into a rough ball, and cover the bowl. Let the dough rise until its nice and puffy; this will take 1 to 2 hours or so.
Prepare your griddle(s). Using two griddles allows you to cook all the muffins at once; but since you probably don't have two griddles, you'll need to cook the muffins in shifts. Whatever you use - an electric griddle, stovetop griddle, frying pan, electric frying pan - sprinkle it heavily with semolina or farina. If you're using a griddle or frying pan that's not well-seasoned (or non-stick), spray it with non-stick vegetable oil spray first, before adding the semolina or farina.
5 Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into 16 pieces. Shape each piece into a sincoth ball, then flatten the balls until they're about 3" to 31/2" in ameter.
6 Tho
siest way to handle and cook these muffins is to lay them right rico the cold surface you'll be frying them on. That way, you don't have to move them once they're risen; and they won't mind cooking very slowly as you fire the griddle up to its desired heat. If you don't have enough griddle space to do this, sprinkle a baking sheet heavily with semolina -idina, and place the muffins on the sheet; they can be fairly close together. Either way, sprinkle the tops of the muffins with additior al semolina or farina.