Breakfast for Dinner: English Muffins

I'm just going to come out and say it. Baking bread is my forte. You know the quote, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Well, for me it's bread. Beer too, but bread especially. I love the taste, the texture, the baking process. There are few things that bring me more joy than a nice, smooth dough. That said, many of my posts will be about bread.

I could go on, and on, so let's just get into content.

This recipe produces 10 or so buttery, soft-on-the-inside, crunchy-on-the-outside, sweet, salty, all-around mouth-watering english muffins or, as I like to refer to them, pockets of heaven. Prepare yourself, you will probably cry at the first bite, then look up to the heavens and thank God for introducing them into your diet.

If you want these for breakfast, prep them the day or night before and leave it in the refrigerator over night. Or you can do what I did, prep first thing in the morning and have breakfast for dinner.

Start by mixing your dough starter: 1 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoon of unbleached, all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup of water, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tsp active dry yeast.

The starter is a wet, battery mixture that will ultimately ferment and produce the deep, savory flavor profile of the muffins. Whisk all of the ingredients together in a large stand mixer bowl and set to the side.

In a seperate bowl, make a flour mixture by combining 1 cup plus 1 1/2 tbsp of unbleached, all-purpose flour, 2 tbsp dry milk, 1 tsp of active dry yeast. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the dough starter. Cover with plastic wrap, let stand at room temperature for an hour and then refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

Two hours before you're ready to serve, take your dough out of the refrigerator. Mix the dry ingredients into the starter using a kitchen aid on a low speed. Add 1 1/4 tsp salt and 3 tablespoons of butter to the mixture and continue mixing until everything is incorporated.

The next step is prepping out a workspace by flouring an area large enough for your dough. I'm not one of these people that loves to flour out an entire counter top and get dough and crap everywhere. Maybe it's because the mess would be ridiculous. However, if that's your spirit, go for it. There's no judgement here. I use my commerical sized baking sheet.

Roll your dough out, then cover it and let it rise for about an 30 minutes to an hour. Then cut out muffins using a biscuit cutter or an inverted, floured glass (like me!). Toss each muffin in a bit of cornmeal and when you are ready fry them in butter on a griddle, the same way your would a pancake. You'll know they are ready when both sides look delicious and not doughy.

Now gather your friends or family around the stove. Open a jar of jam and a container of butter and let your loved ones enjoy the fruits of your labor, fresh off the griddle. This, is living.

Dough Starter:

1 cup plus 1 1/2 tbsp all purpose, unbleached flour (156 g)

3/4 cup of room temp water (177 g)

1 tbsp honey (20 g)

1 tsp active dry yeast (2 g)

Flour Mixture:

1 cup plus 1 1/2 tbsp all purpose, unbleached flour (156 g)

2 tbsp dry milk (20 g)

1 tsp active dry yeast (2 g)

Then later:

1 1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp butter

Cornmeal for dusting

Butter for frying