I’ve been feeling some breakfast frustration lately. Does that ever happen to you? I have a pretty standard set of three or four things that I eat regularly. Lately I’ve been trying to drop a few pounds, so I like to have some protein in the morning. It helps get me through til lunch. However, eating a solitary egg doesn’t seem like much of a breakfast. I like my eggs runny and it’s nice to have something to dip in them or put them on. So, I turned to English muffins. Or, well, I tried to turn to English muffins. Have you tried English muffins lately? They’re not how I remember them. They were a colossal disappointment. In my head they were crispy and chewy with little pools of butter in those nooks and crannies. That’s not how they were in real life.
So, I set out on the interwebs to find a recipe to make my own. And, frankly, English muffins seemed like a lot of work. More than I had time for anyway. What about English muffin bread? I’ve always loved it. Let’s be honest, it’s bread, of course I love it. But I’m kind of picky about my internet recipes. I have to trust that this isn’t someone impersonating a bread lover and passing me a crummy recipe. I found this one I’d like to make, but, I can’t be trusted with that many loaves of bread. So when this one popped up in my blogroll from My Baking Addiction, a blog I’ve cooked from before and know to be a good source, it was ON.
This bread is quick and easy. Definitely worth a shot. But a note here, English muffin bread is good toasted. I wouldn’t eat it any other way. But that’s just me. You do it your way. Then remind me that I’m right.
recipe courtesy of My Baking Addiction
3 cups All-Purpose Flour or Bread Flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 cup milk
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
cornmeal, to sprinkle in pan
With the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, blend the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and instant yeast.
In a bowl, combine the milk, water, and oil. Microwave until the temperature of the mixture reaches 120-130 degrees. This took about 1:15 in my microwave, but check at intervals. Make sure to stir the mixture before you check the temperature. The mixture should be pretty warm to the touch. As you can see, I let mine get too hot. If this happens, just let it cool on the counter or in the fridge for a few minutes.
Pour the hot liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients already in the mixer. Beat at high speed for one minute. Use a timer, just to be safe. The dough will be soft and sticky.
Grease a loaf pan with some cooking spray and dust it with cornmeal. A handful will do.
Scrape the dough into the loaf pan. I smoothed out the top.
Cover with a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with more cooking spray and let rise in a warm, draft free place about and hour. I like to heat my oven to the lowest temperature (175 degrees for me) when I begin a bread recipe. When it reaches 175 degrees I turn it off and leave the door closed. By the time I get the bread ready to rise it’s still warm enough to do the job, but cool enough not to cook it. If it seems too warm you can always crack the oven door. Since I keep my house as cold as a morgue, this is an important step.
After an hour the bread should have barely crested the top of the pan.
Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the plastic and bake for 22-27 minutes until the top of the bread is golden brown. The interior temperature should be 190 degrees.
Let the bread cool in the pan for five minutes. Then turn it out on a rack to finish cooling.
Slice it up! Like I said, I think it needs to be toasted. It was good warm from the oven, but WAY butter crispy out of the toaster!
And here’s what it looks like on my breakfast plate. Soooo good.
I think a nice, dark toasting really brings out the nooks and crannies. So what have you been craving lately?
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