RECIPE
HOMEMADE ENGLISH MUFFINS
from Maggie Penn of St. Louis, MO
This recipe is adapted from a recipe by Alton Brown. You will need several 3-inch metal rings or tuna cans with the tops and bottoms cut off (6 of these is a good number), one or two pot lids lid large enough to fit over the rings on whatever cooking surface you are using, and nonstick cooking spray. An electric griddle that can be heated to 300 degrees is also helpful.
I
3/4 cup evaporated milk and 1/2 cup + 1 T hot water
OR
1/2 cup dry nonfat milk powder and 1 cup hot water
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 T butter (OR 1 T shortening)
Combine above ingredients until sugar and butter are dissolved. Let cool.
II
1 envelope dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water
1/8 tsp sugar
Combine yeast, warm water and sugar and let sit until yeast dissolves. Add to milk mixture.
III
2 cups all-purpose flour
Sift flour into milk mixture and beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Cover bowl and let rest in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
IV
1/2 tsp salt
After the 30 minutes, stir another 1/2 tsp salt into mixture and beat again with spoon.
Preheat a griddle to 300 degrees.
Place metal rings on griddle and spray them well with nonstick cooking spray. It is important to spray the rings well because the batter has a tendency to stick. You will ultimately be making 8-10 muffins, so spoon an appropriate amount of batter into each ring (an amount to fill a tuna can about 2/3 full). The batter will be extremely sticky.
Cover the rings with a large pot lid to create a steamy environment. Cook for 6 minutes. Then, using tongs, flip the rings and cook another 5-6 minutes until browned. The muffins might fall out of the rings while you flip them. It doesn't really matter. They are slightly prettier if left in the rings.
After the muffins have cooked, remove rings and let cool on a rack, then split with a fork and eat with butter, a poached egg or whatever. They are especially yummy when toasted until crunchy on top.
The batter is very sticky.
Using a pot lid creates a steamy environment.
Just before flipping.
After a particularly messy flipping process a couple rings were lost.
