English Muffins Recipe

How to make it

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• Mix dry ingredients together well in a fairly large bowl
• Add softened butter
• Add hot water all at once.
• Beat by hand about 2 minutes until well-mixed and smooth.
• Put bowl in a warm, draft-free place and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. (My oven has no pilot light, so it's never warmer than room temperature. I turn on the oven for no more than 1 minute, then turn it off, and turn on the oven light. That brings the oven up to about 80 degrees...a good temperature for the rise. I've also put a big baking pan on the bottom of the oven and poured in an inch of hot water. If your oven has an always-on pilot light, that probably brings your oven up to a temperature warm enough for a good rise)
• If you have muffin rings (about 4 inches across and 1 inch deep) grease them. Set your fry pan to 325 degrees and warm it up. Pour coarse corn meal over the bottom....about 1T will do nicely. (You can make these in a griddle or fry pan on the top of the stove, but it's tough to keep the temperature even)
• (If you don't have muffin rings...and how many of us do?....you can use any broad can that you can take the top and bottom off. Tuna cans used to work great, but the stackable bottoms have ruined their usefulness. Just try to use the shallowest, broadest cans you can find. Grease inside of one end about 1 inch up.)
• Set the rings onto the cooking surface.
• Grease a 1/3 cup measure inside and out. Dip into the batter and scoop out a generous measure. Scrape into one of the rings or cans and spread to the edges with a non-stick spatula. Repeat until all four molds are filled. (This batter isn't especially runny. If you're working with taller cans, put the batter in a heap right on the cook surface, put the can down around the batter and spread it with the spatula....this method keeps the batter off the walls of the can.)
• Cover with the lid or set the lid over the tops of the cans. Cook 6 mins or so, or until the muffins are golden brown.
• Scrape around the inside of the mold with a thin spatula or knife.
• Flip the muffin onto the other side and cook for another 6 minutes or so.
• Cool on a rack.
• To toast the muffins, separate by gently pushing a fork horizontally into the muffin about halfway up the side. Repeat all around the circumference. Gently pull apart.
• I know this sounds like a lot of work, but I've put in every detail I can think of....The first time I tried 'em, my kitchen was really excited (some people might call it a mess). Give it a try when you're not in a rush and the house is relatively quiet. Once you've made them 2 or 3 times, you may never go back to store-bought.