Breakfast

When it comes to breakfast, I must admit my favourite breakfasts have to include the following: coffee and carbs.

Working very long days as I do, I often wake up early, hungry, and need something to get me through the morning. One of my absolute favourites for breakfast is English muffins. And I thought I would have a go at making them for the first time. I had a look at recipes to work out where to start.

Firstly, I couldn’t find many recipes out there for English muffins. There was one is Short and Sweet, but it is VERY slow to make (I recall you have to start them the day before) and I just don’t have time in my life for that sort of thing at the moment. This is probably why my attempts at Sourdough have not been successful, as I am never in the same place for the required number of days straight to get the starter ready to use…

I am also rather partial to the Duchy Originals wholemeal English muffins from Waitrose which you may have seen. They are not that good, but I buy them as they are the kind of thing I want to eat, not being a fan of processed white bread.

So, it seemed obvious, I needed to make some wholemeal muffins. This recipe was adapted from reading around six recipes before I started, and then I had to adjust as I went along. Here’s how I got on:

Wholemeal English muffins

Ingredients:

Makes 8 x 3″ muffins

– 3 cups wholemeal flour (I used 81% wholemeal from Stoate’s here in Dorset)

– 1 tsp sea salt

– 1 teaspoon quick action yeast

– 1/2 cup warm water

– 1 cup milk (I used organic semi-skimmed as was all we had)

– 3 tbsp sunflower oil

– 1 tbsp honey

– 1 large free-range egg

– 1/2 cup warm water

– A little more flour for rolling out

– Some poppy seeds to scatter on top (optional)

Method:

– I weighed out the flour and set it aside in a bowl with the salt

– I mixed the yeast with the water and left to activate for around 5 minutes

– In a jug, I whisked together the milk, oil, honey and egg until well combined, to which I added the yeast and water and whisked again

– The wet mixture was added to the dry mixture. I mixed the ingredients together until they started to come together, and added the remaining warm water. Being lazy, I did this in the Kitchen Aid with the dough hook for just two or three minutes. The dough did look quite dry, so you may need to add a little more water.

– I covered the bowl with cling film and left it for around two hours. One hour would be enough I reckon, but I went spinning, so it had to be two.

– Next, I turned out the dough onto a floured surface and filled out to around an inch thick.  I cut out circles using my new crumpet rings. I then placed the discs on a floured baking sheet, attempted to sprinkle over some poppy seeds, and covered with cling film and left them for another 30 minutes again.

– Finally, I heated two very large non-stick frying pans until they were quite not (not smoking). I gently placed the disks into the pan and cooked for around 3 minutes on each side until crisp and brown on each side.

I’m off to have one for breakfast right now. I think they will be perfect with some homemade damson jam or marmalade.