These homemade English muffins are surprisingly easy to make: golden and crusty on the outside, and soft and chewy on the inside. Perfect for breakfast or brunch, these delicious muffins are so good with butter and jam!
I had English muffins for the first time while I was living in the US. And back then, I didn’t even realize the recipe was so simple. It doesn’t even need an oven. You can make them on the stovetop in a skillet!
All you need is a starter and for the dough to rise overnight. While the overnight rise is not essential, it makes the flavors so much better- So much better than the store-bought ones!
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What Are English Muffins?
English muffins are small, round flatbreads made from yeasty dough and cooked on a griddle. The inside is soft with nooks and crannies. This is where all the butter seeps in, making these muffins totally irresistible!
They make for great breakfast sandwiches. But we love them toasted. Smeared with apple butter, pear butter, or maybe some strawberry chia jam, they are the best toasts you will ever have.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Versatile – English muffins pair well with sweet or savory toppings.
Quick and easy - perfect for a fast breakfast, lazy weekend brunch, or snack. Make double the batch and freeze for later!
Best texture - crispy on the outside and soft inside, with nooks and crannies for toppings to soak in.
Great for recipes - use them in breakfast sandwiches, mini pizzas, or as a base for eggs benedict.
Ingredients For Making English Muffins
Yeast: I used dry active yeast here, as I do for all my breads. This recipe uses a starter as well. And that's what gives these English muffins a little tang and flavor!
Sugar helps activate the yeast.
Milk: I used soy milk. But you can use regular milk as well.
Oil: This recipe uses olive oil. But go ahead and use melted butter instead. They will come out just as well.
Salt balances the overall flavor.
Flour: All-purpose flour works fabulously, but you can make whole-wheat English muffins. Or use a mix of flours. Bread flour will give you chewier muffins.
Cornmeal for dusting the baking tray. You can also use semolina instead. This gives a crunchy crust to the homemade English muffins.
How To Make English Muffins
Step 1: Mix the water, flour, and yeast in a small bowl, till smooth. Cover the bowl and put in a warm corner for 1 -12 hours. The starter will get bubbly and double in volume.
Step 2: In the bowl of your stand mixer or large bowl, combine the bubbly starter, milk and yeast.
Step 3: Whisk in the salt, sugar, and olive oil. Then add the flour.
Step 4: Use a spatula to bring all the ingredients together into a shaggy dough.With a dough hook on your stand mixer, knead the dough till it comes together.
Step 5: Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl.
Step 6: Cover and refrigerate overnight. It will double in size. This dough can stay refrigerated for upto 3 days.
Step 7: Turn the dough out on a well-floured surface and cut into 12 equal pieces. Roll into balls.Place on a baking tray sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle the tops with some more cornmeal.
Step 8: Place the tray in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size
Step 9: Heat a skillet pan to medium heat. Brush with oil and gently place the rolls 3-4 at a time onto the pan. Cook till the bottom of the muffins are golden brown 6-7 minutes.
Step 10: Flip carefully and cook on the other side for another 6-7 minutes. Repeat with all the other rolls. Let them cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing them.
Pro Tips
- You can use the starter for making the dough after an hour, as long as it's bubbly and has doubled in bulk. But the longer the starter sits, the better the flavor.
- You can use the dough the same day, after it's doubled, in about 1 - 1.5 hours. But again, longer proofing ensures more flavor.
- If you're not sure if the English muffins have cooked through, you can place them in a preheated oven at 350 F / 180 C for 8-10 minutes.
- Adjust the heat if your muffins are browning too much or too fast.
- Wipe the skillet after cooking every batch of muffins. Brush with more oil or butter.
- They taste the best when toasted.
- You can certainly knead the dough by hand by a stand mixer is recommended as the dough is quite sticky.
- Use a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients for the best results!
How To Serve
There are countless ways to serve them. You can make delicious crispy toasts out of them and slather homemade fig jam on top.
- They are DELICIOUS toasted and topped with homemade cream cheese and eggless lemon curd.
- Make English muffin baby pizzas with easy tomato sauce and cheese.
- Make McMuffin-style sandwiches.
- Use these for making eggs Benedict!
- For a hefty breakfast, serve the vegan English muffins with veggie breakfast casserole or avocado egg salad, bacon/sausage, and oatmeal latte or this lovely iced strawberry matcha latte!
Recipe FAQs
Smear with regular butter, cinnamon honey, peanut butter, or any of your choice. Slather persimmon jam, cherry jam, or your favorite homemade jam. They taste just out of this world.
Yes, you can make the dough for homemade English muffins a day before. It keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You don't want to wait? After the dough has doubled, it is ready to be cooked. The flavor will be good, just milder. Or you can make the starter for the muffins a day before and make the dough on the day.
Store the leftover muffins on the counter-top in an airtight container or wrapped in a kitchen towel. They’ll last for 3–4 days and make for quick breakfasts on weekday mornings. You can also freeze them for up to 1 month.
The dough for English muffins is sticky! That's what makes them soft! It shouldn't be a wet dough though. You can add more flour, one or two tablespoons at a time, if it seems unmanageable.
📖 Recipe
Homemade English Muffins
Ingredients
Starter
- 3/4 cup All purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1/2 tsp Dry active Yeast
Dough
- 1 cup Soy milk You can use any milk of choice.
- 1 tsp Dry active Yeast
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 2 tbsp Olive oil You can use melted butter.
- 1 tsp Salt
- 3 cup All purpose flour You may need some extra while kneading.
- 3-4 tbsp Cornmeal For the baking tray
- 1-2 tbsp Oil/butter For the skillet
Instructions
Starter
- Mix the water, flour and yeast in a small bowl, till smooth.
- Cover the bowl and put in a warm corner for 1 -12 hours. The starter will get bubbly and double in volume. The longer you let the starter sit, the better the flavor of the English muffins.
Dough
- In the bowl of your stand mixer or large bowl, combine the milk and yeast. Scrape in the starter and whisk well to combine it all.
- Stir in sugar, olive oil, salt, and 3 cups of flour, till you get a rough scraggy dough.
- With a dough hook on your stand mixer, knead the dough till it comes together. This took me about 10 minutes. Add extra flour if the dough is very sticky. I needed to add 2 tablespoons more. The dough is ready when it comes together in a smooth, soft ball. It will be tacky to touch but not too sticky.
- You can knead this dough by hand as well, on a well floured surface. The dough is very sticky to begin with, but it does come together nicely while kneading.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight. You can also use the dough the same day after letting it proof in a warm spot for 1.5 hours or until doubled in size.This dough can stay in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Turn the dough out on a well-floured surface and cut into 12 equal pieces. Roll into balls. Place on a baking tray sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle the tops with some more cornmeal.
- Place the tray in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, typically 1 - 1.5 hours. Mine were really puffy in 30 minutes.
- Heat a skillet/ saute pan to medium heat. Brush with oil/ butter and gently place the rolls 3-4 at a time onto the pan. Cook till the bottom of the muffins are golden brown 6-7 minutes. Flip carefully and cook on the other side for another 6-7 minutes.
- Please adjust the heat if your muffins are browning too much or too fast. You can also finish these muffins in a preheated oven at 180C.
- Cut the muffin horizontally, eat warm and fresh, slathered with butter. These are EXCELLENT toasted and keep well in the refrigerator for 5-6 days. Enjoy!!
Video
Notes
- You can use the starter for making the dough after an hour, as long as it's bubbly and has doubled in bulk. But the longer the starter sits, the better the flavor.
- You can use the dough the same day, after it's doubled, in about 1 - 1.5 hours. But again, longer proofing ensures more flavor.
- If you're not sure if the English muffins have cooked through, you can place them in a preheated oven at 350 F / 180 C for 8-10 minutes.
- Adjust the heat if your muffins are browning too much or too fast.
- Wipe the skillet after cooking every batch of muffins. Brush with more oil or butter.
- They taste the best when toasted.
- You can certainly knead the dough by hand but a stand mixer is recommended as the dough is quite sticky.
Natasha Minocha says
These English muffins make the best toast ever! We can never get enough of these!
Sarah Morin says
Could I use whole wheat instead of all purpose?
Natasha Minocha says
Yes, absolutely!
Morgan says
All I have is white whole what flour and AP flour. Can I use the white whole wheat instead of the whole wheat or can I replace all of the flour in the recipe with the white whole wheat? Thanks!
Natasha Minocha says
Hi Morgan, I think you can replace white whole wheat with whole wheat flour mentioned in the recipe. Happy baking! 🙂