Print Recipe
3 dozen
This excellent recipe is by Northwest author and educator, Adrian Hale. It is featured in her book, Mama Bread, offered on our website. Our Sonora Soft White flour performed beautifully in this recipe. In place of cornmeal, we used Bluebird's cracked farro porridge. Copyright: Mama Bread, The Art of Naturally Leavened Bread at Home.
Ingredients
- 8 cups Sonora Flour about 1000 grams
- 4 cups whole milk about 850 grams
- 1 light cup sourdough levain or discard sourdough starter 200 grams
- 1/4 cup room temperature water 50 grams
- 4 1/2 teaspoons salt 24 grams
- 1/2 cup coarse cornmeal or Bluebird's Cracked Emmer Farro
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
Methods
- These English Mufins were inspired by my friend Amy Halloran, a.k.a The Flour Ambassador. She came to visit and taught a class here in my home about how to use whole grain fresh flour to make English Muffins. I adapted it over time to use natural leavening. Every time I make these, I say a silent thanks to the universe for making us chance roommates at one of the early Grain Gatherings. Our friendship has built over time, almost always over some whole grain treat or other.
- Mix the Sonora flour, milk, and sourdough starter. Cover and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.
- Early in the morning, while the house is still in slumber and you're up staring out at the big walnut tree in your backyard, remember the mixture. A start to your day! Jump up and remove it from the fridge. Add the 50 grams of room temperature water and the salt and mix around until well incorporated. Be careful not to rip the dough at this point, just kind of mix the salt around in a kneading motion until it's mixed in. Let it stand at room temperature for about an hour or so to take the chill off while you make coffee.
- Here's where you're usually told to lightly flour a board, but I'm not going to tell you to do that. Instead, I'm going to teach you something new. You might not realize this, but another way to make dough not stick to a surface is to use water. So here you're going to pour a slick sheen of water onto your counter and turn the dough out onto that. Pat out the mass of dough until it's 1-inch thick. Cut ınto rounds about 2 to 3 inches in diameter. I use a biscuit cutter for this. Oh, and don't forget to dip the cutter into water so it doesn't stick as well. Lay the rounds into the cornmeal on one side, then fip over to the other, Basically, you want both sides coated in cornmeal, but not the side, Lay the rounds onto a baking sheet and cover to let rise about an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Heat a griddle or large pan over medium heat and brush a generous coating of olive oil onto the surface. Lay the English muffins onto the surface and cook on one side until they're golden and the cornmeal is crisp and smelling buttery, about 10 minutes. Flip and cook on the second side another 10 minutes.
- Place in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes to finish
- By now everyone else in the household is starting to rouse. Gaze upon the work you just did and grab whichever English muffin looks like it might fit this moment for you and you only. One might look especially crispy on the edges, Or have open pockets for melting just the right amount of butter. Slather it in whatever seems right- leftover romesco sauce topped with a little hunk of manchego; homemade jam that the lovely young neighbor down the block brought you from her garden haul last week; some of the unopened jar of vanilla-scented nut butter you got last Christmas. Just take a moment for yourself and savor with delight and gratitude. And then share the hell out of the rest of them.