Looking for something responsible to do with your SOURDOUGH STARTER? Tired of there only being ONE name in English Muffins? Wish you had the perfect bread for a breakfast sandwich in your SIZE (large, small, both)?

What if I told you that a perfect brunch bread is just a few minutes of work and ferments while you sleep? Better than store-bought? Don't even need an oven?

Enter these sourdough English Muffins, made with whole wheat flour, honey, lazily-kept sourdough starter, and bedtime. I make these every week as part of meal-prepping breakfasts I can quickly heat up in the toaster, but they work equally well for a relaxed breakfast or brunch. If you prepare the dough before you go to sleep, it will be ready for cooking the next morning, whenever you wake up.

Special thanks to Food Geek (on YouTube and https://foodgeek.dk) and the Bread Code (on YouTube and https://www.the-bread-code.io/) for showing me tips for making better sourdough.

Supplies

Equipment:

Food scale (grams)
Lidded Pot
Rubber Spatula
Glass Baking Dish (optional)
Frying Pan (with lid)
Spray Bottle with Water (optional)
Another Spatula
Cooling Rack
Fork

Ingredients:

140 g Whole Wheat Flour
140 g All-Purpose Flour
200 g Milk (I used 2%)
100 g Sourdough Starter (Fed, Unfed, Whatever)
15 g Honey
6 g Salt
Semolina Flour or Cornmeal for Dusting

Step 1: Saturday Night: Mix the Dough

Using a Food Scale is great for bread making because it is very accurate AND you can be lazy and avoid washing a bunch of measuring cups and spoons. A Lidded Pot is excellent for working in because not only is it a bowl, but the lid makes a tight-enough seal that your dough doesn't dry out AND you don't have to worry about using plastic wrap, foil, or a moist dish towel (which make either trash, laundry, or other forms of more work).

The Food Scale has a ZERO/TARE button; this resets the counter and allows you to measure each thing individually. After putting your pot on the scale, zero it out, and then add each of the ingredients - one on top of the other.

Stir with your Rubber Spatula until there are no floury dry spots in the pot or in the dough.

Leave the dough alone (covered with the Pot Lid) for 30-60 minutes.

Step 2: Saturday Night: Stretch the Dough

After resting the dough, we will stretch it a little to make a little bit of dough strength. Gently pinch an edge of the dough and pull it upwards without tearing it too much. Lay it down across the top of the dough and repeat ~6 times, rotating the pot so you stretch every edge. Flip the ball over if you want it to look pretty.

This is possible because the flour was left alone to absorb the water from the ingredients we added earlier. Experienced bakers will recognize this effect.

If you remember to REST and STRETCH another time before going to bed, more gluten power to you.

Step 3: Sunday Morning: Shape the Dough

When you wake up, your dough should have increased in size and be ready to work. Plop it on the counter. Divide it in to 8 pieces for muffins about the same size as the ONLY store brand (Dividing 6 ways makes burger bun-sized muffins, 10 makes cute muffins the size my 3-year-old loves the most). The rubber spatula works well for this, but a rubber bench scraper is my favorite. A table knife or your bare hands are also effective.

Flatten the pieces and then fold the corners in to the middle like a gross-looking flower.

Flip the flower over, cup it with your hand, and then move your hand around in a large circle, pushing the dough ball inward as you do. This makes a nice smooth ball. This technique is essential for good dinner rolls too!

Roll the ball in semolina or cornmeal and flatten on your benchtop to the desired diameter. The finished muffins will end up ~50% thicker and a little wider than the shape you make them now.

Repeat for the rest of the pieces of dough.

Cover with a baking pan or plastic wrap to rest while you make some coffee (~30 minutes).

Step 4: Sunday Morning: Cooking the English Muffins

Put a cast iron skillet or frying pan on medium-low heat.

Place the muffins in to the pan, no oil required.

Sprinkle with a little water OR use a clean spray bottle. Cover immediately and let cook for 3 minutes. Let it get nice and steamy.

Flip the muffins with a spatula, spray, and let cook another 3 minutes covered.

If the muffins are not your preferred level of toasty, cook another minute or two uncovered.

Remove to a rack to cool. Repeat with remaining muffins.

Step 5: Sunday Morning: Eating

Use a FORK. Poke the fork around the equator of the cooled muffin to separate the top and bottom, maximizing the craggy goodness. Toast and enjoy with butter. OR, make breakfast sandwiches. OR, use this delicious bread in all kinds of delicious brunch concoctions (traditional Eggs Benedict and smoked salmon and avocado Eggs Benedict shown).