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How to make Sourdough English Muffins. These English muffins require just a handful of ingredients and make the most buttery and delicious muffins. Use them for breakfast sandwiches, make English muffin pizza, or serve them with butter and jam!
Give me a from-scratch English muffin with all the little nooks and cranny bits loaded with melted butter and a dollop of jam and I’m all set.
Golden brown, buttery and delicious and even better when you use a bit of your active sourdough starter to make the whole thing. I’m not even going to tell you these taste better than store-bought, because you already know they do.
What I love about my sourdough English muffins recipe is that it kind of recipe that just ferments for 8-12 hours on its own and you’re just there to shape and pan fry the muffins.
There’s no stand mixer needed, no need to place the dough in the refrigerator, or any special English muffin rings or equipment. Bonus: you don’t even need to bake these. I love having English muffins year round so I developed this to be a no oven recipe.
Ingredients for sourdough English muffins
- active sourdough starter: you need an active sourdough starer for this recipe. You’ll want to feed your starter 8-10 hours beforehand and make sure it hits peak before using it. More about this in the notes.
- whole milk: you can use 2% or non-dairy milk in this recipe too.
- sugar: I use cane sugar but you can replace it with honey if you prefer.
- butter: I use salted butter for 99% of my recipes, so that’s what I’ve used here. Feel free to swap it for unsalted butter if you prefer.
- bread flour: the higher amount of protein in bread flour creates a signature chewy texture and more crannies in the English muffin, which makes it a better choice than all purpose flour for this recipe. Though you can use all purpose flour, just know that you may need to reduce the milk in the recipe, the crumb will be tighter, and it won’t be as chewy!
- kosher salt: self explanatory!
- semolina or cornmeal: I’ve used both of these ingredients and either will work here. Sometimes I even use a 50:50 mix. You just need one big scoop to hit the counter with before you place the dough on top to keep it from sticking.
- ghee: or clarified butter or a couple tablespoons of butter and a bit of high heat oil works too.
If you like this recipe you might also want to try:
- Cinnamon Swirl Bread
- Summer’s Best Zucchini Bread
- Cheddar Jalapeno Bread
- Whole Wheat Honey Oatmeal Bread
- Easy No Knead Focaccia Bread
Sourdough English Muffins
How to make Sourdough English Muffins. These English muffins require just a handful of ingredients and make the most buttery and delicious muffins. Use them for breakfast sandwiches, make English muffin pizza, or serve them with butter and jam!
Ingredients
- 60-120 grams active sourdough starter see notes
- 285 grams whole milk (at 90ºF) (1 cup + 3 tbsps)
- 24 grams cane sugar (or honey) (~2 tablespoons)
- 28 grams melted butter, cooled (~2 tablespoons)
- 435 grams bread flour (3 ½ cups using the spoon and level method)
- 1¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup Semolina or cornmeal for dusting
- 2-3 tablespoons ghee or butter and oil combined
Instructions
- MIX: In a large bowl, add the active sourdough starter, milk, sugar, and melted butter. Whisk using a dough whisk. Then add bread flour and kosher salt and mix until just combined.60-120 grams active sourdough starter, 285 grams whole milk (at 90ºF), 24 grams cane sugar (or honey), 28 grams melted butter, cooled, 435 grams bread flour , 1¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- STRETCH: With wet fingertips, do a few stretch and folds, picking up one side of the dough, stretching as high as it’ll go without tearing, and folding it over the remaining dough. Do this 4 to 5 times turning the bowl 90º each time before stretching. There is no kneading in this recipe.
- REST: Cover with a lid or plastic wrap, and let the dough rise for bulk fermentation for 8-12 hours* in a warm place, such as your countertop until doubled in size (ideally, 76-78ºF.)
- DUST: Once the dough has doubled, remove from the bowl. Sprinkle the semolina or cornmeal on a clean work surface. Gently lift the dough out of the bowl and without working it too much, flatten it onto the semolina. Carefully flip it over so the other side catches the semolina too.¼ cup Semolina or cornmeal
- SHAPE: Pat and shape the dough into a ¾-inch thick disc that's a rectangle shape. Using a 3-inch biscuit or cookie cutter, make as many rounds as you can. Remove shaped muffins, reshape the dough and cut more muffins. I typically end up with 11-12 with a proper rise.
- COOK: Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-low heat. Once hot, add 1 tablespoon of ghee (or use ½ butter and ½ oil) once melted, place 4-5 English muffins in the pan. Let cook for 7-9 minutes on the first side before flipping using a spatula and cooking for another 7-9 minutes. You may need to toggle the heat up or down to keep them from browning too quickly or too slowly on the outside.
- CHECK: the internal temperature ( to make sure they’re done) by inserting an instant read thermometer horizontally into the center of each muffin. It should register 190-210ºF. Remove from pan onto a baking sheet lined with a wire cooling rack. Cook the remaining English muffins the same way.
- SERVE: When serving, use a fork to slice through the center to help part the English muffins (DON’T SLICE if you like those nooks and crannies) then toast and top with butter and preserves as desired.
Notes
- Measurements: if you’re an avid sourdough baker, chances are you already use gram measurements. I highly recommend using a weighing scale and the gram measurements for this recipe even if you don’t typically do so. The recipe works flawlessly this way. There is simply too much room for error when preparing this using cups and tablespoons.
- Starter: feed the starter 8-10 hrs before preparing the English muffin dough recipe. Start with 50 grams of mature starter. Feed 80 grams of flour 80 grams of room temperature water. Use 120 grams in this recipe, discard or save what you don’t need (or use in another recipe.) Feed and store at room temperature or refrigerate as needed.
- Active starter amount: making English muffins in Texas in the summer means I need to use a lot less starter if I want this to be an overnight recipe. So typically, I use 60 grams of starter and let it sit for 10-12 hours at 78F. In the winter, I use the full 120 grams and it takes roughly the same amount of time. If I want the dough to be ready in 5-8 hours, I use the full 120 grams of starter in the summer. All this to say, you can play around with the amount that you use depending on where you’re located and the time of year it is. Keep an eye out for when the dough doubles in size rather than going by the time, that’s when you’re ready to proceed.
- Storage: English muffins can be cooled on a wire rack and then kept in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 muffin | Calories: 210kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 6g | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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