Sourdough English Muffins
Sourdough English Muffins are surprisingly easy to make and soooo much better than store bought. The active starter in the dough makes the flavor and texture extra special. The recipe takes several hours, but there is very little hands-on time. Stock up the freezer for future breakfasts.
Table of contents
About this recipe
English Muffins are always toasted before eating. So use your starter to make Sourdough English Muffins for a later date. This is a perfect “make ahead and freeze” recipe.
If you don’t already have one, I can show you how to make a sourdough starter and how to feed a sourdough starter.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Sourdough Starter – The recipe was developed using 100% hydration starter. If your starter has a different hydration percentage you will need to adjust the amount of water or flour in the recipe.
- Unbleached All Purpose Flour – Medium content all purpose flour makes a dough with enough gluten for the muffins to rise. You may replace a cup of the all purpose flour with whole wheat or rye flour for whole grain flavor.
- Honey – You can substitute 1/4 cup (2 oz) of granulated sugar if you don’t have honey.
- Corn Meal – Rolling the dough on cornmeal gives the muffins the classic cornmeal dusted bottom crust. You can use flour for rolling if you don’t have cornmeal.
Process Photos
See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.
- After the dough is mixed set it aside at room temperature to ferment.
- Every hour fold the dough to develop the gluten and redistribute the yeast.
- The dough is ready when it is lively, light and elastic. This should take 3-5 hours.
- At this point the dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or you can proceed with cutting the muffins.
- Roll the dough to 1/2″ thick on a cornmeal dusted surface.
- Cut the muffins using a 3 – 3 1/2″ cutter. Line the muffins on a sheet pan. At this point you can wrap the tray and refrigerate overnight to bake the next day.
- Allow the muffins to rise for 1-2 hours. The rise time will vary depending on the temperature of the dough and the ambient temperature in the room.
- Preheat a cast iron griddle or skillet over medium high heat.
- Set the muffins, cornmeal side down, on the pan. Leave 1″ space between muffins. Cook until the muffins rise up, brown on the bottom and the sides are mostly set, about 6-8 minutes. Adjust the heat as needed to keep a constant temperature.
- Flip the muffins and bake until the other side is golden brown and the sides are set, also about 6-8 minutes.
- Completely cool the muffins on a rack before packing into a freezer bag.
How to Serve Sourdough English Muffins
- Sourdough English Muffins should always be toasted before serving.
- To get the best texture don’t slice it with a knife! Use a fork to split the muffin.
- Fork-splitting forms the “nooks and crannies” that hold lots of melted butter.
Storage
- Fresh Sourdough Muffins will keep at room temperature for one day.
- For longer storage, pack the muffins into freezer bags and freeze up to 3 months.
- Microwave a frozen muffin for 10 to 20 seconds. Fork split the muffin, toast and serve.
I know you hate to throw away that sourdough discard. Check out these recipes that use sourdough discard.
More Sourdough Recipes:
If you love this recipe as much as I do, please leave a 5-star review.
Sourdough English Muffin Recipe
Sourdough English Muffins are surprisingly easy to make and so much better than store bought. The addition of sourdough starter makes the flavor and texture extra special. The recipe takes several hours, but there is very little hands-on time. Stock up the freezer for future breakfasts.
muffins
Ingredients
- 8 oz active sourdough starter (1 cup, 100% hydration)
- 6 oz warm water (¾ cup)
- 8 oz whole milk (1 cup, scalded and cooled.)
- 25 oz unbleached all-purpose flour (5 cups, see note)
- 3 oz honey (¼ cup)
- 2 oz vegetable oil (¼ cup)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- cornmeal (for rolling)
Instructions
- Combine 8 oz active sourdough starter, 6 oz warm water, 8 oz whole milk and 2 cups (10 oz) of the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl. Mix on low speed until combined. Cover the bowl and set aside for 30 minutes.
- Add 3 oz honey, 2 oz vegetable oil and 2 teaspoons salt and mix to combine. Switch to the dough hook if using a stand mixer. Add the remaining 3 cups (15 oz) flour and knead about 5 minutes or until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and clings to the hook. If mixing by hand, add flour until you can no longer stir, then turn the dough out onto a floured surface to finish by hand.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat the dough. Cover the bowl and set it aside at room temperature. After 60 minutes uncover the bowl, lift one side of the dough over into the middle of the dough. Repeat with the other three sides of the dough then flip the dough over. Cover the bowl and after 60 minutes repeat the procedure. Cover the bowl and after 60 minutes repeat the procedure one last time. By now the dough should be lively, elastic and airy. If the dough is still sluggish give it another hour or two at room temperature. At this point the dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.
- Turn the dough from the bowl and knead briefly to form a smooth ball. Lightly sprinkle your work surface with cornmeal. Roll the dough to 1/2” thick. Cut muffins with a 3” biscuit cutter. Reroll the scraps and continue cutting until all the dough is used. You should get about 16 muffins. Place the muffins on an ungreased baking sheet. Cover the pan. (At this point the muffins can be refrigerated overnight and baked in the morning or continue to finish the muffins the same day.) Let the muffins rise until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
- Preheat a griddle or cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Set the muffins, cornmeal side down in the pan. Place as many muffins as will fit in the pan with a 1" space between. "Bake" the muffins for about 6-8 minutes until the bottom is deep golden brown. Flip the muffins and bake until the other side is nicely browned. Keep an eye on the heat so the muffins don't burn. Adjust the heat as needed. Cool on wire rack. To serve, split and toast.
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Notes
If measuring the flour by volume use the “dip & sweep” method. That is, dip the measuring cup into the flour bin, overfill it, then sweep away the excess.
The fermentation time will vary based on the ambient temperature of the room and the temperature of your dough. The dough will start out fairly dense. It should be quite aerated and elastic by the end of the 3 hour fermentation. If the dough is very cool and sluggish you can set the bowl over a bowl of warm water to warm it up a bit.
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @eileen.bakingsense or tag #bakingsense!
Do you have any idea how this might work with gluten free bread flour?
I’m sorry, I don’t have experience with gluten free bread flour. I would think if it works for regular bread it should work for this recipe. But I can’t say for sure.
My dough came out super sticky and loose.the gluten was developed but it was very flabby. When I shaped the muffins they kind of deflated and sagged over. I’ll still “bake” them, but what’d I do wrong? I even did an extra fold as well as some twist and coils. Did it just need more flour (I went by weight not volume)
Thanks!
Is your starter a 100% hydration starter?
Yes it is.
The only think I can think is the ap flour I have may be as low as 9 or 10% protein. It was a Costco size bag and the company website says their ap flour ranges from 9.5% to 11.5%
It could be the flour. Is the flour bleached or unbleached? That can also make a difference. This should definitely not be a “flabby” dough. They will spread out more than up but usually will puff up nicely on the griddle.
It is bleached (who can say not to 50lbs flour for $35!).
They ended up puffing nicely on the griddle despite flattening during the transfer to the heat.
They tasted great, just tasted a bit dense. Would you recommend adding more flour next time all things considered?
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer!
My husband requested these be made with my next-to-new starter. Shortly after making the dough I realized my starter had been too wet, my dough was gooey even after using more flour. I was so frustrated I just left the dough covered on the counter overnight. The next morning my whole kitchen smelled strongly of sourdough and the dough had risen beautifully, but not enough to roll out. I divided the dough in half by scooping it out onto two pieces of parchment and dropped them (one at a time) straight into my preheated dutch oven… the result was two super flavorful, perfectly textured bread loaves that I’m about to toast up for BLT’S. Guys, if this doesn’t work out for you the first time don’t give up! You’ll still get something tasty you can use and you’ll learn something new for next time (like making sure your starter is equal weights flour, water, and primordial goo before starting a recipe that requires it to be at 100% hydration).
Ha, ha. Love your flexibility and “get the job done” attitude. When life gives you goo…..
I halved the recipe but for some reason my dough was super dense and kinda all in big separate chunks after mixing, is this normal? I added more milk to to make it a litttle more cohesive. It made it more cohesive and smoother as I continued to need it. But not sure if this will turn out… did anyone else have dense dough? Everyone else’s seemed sticky.
So much of sourdough baking is dependent on the starter. If your starter is dense the dough will be dense.
This is a fantastic recipe! Thank you so much for sharing.
I’m busily building the dough for my third batch of these beauties! I freeze most from each batch, but my husband loves them so much they aren’t letting sting long even in the freezer!
Lol
So glad you like them!
These have the perfect English muffin flavor. Great texture, too. Will be making these muffins in the future!