You might also like these recipes for vegan sourdough popovers, vegan sourdough pretzels and crusty sourdough rolls. These Sourdough English Muffins are so easy, you should make them asap if you have a crock of sourdough starter bubbling away in your home. They are tender and fluffy and they are good any way you eat them–loaded with vegan sandwich fillings, cradling a veggie burger, or just toasted, with a pat of butter and jam. I find the process of making these Sourdough English Muffins as much fun as it is rewarding. Because these are made entirely with sourdough and have no added yeast, you do need some time and patience to get the English muffins of your dreams, but if you invest in them, you won’t be disappointed. The fun part is just the whole process of baking with sourdough. When you bake with added yeast, the whole process is somewhat predictable, which is fine. But sourdough, to some extent, tests your mettle as a bread baker. Depending on how strong or mature your starter is, your bread will take more or less time to rise. You exercise some judgement and you get to sharpen your bread-baking skills in the process. But the funnest part of baking with sourdough is when you add heat into the mix. When you put a sourdough bread in the oven, you can always expect to be pleasantly surprised by the results. That’s because the gases that the probiotic yeast build up during the rise time escape, giving you an incredible “oven spring” and helping your bread rise even more during baking. With English Muffins it’s a little different because you don’t actually bake them in an oven–instead, you bake them on a hot griddle. And while you do have to give the muffins time to rise before you place them on the griddle, the real magic will happen after they hit the heat. That’s when they’ll get all puffy and fluffy and fat and airy right before your eyes, giving you that perfect interior with craters your butter and jam can sink into.
How to make these perfect Sourdough English Muffins:
Start out with a strong, recently fed sourdough starter–one you fed about 12 hours earlier. These muffins are mainly made with bread flour, but I add some whole wheat at the beginning to help the sourdough yeast thrive and flourish, because whole wheat flour has more micronutrients. If you don’t have whole wheat flour, and I know these are times when substitutions are essential at times, you can use all purpose flour or bread flour. In the same vein, I use bread flour for the muffins, but if you don’t have it, use all purpose. Bleached or unbleached, it all works. Don’t fret about using white flour–these muffins are made healthier by the addition of sourdough which digests the starches in your flour. Studies show that sourdough breads are less likely to cause a spike in blood sugar levels. The dough will need two rises, as most bread doughs do, but depending on the strength and maturity of your starter, this can vary a bit. I let the dough rise eight hours for the first rise, and for about four hours for the second, which gives me the perfect muffins with a distinct sourdough tang. You may need less time if your starter is stronger. Your dough might not double during the first rise, which is fine. It should look a bit puffier and fatter than when you started. For an average-sized muffin, roll your dough ½-inch thick and cut into 12 rounds. You can make nine really fat muffins, which are nice too, by rolling it slightly thicker, but increase the time on the skillet in that case by a minute on each side. Cut your muffins into 3-inch rounds for the perfect-sized English Muffins. If you don’t have a cookie cutter that size, improvise. I used a cup measure with a missing handle. 🙂 A jar lid would work too. After you cut out your muffins and set them aside for the second rise, keep in mind they might not rise a whole lot. That’s okay, so long as they puff up and you give them at least 3-4 hours to rise. Once they touch the griddle, they should puff up nicely. Heat your griddle on medium heat and then turn it to medium-low while the muffins bake. Cover the griddle to ensure even cooking.
Ingredients
Sourdough starter Whole wheat flour (optional) All purpose flour Vegan butter (sub with oil if you don’t have this) Nondairy milk Sugar Salt
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