English Muffins

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Loved them. I used 1/2 all purpose and 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour. I used my mini-springform pans without the bottoms. Worked perfectly. I needed to adjust the amount of batter. I used a griddle on the gas stove. My first batch was a little too brown - had to really monitor the temp. Second batch came out perfect. Will continue to try different grains! For some readers who didn't see the show and are new to these, the batter is not a bread dough-more like a really thick, fluffy but gooey pancake batter. Goodbye storebought! Hello homemade! Thanks!

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Excellent recipe! Forget the tuna cans! You can use wide mouth canning jar rings for larger muffins or smaller canning rings for mini muffins. Not free, but cheap, like maybe $6-8 at the grocery store for box of 12. Use the lids for coasters. Place rings with inside facing up, on oiled, heated griddle. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. Eggs Benedict now makes regular appearance in our house! Made tonight with unbleached flour--for a change--great buns for burgers or mini-burgers. SAF instant yeast much cheaper than buying little packets.

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OMG! These were simple and I will NEVER buy another muffin at the store again. Only problem was figuring out the rings. Couldnt open tuna fish cans on the base of can because of their configuration so my cats were swarming around the kitchen when they smelled all the tuna. Made do with heart shaped cookie cutters and 2 different size biscuit cutters. I ordered 8 norpro rings today. These are very easy and SO WORTH IT!!!

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This is a great recipe since you dont' have to roll out the dough. Initailly, I found the recipe itself hard to follow, so I have simlified it without changing the result. Instead of using dry milk and hot water, I heat 1 cup of non-fat milk and disolve the sugar and salt in it. I alos melt the shortening so that it distributes in the batter better.

My final enhancemnet is to add 1 cup of fed sour dough starter to the batter before I add the flour.

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I was really happy with the way these turned out! I used pineapple cans and half whole wheat flour. Since the pineapple cans were so tall I doubled the amount of batter so I have rather robust tall english muffins. They needed about 2-3 minutes longer per side to cook all of the way through. I look forward to making these again.

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I am still trying to perfect these muffins given I need to use gluten free ingredients. I love the taste,, but the texture and moisture content are still eluding me. I've used my usual mixture of gluten free flours, and as with all gluten free things, they don't cook as fast and they don't rise as nicely. I tried putting them in the over for about 15 minutes after grilling them, and that helped (they actually rose in the oven a bit more. My question is, should I have the oven temp higher to get them to actually bake a bit more? Any ideas? I want these to work because I like the flavor, but I don't like the gushy center of them.

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Alton does it again. I used 100% whole wheat flour, honey instead of sugar and 1 cup of scalded and cooled low fat milk instead of powdered and no water. I used the same flat cast iron skillet I use for pancakes, so I had to guess at the temperature. My wife says these are the best muffins she has ever had. Toasted with butter, cream cheese and blueberry jam and you will feel like a Food Network star yourself.

***** the outside maybe a quarter of an inch right after cooling. Makes the final split easier before you actually toast them. Even better the next day after storing in an air-tight zip lock bag.

I agree with others - will NEVER buy store bought again. This is just too easy.

Thanks Alton.

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I have made these 4 times now. The recipe is as close to the origional tha Julia Child made when I was a child (no pun intended. The taste is so good. I will never pay $4.00 for Thomas" again. Friends can't believe that you can make them. Do they think that they grow on trees? The nooks and cranies are still there though these don't hold well for more than a few days. Guys, go to BJ's and get the yeast. 2lbs for pennies more than a 3 pk of Fleishman's at the market ( total 6 tsp only. recipe calls for 2 tsp. so, now you don't have to pay crazy money for yeast the most expensive part of the recipe. The rings that food network sells are a fraction of what you will pay in the "specialty" cookintg mags and Target sells an icecream scoop by Oxo is the perfect size for these, one scoop only. Totally use the non-stick spray. I hope you will try these. you will make them forever. Great to bring to office brunch parties. You will be a STAR! enjoy. de

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I tried another recipe on the internet and it made dense biscuit-like rounds. Tasted OK but to me the true marks of an English muffin are all the bubbles that make it light and crispy when toasting. Having seen the episode for these muffins I vowed to try it one day but had to get my baking rings figured out. I ended up using pineapple tins because they were one of the few that I could find with both top and bottoms that could be completely removed.

Not having shortening I used butter in my recipe (seems to work OK. My first batch turned out fine - I agree with others the ratio of batter to ring seems a bit much. But Alton did say he liked his muffins on the tall side. I tried a second batch and they were better but still struggled with batter amount and temperature of my griddle (a bit too hot. I also noticed the batter seemed just a bit too thick to flow out and fill the rings completely.

On my third batch I increased the amount of hot water to 1 1/8 cups and proceeded as before this time adding about 1 1/2 scoops of batter to each ring. I had preheated my griddle on a medium low heat for about 7 mins prior to cooking. The results are wonderful - plenty of bubbles and just the right height for my liking. I couldn't wait until cool and ripped into one to sample. Was very good and a bit moist inside but that's to be expected when they haven't cooled completely. My kids love them and I doubt I'll buy them in the store any longer. THANKS!!!

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I don't care for the English Muffins in the groceries today so I make these regularly. I use different combinations of flour...1/2 white flour, plus 1/2 whole wheat, or 1/4 buckwheat or other whole grain flours in combination to equal 1/2 of the total flour called for. It works better if you don't substitue more than 1/2 of the amount of flour called for with the heavier grain flours. I also add approximately 1/2 cup chopped nut meats, cinnamon, honey or Agave syrup, whatever appeals to your taste. I purchased egg poaching rings, spray with cooking spray and use those for shaping and cooking. I use Semolina on the griddle instead of cornmeal since it doesn't burn as fast. I cook them on a stove top griddle at medium heat for 6 minutes, use the handles on the egg rings to turn them over, let them cook another minute after turning and then remove the rings and cook for a total of 6 more minutes. The handles on the rings are moveable so I flatten them down a bit so that a high domed skillet lid fits over the griddle while they cook, then pull up the handles and use to turn the muffins over. The handles also make it easier to remove the rings.