I thought my English muffins were going so well: I kept adding more buttermilk until I'd used all but a tablespoon of the full amount. The dough passed the windowpane test, but upon reflection perhaps it wasn't "tacky but not sticky", but was too smooth. Maybe the fact that it was easy to handle was a bad sign. At any rate, when I pulled my big fat Englsh muffins apart after cooking on the griddle and finishing in the oven, I had a lovely bread texture. Not the full of holes, ready to catch butter, English muffin texture. The taste was fine, but without that texture you can't say you've achieved English muffins. On the other hand, the process was pretty fast and easy, so I'll try to make another attempt when I'm not baking a new bread every week as part of the BBA Challenge.Some notes: my griddle cooked rather fast (perhaps that could also have kept the signature English muffin holes from developing, though the recipe doesn't talk about that as a problem), so I gave them a little more time in the oven to compensate. About 3-4 minutes on each side on the griddle got to the edge of brown/black. The oven didn't increase the browning level.
Tasting: Split and toasted the muffin did fine as a breakfast sandwich substrate, but I don't think I'll try one just toasted and buttered. There won't be enough holes for the butter to run into!
The crumb shot. Not what you want.
Beautiful picture! They certainly look good, but I am thinking Chris is right they need to be a little higher hydration. Although he did find other recipes that called for just about the same amount as BBA did. I liked the texture of mine, but not really certain what nooks and cranny's look like to compare. Funny, but my husband likes the really cheap ones from the store so that is what I normally buy and they do not look to different from what mine did. Hope you enjoy yours.....
ReplyDeleteNice job! Like you, I didn't achieve the "holey" texture that captures wells of butter... I agree with Chris to try a higher hydration. Made mine into sausage/egg/cheese sandwiches, which everyone loved.
ReplyDeleteI've never made the English muffins from BBA, but I made the recipe from The Bread Bible, and got a real English muffin texture. Sometime when I get around to it, I'll compare the recipes and see what the hydration levels are in the two.
ReplyDeleteThey look like they would be good with butter and jam anyway.
ReplyDeleteThey still look good,seems none of us got that 'holey' insides,but the flavor was good regardless,of missing lots of holes.Don't know how the commercial ones are made, perhaps it may be more batter than dough?
ReplyDeleteNancy, I think your muffins still look wonderful and that shot with eggs-I bet they made a great breakfast!
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