English Muffins
(Source: Food 52 and Christina Tosi)
2 1/3 tablespoons active dry yeast (a little less than
the contents of two 1/4 ounce packets)
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 3/4 cup buttermilk
4 cups bread flour, plus more as needed
1/4 cup sugar
1 2/3 tablespoon kosher salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
Nonstick vegetable spray
Cornmeal as needed (or yellow grits, in a pinch)
Combine the yeast and water in the bowl of a stand mixer
outfitted with the dough hook and whisk together to dissolve the yeast.
Nuke the buttermilk in the microwave for 20 to 30
seconds, or warm it over low heat in a small pan on the stovetop just until it
loses the refrigerator chill; you’re not really heating the buttermilk, but
ensuring that chilly milk won’t retard the dough’s rise. Stir the no-longer-cold
buttermilk into the yeast and water.
Add the flour, sugar, and kosher salt to the bowl, turn
the mixer on to low/medium-low speed, and process just until it comes together
as a shaggy, droopy dough 3 to 4 minutes.
With the mixer still running, add the butter to the dough
a tablespoon at a time. (Make sure it’s at room temperature—you’ll overwork the
dough trying to incorporate cold butter into it.) The dough will look as if it
is separating, and from this point on it will hang out at the bottom of the
bowl, reaching up the dough hook like an appendage of the sandman but never
fully coalescing into a ball again. Knead it for 7 to 8 minutes, by which time
it should be tacky but no longer sticky and hold its shape.
Lightly spray a large mixing bowl with oil. Using a
rubber spatula, scrape the dough from the mixer bowl into the greased bowl.
Cover with plastic wrap and leave the dough to rest, relax, and rise (though it
doesn’t rise so much as it expands in the bowl) for 1 hour.
After the dough has risen, put it into the refrigerator
for 30 minutes to 1 hour to chill, to make it easier to handle.
While the dough’s resting, line a couple of rimmed baking
sheets with parchment paper and cover them each with a ¼-inch-deep layer of
cornmeal, into which you will nestle your muffins. (That’s way more cornmeal
than will stick to the muffins, but whatever’s left over will be fine to use in
another recipe.)
Scatter your work surface with a very, very fine dusting
of flour, and very lightly flour your hands. Turn the dough out onto the work
surface and knead it a few times to deflate it. Shape it into a fat, smoothish
log. For traditional-size English muffins, pinch off pieces about the size of a
handball (which should weigh about 60 grams). With lightly floured palms, roll
the pieces of dough into neat balls, applying as little pressure as possible.
The dough should be pillowy and tender and delicate and have the tiniest bit of
spring to it. As you shape them, transfer the balls of dough, one by one, to
the baking sheet: Nestle each ball of dough into the cornmeal, then pat it down
gently so some of the cornmeal adheres to the bottom of the future muffin, grab
the ball very gently by its sides (the parts you don’t want cornmeal on), and
flip it over, gently patting the cornmealed top so the bottom picks up some of
the cornmeal. Leave about an inch between the muffins, giving them enough space
to stretch and rise as they may need. You can proceed with the recipe directly,
or you can wrap the baking sheets of proofing dough in plastic wrap and put
them in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes, after which time the muffins will
be easier to handle. You can also take a longer break: wrapped and
refrigerated, the muffins will keep (and improve) for up to 3 days.
Turn the oven on to 250°F. Warm a cast-iron skillet or
griddle over the lowest heat setting possible for 5 or so minutes. You should
be able to comfortably hold your hand very close to the pan and just feel some
radiant heat—nothing that would make you want to pull your hand back. Scatter
the pan with a thin, even layer of cornmeal and warm for a minute more.
Grab the proofed muffins one by one by their uncornmealed
sides, dust off any excess cornmeal clinging to their tops and bottoms (you
want a thin even coating, not a thick jacket), and transfer them to the pan,
working in batches. This is the all-important nook-and-crannies-forming stage
of English muffin cookery: you want the muffins to rise and griddle-bake
slowly. You almost can’t take enough time with this stage. (And if any point
before the final couple of minutes of cooking you smell cornmeal toasting or
browning, instead of just warming, turn the heat down.) After about 4 minutes,
their tops will begin to puff and dome: that’s your cue to flip them. Use a
small offset spatula to flip them if you have one (and buy one to do so the
next time if you don’t—your fingers will leave prints). After 4 or 5 minutes on
the second side, the bottoms of the muffins should still feel airy and light.
Once they’re at that point (you may have to gently cook and gently flip them
one more time before they get to the handleably delicate stage), you can nudge
up the heat slightly, and turning them every 2 to 3 minutes, toast their tops
and bottoms. (Here the smell of toasting cornmeal is okay.)
When the muffins are toasted—tops and bottoms mottled
with brown, but mainly golden—transfer them to a baking sheet, and put them in
the oven for 10 minutes—transfer them to a baking sheet, and put them in the
oven for 10 minutes to finish baking. Remove from the oven and let them cool on
the baking sheet until they reach room temperature.
Use the tines of a fork to puncture an equator of tiny
holes around the middle of each muffin, and then pry them apart into two
halves. The muffins are ready to be seared (with a light spread of butter) and
spread with strawberry jam!
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