High Altitude Homemade Whole Wheat English Muffins
These delicious English muffins are made with honey and whole wheat flour for a wholesome, slightly sweet flavor, with a crispy exterior and fluffy nooks and crannies inside for soaking up butter and jam.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Large Baking Sheet + Parchment Paper
- Nonstick Electric Griddle (or a large skillet)
- Rolling Pin, Mixing Bowls, & Danish Dough Whisk or Wooden Spoon
- 3-inch Biscuit Cutter or Round Cutter
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups bread flour or all purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled (plus extra for rolling out the dough)
- 2 cups whole wheat flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled (or replace with all-purpose flour or bread flour)
- 1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) yeast (active dry or instant/rapid-rise)
- 1 ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tbsp honey, granulated sugar or other sweetener
- 4 tbsp unsalted, very soft butter
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 ½ -1 ¾ cups warm milk (between 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit)
- ½ cup yellow cornmeal or semolina flour
Instructions
Make and Rest the Dough
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, yeast, salt and cinnamon. Add the honey, butter, egg and milk, and use a Danish dough whisk (or just a spoon) to stir the dough for about 2-3 minutes, until smooth and well combined. The dough will be sticky, and should pull away from the sides of the bowl slightly as you stir it, but it will not form a firm dough ball.Baker's Note: If you're replacing the whole wheat flour with all purpose flour or bread flour, you may need to use slightly less milk.
- Scrape the dough into a clean, lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or overnight. The chill time allows the dough to develop more flavor as it very slowly rises. The cold dough is also very easy to work with the next day.Baker's Note: If you want to eliminate the chill time, simply set the covered bowl in a warm place to rise until doubled, about 45-90 minutes.
Cut the Muffins
- Line a large baking sheet (or several smaller ones) with parchment paper. Sprinkle half the cornmeal in an even layer over the paper, so that there are no bare patches of paper. Without the cornmeal, the uncooked dough will stick.
- Turn the cold dough out onto a floured surface. Sprinkle the top of the dough with more flour, and lightly press the air out of the dough. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into an even thickness of about 3/4 inch thick.
- Use a 3-inch round cutter or biscuit cutter to cut rounds of dough, dipping the cutter in flour in between each cut. Place the cut muffins on the baking sheet, right on top of the cornmeal.Baker's Note: You can gather up the scraps of dough and re-roll them to cut more muffins, but you can only do this once. When the dough is re-rolled, it becomes more dense, and the muffins cut from it can take quite a bit longer to cook, so keep these separate from the first muffins you cut when you cook them in batches.
- Now sprinkle the top of the cut muffins with the rest of the cornmeal. Cover the pan loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and set aside to rest for about 30-45 minutes, just until the muffins start to puff up a little.If your dough is cold, I recommend placing the pan in the oven on the bread proofing setting to help it warm up a bit.
Cook the Muffins
- Preheat a non-stick electric griddle to between 325-350 degrees Fahrenheit, or heat a large skillet over medium heat. You'll be cooking the muffins in batches, as many as can fit on your griddle or skillet, with room to flip them. I was able to cook 8 muffins at a time on my griddle without crowding them, so I cooked them in 3 batches.
- Use a spatula to place your first batch of muffins on your ungreased hot griddle or skillet. As they cook, they'll start to puff and rise a bit. Cook them on one side for about 7-10 minutes, then flip them over and cook them on the other side for another 7-10 minutes. Keep the temperature moderate so that they turn a deep golden brown on the outside as they cook. You don't want the heat to be so high that they burn on the outside before they're fully cooked through the middle. This is why an electric griddle is so convenient for this step, so you can better control the temperature.
- Now, test the muffins for doneness. The only way to know if your muffins are cooked through is to cut them open (which means sacrificing a muffin that may not be cooked yet), or to check the internal temperature. Checking their internal temperature with an instant read digital thermometer is the most accurate and efficient method, so cook your muffins until a thermometer inserted through the side and into the center of the muffins reads between 195-205 degrees Fahrenheit. This will ensure they're fully cooked and not doughy.Baker's Note: The cooking times I've provided are merely an estimate, based on how long mine took to cook. However, depending on the temperature of your dough, how thick you rolled your dough and how large you cut your muffins will all factor into how long you need to cook them. Rely on the internal temperature, not on a given time. The muffins that I cut from the re-rolled scraps took nearly 2x as long to cook through, since the dough was more dense.
- Continue to cook the rest of the muffins, brushing the excess cornmeal off the griddle in between batches.
Split the Muffins
- Classic English muffins are "fork-split", not cut with a knife. This method of splitting them gives them their iconic nooks and crannies that they're known for. Simply take a fork and use it to perforate the muffins, all around the sides, until you can pull them apart into halves.
- The best way to enjoy these muffins is to split and toast them. Slather them with butter, jam or honey, make breakfast sandwiches, or use them for eggs Benedict.
Notes
Store the leftover, cooled muffins in an airtight container or freezer bag at room temperature for up to 3-5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
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