Monday 10 October 2011

Real Bread English Muffins

Some things are born out of awfulness and these muffins were one of them. When we were staying at the B & B in Ilfracombe I went for a toasted muffin with beans and scrambled eggs for one of my breakfasts. The muffin was awful. It was white and claggy in the middle and completely tasteless. 

This brought me to the recipe in the River Cottage Bread Handbook for muffins. 
I made the dough using a mix of wholemeal and white flour and then let it rise.

I shaped the muffins as directed in the book and left them to prove until they were double their original size. 

Once they had doubled in size they were very delicate. I didn't want to knock the air out of them while transferring them to the pan but it was very difficult. As a result some of them became quite funny shapes. 
I was a bit worried that they weren't cooked properly but actually they cooked just fine in about 15 minutes in a pan on the hob.
The muffins were put to the ultimate test and were split, toasted and topped with scrambled eggs.
They were great! I was so pleased that the recipe had worked. The muffins were a great texture and actually tasted of something - yipee!
I love making my own bread, it is such a simple yet satisfying thing to do. I'm now taking my bread research into greater depth and have begun reading Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley which is a very detailed book on what exactly goes into your supermarket loaf. It's not pretty reading. 

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