English Muffins Take 1

For a little bit of a change I decided to make English Muffins for this Muffin Monday. One of the girls loved them and the other thought they were just okay. I tried to use the Alton Brown/Food Network recipe but we did not have the powdered milk so I tried to use no extra liquid and milk instead. I'd like to try at least once more to see if I can do better but this is how I did it this time:

First, I added 1 1/2 cups of milk with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of shortening, and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a saucepan until the sugar and salt were dissolved and let it cool down.

In a large bowl I added 1 envelope of dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons) and a pinch of sugar together, then added the milk mixture and lest it set until dissolved, about 5-10 minutes.

Next, sift 2 cups of all purpose flour, add to the liquid mixture, and stir with wooden spoon until mixed thoroughly:

Cover the mixture and let it set in a warm place for at least 30 minutes. I let mine set for closer to an hour so their would be as many nooks and crannies as possible (shown here by our lovely model, Audrey):

Next comes the fun part. Preheat a griddle to 300 degrees. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the risen mixture and beat thoroughly. You need to use something round and in a suggestion from another website I found that the canning rings are perfect. I took 1 ring, sprayed with veggie spray, and added to the griddle. Then, I spooned in the mixture until it was full and let it set for 1 minute. At that point the mixture is set just enough for you to remove the ring and add another muffin. By the time you have 5 down you are ready to flip the first one. They need to cook about 5 minutes per side:

I realized about halfway through my griddle was about 20 degrees lower than it was supposed to be. The second batch turned out a little better, cooking faster and having that outside ring you see on store-bought type muffins.So, just make sure you have yours at 300 and keep it consistent. The reason the English Muffin has a crisp outside and chewy inside is because of the time and temperature it is cooked. We were able to make about 12 muffins but next time I will follow the recipe exact and try again adding a little more batter to each ring also. This is the finished product:

Tasty, but slightly flatter than I would have liked. We will definitely try these again as Ella could not get enough. They weren't perfect though so I must try again....