Sourdough English Muffins

This sourdough English muffin recipe is super easy, and they taste amazing!

Sourdough English muffins are little bread rounds, leavened with sourdough starter and cooked in a pan. They're toasted on both sides to create a crisp outer, but they have a lovely soft texture inside.

You can use them to make sandwiches, eggs benedict or toast them and serve with butter. A good English muffin has plenty of nooks and crannies for butter to hold on to.

If you're keen to find more recipes for sourdough starter, you're in the right place! Try this sourdough milk bread, sourdough waffles, raisin bread, or sourdough croissants!

About this sourdough English muffin recipe

• So easy to make. The dough doesn't require any heavy kneading and it's not a very wet dough. The structure is given by a few sets of simple stretches and folds.
• You don't need an oven! The English muffins are toasted in a pan or skillet, so there's no need to heat up the oven.
• Flexible in timing. The dough undergoes a cold-proof to bring extra flavor. As with most sourdough recipes, the timings of the cold proof can be tweaked to fit around your schedule.

Baker's schedule

Here is an example baker's schedule you can use for these homemade sourdough English muffins. These timings can be changed a bit to suit your own schedule.

• 9 am. Feed your sourdough starter.
• 3 pm. Mix the English muffin dough.
• 3:20 pm - 7:20 pm. Place the dough in a warm place and let it rise until puffed out by around 40%. During the first hour, perform 3 sets of stretches and folds.
• 7:20 pm - the next day. Cover the dough and place it in the refrigerator overnight (or for up to 2 days).
• 9 am - 10 am. The next morning, roll and cut the dough into rounds. Let them puff out a bit at room temperature for an hour.
• 10 am. Cook the English muffins.

Ingredients

Most of the ingredients in this recipe are pantry staples. The only special ingredient needed for English muffins is semolina flour (or substitute this with a fine corn meal.) This gets dusted on the dough rounds and stops them from sticking. Find the ingredient amounts listed in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Whole milk
• Water
• Granulated sugar (this can be substituted with honey or maple syrup too)
• Butter ( this can be unsalted butter or salted)
• Salt
• Active sourdough starter
• All-purpose flour
• Semolina flour or fine cornmeal for dusting.

Equipment

• Cast iron pan or nonstick skillet
• Cookie cutter or glass to cut the muffins, around 3 inches diameter.

The sourdough starter

To make these homemade English muffins you need an active starter since they are made without commercial yeast. If you don't have one, here is how to make your own sourdough starter. 

If you do have one, keep feeding and discarding regularly to keep the acid content in the starter low. Too much acid can affect the structure of the sourdough bread dough.

Method

The starter

In the morning feed your sourdough starter. In a bowl, mix all the starter ingredients until well combined. Scoop the mixture into a clean jar and cover it with a loose lid and leave it in a warm place to double.

The dough

When the starter has doubled, begin the dough.

In a small saucepan, add the butter and water and warm it up until the butter has melted. Pour it into a large mixing bowl and add in the cold milk. This will bring the temperature of the water down to make it lukewarm.

Add in the sourdough starter and sugar and give it a whisk with a fork to combine it a bit. The starter won't combine properly yet.

Add in the flour and salt and use a fork to begin to bring the dough together.

Switch to using your hands and push the dough into a shaggy and sticky dough ball. It won't be smooth yet, but ensure everything is well combined.

Place the dough ball in a clean large bowl and give it a stretch and fold. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and place it in a warm place.

Over the next hour, give the dough another 3 sets of stretch and folds, spaced around 20 minutes apart.

Stretch and folds

A stretch and fold method is when one side of the dough is stretched up and pulled over itself. The bowl is then turned a quarter turn and this move is repeated on the following side.

Continue stretching and folding and turning the bowl until all sides have been folded.

First rise

After the hour has passed, let the dough continue the bulk fermentation in the warm spot for another 3-4 hours, ideally around 77°F/25°C) until puffed out by around 40%.

If you have a cold kitchen, create a warm and humid spot by placing the dough into a turned-off oven alongside a bowl of boiled water. Replace the water as needed when it cools down.

Cold-proof

Once risen, cover the bowl and place it in the fridge overnight or for up to 2 days.

Shaping

Take the cold dough from the refrigerator and pull it from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Shape the dough into a smooth ball and let it sit at room temperature for around 10 minutes to relax.

Use a rolling pin or your fingers, to push the dough into a 2cm (just under 1 inch) round.

Take a piece of parchment paper and generously dust it with semolina flour.

With a glass or biscuit cutter that measures around 7.6cm/3inches in diameter.

Place them on the parchment paper. Sprinkle the top of the dough circles with more semolina flour.

Any scraps of dough can be gathered up and rolled again. You might need to let the dough rest and relax a bit first before rolling it out so it doesn't spring back too much.