Sourdough English Muffins

It’s taken me forever to perfect an English muffin recipe. For a long time I’ve been making English muffins with good results, but now I can confidently say this is a recipe I love. I love their chewy crumb. I love them toasted and spread with apple butter. I love them with fried eggs, and I love eating them plain. Is that enough love for you? Go make yourself a big batch of these sourdough English muffins and have them on hand whenever your English muffin craving strikes. Bring on breakfast!

Important Ingredients in Sourdough English Muffins

• Sourdough Starter: Use an active/ripe sourdough starter (doubled in size/bubbly/mild sour aroma) to mix the levain.
• Milk: I use 2% or whole milk in this recipe. You can substitute buttermilk for a more “tangy” flavor if desired. You may need to decrease a little flour in the dough if you make that substitution.
• Unsalted Butter: I always bake with unsalted butter. It gives me more control over the amount of salt in the recipe. This recipe calls for melted butter. Let it cool a little before mixing in with the dough.
• Granulated Sugar: A couple teaspoons of sugar helps balance the flavor of these English muffins.
• Salt: Salt enhances flavor and works with the yeast to produce the best fermentation. Don’t forget to add it!
• Bread Flour: I often use 12.5% protein bread flour in my recipes. For these sourdough English muffins, bread flour makes them a little more chewy which I really like. If you want to substitute all-purpose flour, you can. You may need to add a little extra flour to the dough to compensate for the protein content.
• Semolina: Semolina is used to sprinkle on the top and bottom of the English muffin to keep it from sticking to the pans. It also gives the English muffin its unique texture. You can substitute cornmeal instead.

Sourdough Sample Schedule for Sourdough English Muffins

A sample baking schedule helps me when baking with sourdough. Sourdough takes much longer to rise than traditional bread. This schedule helps me plan my bake. I like using a bread proofer to control the temperature when the weather is cooler

A few notes: This schedule assumes the dough temperature is 78-80ºF throughout the process.

How to Make Sourdough English Muffins

Mix the Levain

I use a levain method for making sourdough. You can read more about that here. For this recipe I use a 10-12 hour levain (1:10:10 ratio).

• 6 grams ripe/mature sourdough starter
• 60 grams all-purpose or bread flour
• 60 grams water

Before mixing, take the temperature of the sourdough starter and flour. If it is colder than the 78-80 degree range, use water that is warmer than the target temperature to mix the levain. If the ingredients are warmer than 78-80 degrees, use cooler water. The goal is for the levain to stay in the 78-80 degree temperature range. After mixing, cover loosely and let sit for about 10-12 hours (at 78-80 degrees F) until bubbly, doubled in size and peaked. If you want to mix levain the day of, mix a 1:1:1 levain with 40 grams ripe sourdough starter, 40 grams flour and 40 grams water. Let sit for 3-4 hours until bubbly, doubled in size and barely beginning to fall back down.

Kneading Sourdough English Muffin Dough

Set the bowl of a stand mixer on a kitchen scale. Warm the milk to around 90 degrees F. Add the ripe levain, warm milk, water, melted butter, sugar and salt to the bowl. Add most of the bread flour, reserving a little bit to add in as you mix. This can help to account for excess liquid or humidity. Start the mixer and knead the dough together for about 8-12 minutes until smooth. Add a little extra flour as needed. This dough will be tacky, but not super sticky. If kneading by hand, knead the dough for 12-15 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Bulk Fermentation

Move the dough to a container for the bulk fermentation. Do your best to keep the temperature of the dough at 78-80 degrees F. I use a bread proofer in the winter to help the dough develop at the right temperature. Cover the container. The entire bulk fermentation will take about 4-5 hours (depending on the temperature of the dough). By the end of bulk fermentation, you may notice the dough is more cohesive, strong and aerated. It will have risen about 30%.

Cold Fermentation Option: If it is more manageable for you to split this recipe up into multiple days, you can refrigerate the dough after the bulk fermentation. Place the covered dough in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours. Once you shape the English muffins, allow a little extra time for the dough to rise as it comes up to the 78-80 degree F dough temperature.

Divide and Shape Sourdough English Muffins

Dump the dough on the countertop. I weigh my dough and divide the weight by 12 so that I get an accurate amount of dough in each English muffin. This helps the sourdough english muffins all cook at the same rate. Separate into 12 equal pieces. Take each piece of dough and pull/pinch up the sides until it forms a ball. Roll the ball on the counter using your hand in a cupping shape (see video here) to seal the balls and create tension for the English muffins to rise.

Prepare a parchment-lined baking sheet. Pour 1/2 cup semolina or cornmeal into a shallow dish (or on the baking sheet) and gently press each ball of dough into the semolina. Flip the ball over and repeat on the other side, pressing into the semolina. Both sides will be covered and the dough will be flattened a little through this process. Place the dough on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough balls. All 12 English muffins should fit on the baking sheet. Take your hand and lightly press down on each English muffin, giving a flatter shape.