HOMEMADE ENGLISH MUFFINS
Nooks and crannies. These three words became my mantra as I set out to bake one of my all-time favorite breakfast staples from scratch. Afterall, it’s an English muffin’s series of nooks and crannies that really sets it apart from the other breads in the breakfast lineup. If I was going to replicate anything close to my childhood favorite Thomas’, I was going to have to ensure the development of enough peaks and valleys to adequately support my preferred topping of butter and a little of my mom’s homemade strawberry jam.
You might be wondering why anyone would set out to make their own English muffins at home when there are perfectly fine specimens available at the supermarket. To be completely honest, I don’t have a very good answer to that question. You see, my sister just gave me a copy of the new Momofuku cookbook for my birthday, and while all the recipes looks fantastic, it was the recipe and photo for their signature English muffins that first popped out at me. As I’ve pointed out in previous posts, I by no means consider myself an expert baker, but it has been in the production of this blog that I’ve developed a renewed sense of adventure in the kitchen. These days I’m eager to go outside of my comfort zone and share my experiences in the cooking of recipes that I might have shied away from in the past.
It took a couple of days, but the oftentimes finicky process was well worth the effort in the end. After clumsily navigating the pitfalls involved in working with an extremely delicate dough and the laborious task of religiously flipping the puffy, implant-like balloons of dough as they slowly baked on the cast iron griddle, I found that I was left with a new appreciation for the very makeup of these humble muffins.
So, are they worth making at home? I’d say yes, if only for the personal satisfaction of watching a pad of butter slowly melt and ooze into all those nooks and crannies of your own creation.
