English Muffins

I expect to see only a few items on an ingredient list for bread. Flour, water & yeast pretty much that's it.

But for a loaf of manufactured bread, the ingredients can take up 6 lines! Many of them even don't have a name, only some weird codes - E-282, E-200, E-481, E-471, E461ii.... (preservatives, stabilizer, emulsified agent, etc). One package even mentions that their bread doesn't require refrigerated once it's open, and is still good for half a month!

Some food manufacturers prolong the life span of their products but shorten mine...

To prolong the life span of my homemade bread, no need for 2 4 6 8 10... simply f.r.e.e.z.e.r. I've made 6 English muffins and already freezed some for breakfast during weekends.

I've tested 3 different recipes all of which yield delicious muffins, depending your personal taste, some tends to be bland (like American style since we sandwich them with salty ham and juicy egg) while some with milk flavor (perfect with jam). The following recipe inclines to American style. But the only thing is, I can't accomplish the very, VERY, porous interior like the manufacturer ones'. The problem shouldn't be from the ingredients, more due to the handling, I'd continue to look for other sources and keep trying... otherwise, the taste is great.

Ingredients (yields 6 muffins)

• 4 g of dry yeast dissolved in a small amount of water
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 egg white, whisk until fluffy
• 2 cups of flour
• a good pinch of baking soda
• a good pinch of salt
• fine corn meal

Combine all the above ingredients, knead until the dough is elastic and smooth. Rest until it doubles the volumn, fold a few times. Roll dough to 1/2-inch thick (sprinkle the table with corn meal), cut out the muffin, rest them until they look very puffy. Cook them on a skillet for about 15 minutes.

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