Honey Wheat English Muffins

Ingredients:

Active Dry Yeast – 2 Teaspoons

Honey – 2 Tablespoons

Warm Water (around 110 degrees) – 1 Cup

Milk – 1 Cup

Butter – 4 Tablespoons

Whole Wheat Flour – 2 Cups

Bread Flour – 3 Cups +/-

Salt – 1 ½ Teaspoons

Cornmeal – ½ Cup +/-

Olive Oil or Cooking Spray

In a small bowl, combine the yeast, honey and 1 cup of warm water. Stir to dissolve the honey and yeast. Let sit about 5 minutes or until foamy on top.

While the yeast/honey mixture is resting, combine 2 cups of the whole wheat flour, 1 cup bread flour and salt in a large bowl. Stir well to evenly distribute the salt. In a second small bowl, combine the milk and butter.   Warm the milk and butter in the microwave until the butter has melted.

Pour the yeast mixture and the milk mixture into the flour. Stir until combined. Adding 1/2 cup bread flour at a time, stir in more flour until the dough forms a soft, slightly sticky ball.  Do not over mix as this will make your muffins tough.  You may need to use more or less that the listed amount of flour.  You can also use any combination of flours.  I liked the bread flour because I feel like it yields a much softer English muffin.

I used my Kitchenaid mixer with my dough hook on the low setting and let it go for 5 minutes.  You can also knead the dough by hand for 5 minutes.

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated in olive oil or cooking spray.  Let rise until double in size.  This should be about 45 minutes to an hour.

Punch the dough down, shape it into another ball, cover the bowl and let rise for a second time.

Punch down the dough again and lightly flour your workspace. Using a rolling pin, lightly roll the dough until it is about ½ to ¾  inch thick. Using a cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, or round glass cut the dough into circles.

Place the cut dough circles onto a sheet pan that has been liberally covered in cornmeal.  You don’t want to use too much because it will burn later, but you need enough for it to not stick to your pan.  Do not crowd the pan as the muffins will expand in size and you will need to remove them without losing the air in them.   Sprinkle more cornmeal on top of the muffins. Cover loosely with a damp towel and let rise for the last time, about an hour.

Heat a large skillet over low heat. Spread a very small amount of olive oil around the bottom of the pan with a paper towel, or use cooking spray.  Carefully transfer muffins to the skillet with a spatula, being careful not to deflate them. Cook the muffins, in batches, in the skillet until they are golden brown and crispy on each side. Do not rush this process.  It should take about 5 minutes on each side.  You will know when they are done if you can tap the top and it sounds hollow.

Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.  I keep mine in the fridge so that they stay fresh longer.  These also freeze beautifully.  You can half this recipe if you would like.  I usually end up with about 25 muffins.

My favorite way to eat these is toasted,  with fresh ground all natural peanut butter and homemade jam, YUM!

Look back for my post on homemade strawberry jam!

This recipe was modified from http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2010/07/english-muffins-068-recipe-008-each.html