These muffins are super easy to make if you have a sourdough starter. The original recipe can be found at Traditional Cooking School, which is where I work! Come by and visit if you can.
I make mine a little differently than TCS does but you could follow either recipe. I start mine in a skillet and then transfer the skillet to the oven to finish the muffins. I think it helps them rise higher to finish in the oven.
First Set of Ingredients:
113 grams of active sourdough starter (about 1/2 cup)
1 cup of liquid. I use oat milk but you could use cow milk, water or any kind of vegan milk
2 cups any plain flour, even whole grain
Second Set of Ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt ( you can reduce this to 3/4 teaspoon if you like)
1 tablespoon honey ( this is optional but I think it’s really good in these muffins. I had never used it until I read the TCS recipe)
Mix the first set of ingredients well, to make a shaggy dough. If your dough is very stiff you can add up to 1/4 cup more liquid. Mix it up, leave it in a bowl and cover it with a damp cloth. Let it sit on the counter for 8 hours, or overnight. You can let it sit for up to 24 hours. This is called the “souring” stage.
Next morning, pull the dough out of the bowl and spread it out a little on a lightly oiled countertop. Sprinkle the Second Set of Ingredients, the 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon honey over the dough then stretch and fold it 4 or 5 times.
At this point you could add some other ingredients like seeds or nuts. Just add however much you like.
Now knead the dough for 3 minutes. You want to thoroughly incorporate the baking soda, salt and honey (and add-ins if using!)
Use a knife or bench scraper to divide the dough into 8 equal portions.
Form a ball of each portion and flatten the ball just a little. The dough balls should be about 1 inch tall. I kind of form the dough to be 1 inch tall and then I flatten the sides a bit.
Place each formed muffin on a piece of parchment paper that is lightly coated with cornmeal. The cornmeal will keep the muffins from sticking to the paper while they rest.
Cover the muffin dough with a clean cloth and let the muffin dough rest for 45 minutes.
Heat an iron skillet (you could use a different kind of skillet or even a griddle) to medium.
Place the formed muffins in the heated skillet and let the muffins brown. Turn them over and brown the other sides. Then pop the whole skillet into the oven at 350*F for 5-10 minutes.
You’ll need to check them for doneness. I leave mine in the oven the full 10 minutes.
Let the muffins cool before trying to slice them. To slice an English muffin, you can poke fork tines into the muffin all around the edges then twist the top off the bottom of the muffin.
