Whole and Sprouted Wheat English Muffins

The weather is cool and gray again today. I think this makes 4 days in a row, or at least it feels like it. Dreary gray days like this can be so depressing and leave me feeling very blah. I decided to get into the kitchen early and start baking and see if I could improve my mood. Otherwise I may end up in my favorite chair sipping ginger green tea and reading a book. While that sounds incredibly enjoyable I did my share of cozy reading yesterday so I wanted to be a bit more productive today.

English muffins have always been a favorite at our house for many years. This is a recipe I have been using for longer than I can remember. It came from the back of the bag of some type of flour and I have modified it and changed it through the years and it is a very forgiving recipe. If you haven’t tried making English muffins before they are easier to make than bread, you should give this a try.

Since I read about acrylamide a few weeks ago I have been avoid browning any flour products or potatoes. My husband loves baked goods so I decided to make a batch of these muffins today and put most of them in the freezer. If he only eats one or two of these a week it can’t be that bad for him, I hope. At least that is my plan, we will see if he has the same plan soon enough.

You can modify this recipe to include raisins and cinnamon if you choose. I assume this would work fine with all white flour but I have only made these with whole wheat so I am not positive.

The sizing on these muffins is smaller than the commercially made versions. I prefer these muffins in a more petite size. This way I can have one and my husband can have two if he chooses. I don’t like having half muffins and things leftover in the refrigerator. It is a personal pet peeve of mine.

Whole and Sprouted Wheat English Muffins
Makes 15 muffins

Ingredients:

1 cups water
2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 package)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons agave
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup sprouted whole-wheat flour (can substitute white or whole wheat pastry flour)
2 tablespoons coarse cornmeal

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 100 degrees (if you can set it that low). Take a half sheet pan and sprinkle the surface with half the coarse cornmeal.

Heat the water to approximately 100 degrees. This took 20 seconds in my microwave. Check the temperature with a thermometer to make certain the water isn’t above 115. You don’t want to kill the yeast.

Combine the warm water, yeast, salt, agave, and canola and whisk to combine. Add the flours and knead the ingredients together to form dough. If you keep your flour in the freezer you may need to add a little more water so that all the flour gets moistened and combined into the dough.

Place the dough on a floured counter, or use a silicon mat and roll with a rolling pin until it is approximately ½ inch thick. I used a 2 and 7/8ths inch biscuit cutter and cut out the muffins. Move the cut muffins to the prepared sheet pan. Reforms the dough scraps into a ball and roll that out and continue cutting the muffins until all the dough has been used.

Place the baking sheet in the very low oven and allow the muffins to rise for an hour.

Heat a lightly greased griddle, or heavy skillet to 300 degrees. Cook the muffins over low heat until they begin to brown, approximately 7 minutes per side. Flip and cook the other side. I used a lightly greased cast iron griddle and cooked the muffins on the lowest heat setting on my stove. If you have an infrared thermometer to test the pan temperature this is the perfect place to use it. If you don’t have one start with the lowest heat setting and raise the heat if you need to. You can cook them longer if they aren’t done, but if you heat is too high they may burn before they are cooked through.

Allow the muffins to cool on a rack. They can be wrapped and frozen for months. We think they are best split and toasted with little Earth Balance or nut butter.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 102.09
Calories From Fat (26%) - 26.84

Total Fat - 3.57g
Saturated Fat - 0.2g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 128.99mg
Potassium - 83.43mg
Total Carbohydrates - 18.94g
Fiber - 3.94g
Sugar - 0.41g
Protein - 3.59g

Comments:

These whole-wheat muffins have the same nooks and crannies we all expect. Whole-wheat flour makes them healthier and gives the muffins a nice nutty flavor. You can taste a subtle sweetness from the agave. I really love this recipe and hope you give it a try. Making homemade English muffins is so simple I wish everyone made their own. I love knowing what is in the food I feed my family.