How To Make Sourdough English Muffins

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I have spoken a lot about my love for my sourdough starter in this post here. It is something that keeps on giving every single week with little maintenance required! 

I use it throughout our weekday meals often whether I am making sourdough pizza crust, pancakes, or these amazing English muffins. The possibilities are endless when it comes to sourdough. 

I love how I can whip up an entire batch of these sourdough English muffins and not have to spend extra money. They are cheap to make, and they taste 100 times better than anything store-bought. 

Plus, I have maintained and cared for my sourdough starter for a while and the satisfaction that comes with creating food from wild yeast is priceless. I hope to someday pass down my starter to my kids! 

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH SOURDOUGH?

Sourdough is so much more complex than just a loaf of sourdough bread you can buy at the store. Many people see grains and bread as unhealthy and they have gotten a bad reputation over the years in the health and diet industry. 

Back in my post about starting a sourdough starter, I talk a little bit about phytic acid and how it is an antinutrient that is found in many different grains and other foods as well. It is meant to help preserve food and it also makes certain nutrients harder to absorb. 

Back in the day, people thrived on grains and they prepared them the right way. It took a little time and love, but it was healthier and easier to digest. When you have a sourdough starter you have a pot of bubbly wild yeast that breaks down the indigestible grains that are bad for our health. 

Many people didn’t have access to the little yeast packets you will find at the stores today. They relied on this wild yeast to raise bread and other important foods for sustainability. 

Today, that preparation is lost and the fermentation process has almost vanished. More and more people can’t tolerate grains! It is quite an interesting phenomenon.

Queue my love for sourdough! So let’s dive into how to make sourdough English muffins. 

TOOLS YOU MAY NEED

Glass bowl

Wooden Spoon

Tea Towel

Cast Iron Skillet

Coconut oil

HOW TO MAKE SOURDOUGH ENGLISH MUFFINS

Sourdough bread is hard for me to perfect, but these English muffins give the same wonderful taste but a fraction of the time to prepare.

They taste similar to an Auntie Annie’s pretzel to me, and they are delicious as a breakfast sandwich with eggs and bacon. They are also great smothered in butter or jelly, or even work as a sandwich with meat and cheese.

SOURDOUGH ENGLISH MUFFINS RECIPE

The night before you want to prepare this recipe (hence the fermenting time of the grains).

Get out a glass bowl and add:

4 cups of flour

2 cups of water

1 cup of sourdough starter

Cover your bowl with a tea towel and let it ferment for 12-24 hours. If your home is hotter in the summer months the ferment time can be shorter than 12 hours. It should double in size, and that will be a good visual to know if it is ready.

I like making a larger batch of the Sourdough English Muffins because we enjoy them for a few days. If you don’t want to make a larger batch (12+) then just cut this recipe down in half.

AFTER FERMENTATION ADD:

2 tablespoons of Honey

2 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Baking soda

Mix thoroughly to incorporate the honey, salt, and baking soda for even cooking. The dough will be thick so just use a wooden spoon and some muscle! 

I like to preheat my cast iron skillet on low/medium and add a spoonful of coconut oil into the pan to make sure the dough won’t stick to the bottom. When the oil is starting to sizzle I know it is ready.

*I will add: I am not a fan of coconut in general and do not like the aroma when it cooks so I buy triple filtered coconut oil from Trader Joe’s that has no aroma and no taste. It has a high smoke point so it is healthy to cook with!

Divide the dough up into about 12 parts and drop each dough ball into your skillet. Make sure the pan is on low so the dough has a chance to rise a bit (and so it won’t burn the bottom).

My sourdough English muffins will usually double in size and I will then flip them over to cook on the other side. They should be slightly browned on the bottom and should flip easily. 

Because they can be thick the middles can tend to be somewhat doughy. I sometimes flip them multiple times to fully cook, but you can also throw them in the oven at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes to ensure the middle is cooked all of the ways through.

Once they are cooked, cut them in half and enjoy them!