English Muffin Bread
A family favorite from my childhood- and the easiest, most delicious bread you’ll ever bake.
How good is a warm, toasty English Muffin topped with salted butter? All those nooks and crannies and managing to be both soft and yeasty yet golden and crunchy at the same time. It’s the perfect breakfast bread. However, I’d be surprised if you had ever attempted to make them at home because as exponentially more delicious as a homemade version of Thomas’ can be, they are equally exponentially more high maintenance.
I’m here to tell you that there’s a middle ground. My family has been making this bread for as long as I can remember- in fact I think the recipe came from a “family cookbook” that our Elementary School put together from student and faculty contributions. We usually had it with dinner, but in my adult life my husband and I love it just as much with a bowl of soup as we do toasted, with butter and jam. The beauty of this bread is that it has all of the things you love about English Muffins, but you can make it in less than an hour, at home, with things probably in your pantry right now- it is literally the lowest maintenance homemade bread recipe you’ll ever find. Truly, the best of both worlds.
Recipe notes: I always mix this bread in a mixer, but growing up my mom just stirred it in a bowl. The biggest mistake you can make is not making the full recipe- which yields two loaves. I promise you, you’ll want the second one. If you don’t have two loaf pans (or any), you can use any type of oven-safe vessel. I sometimes use a glass bowl to get a boule type shape instead of a loaf. It’s a great bread to bring to a friend who has just had a baby, or is dealing with a difficult situation and could use a homecooked meal. It freezes impeccably well, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap or stored in an airtight container. Don’t stress out about the variable flour amount that the recipe calls for- I consistently add 5.5c of flour with great results. If your dough starts to ball up and dry up before you get there though- stop adding. The final consistency is not necessarily pourable like a quickbread batter, but definitely too wet to put on your counter and knead. The proofing step will relax the dough if you’ve added too much flour.
