English Muffins

• 325 mL water, room temperature
• 167 g (3/4 cup) Greek yogurt, room temperature
• 40 g (3 tbsp) oil
• 3/4 tsp (3g) instant yeast (sub: 1 tsp active dry yeast)
• 560 g (4 cups) AP flour
• 1 1/2 tsp (10g) fine sea salt
• 28 g (2 tbsp) sugar
• 2-3 cups cornmeal, for dusting (sub coarse semolina)

1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together water and Greek yogurt. It’s okay if some lumps remain. Add in oil and instant yeast, followed by flour. Finally, add salt and sugar on top of the flour.
2. Use a spatula to stir the dough together until it has mostly come together then switch to hands. Lightly knead together until no dry flour remains. Work out any hard lumps of dry flour. The dough will still be pretty rough at this point.
3. Cover and rest 30 minutes.

• Use wet hands to grab one side of the dough from against the bowl and stretch the dough up gently until it resists pulling but doesn’t tear.
• Fold the stretched dough over the rest of the dough. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat 3 more times going all the way around the bowl.
• Cover and rest 30 minutes.
• Repeat the strech and fold two more times, totaling 3 sets of “Stretch & Folds” over 90 minutes. The dough should become smooth and stretchy.
• After the last set of folds, cover and rest for 1 hour at room temperature.

Rest dough in fridge for 10 hours minimum, up to 48 hours.

1. When ready to cook English Muffins, prepare a half sheet pan by generously dusting with cornmeal. Take rested dough out of the fridge. From this point, work quickly to shape the muffins because cold dough is less sticky and easier to work with.
2. Scrape dough onto the counter and divide into 12 equal portions.
3. Using damp hands to prevent sticking, shape each portion of dough by patting out, turning over, pinching together, turning over again, and rolling with cupped hands into a smooth ball.
4. Place dough balls onto cornmeal lined tray (in a 3 by 4 grid), leaving 2” between each dough ball.
5. Dust cornmeal over the tops of all the dough balls. Cover tightly with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel.
6. Proof in a warm place for 1.5-2 hours, until the dough balls are puffed up and about doubled in size.

1. Preheat a 12” non-stick skillet over medium-low heat for 3 minutes.
2. Cook 4 muffins at a time. Transfer dough balls to the skillet with 2 spatulas, using the cornmeal to prevent dough sticking to the spatulas. Once the dough is in the pan, give each dough ball a few firm smacks with a spatula to slightly flatten out.
3. Cover with a lid and cook until the bottoms are lightly golden, about 6 minutes. Halfway through, remove the lid and gently rotate the muffins with hands or spatulas for even cooking. Replace the lid and keep cooking.
4. When the bottoms are lightly golden, use spatulas to flip over each muffin. Once flipped, give each a few more smacks with a spatula.
5. Keep cooking, with lid off, until the other side is also lightly golden, about 6 minutes, rotating half way.
6. When both sides are evenly golden brown and the muffins have been in the skillet for ~12 minutes total, check if done by taking internal temperature which should be at least 200F (93C).
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool then move on to the next batch.
8. Let muffins cool for at least 15 minutes on the tray.
9. Split in half by poking all the way around the circumference of a muffin with a fork, then pulling the two perforated halves apart

Leftover muffins should be split in half, then put back together, sealed tightly, and frozen. When ready to eat, pull out frozen muffin and divide the two halves. Cook in a toaster until golden and crisp, which may take slightly longer than usual. They’ll taste as good as if they were fresh!