In a medium bowl, add the flour, yeast, and salt. Mix briefly.
In
a separate jug, add the milk, water, and butter. Pop it into the
microwave for 15-30 seconds or until it’s lukewarm and the butter has
melted. Take care not to let it get too hot.
Add
the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until you form a dough. The
dough will be quite soft and a little sticky. (NOTE: See video about
holding back liquid until you get the right consistency of dough).
Once
the dough has come together, just scrape down the sides of the bowl and
cover tightly with cling wrap and a clean kitchen towel. Now let it sit
at room temperature for a minimum of 12-18 hours. (If you want to cook
off your muffins at a later time then pop the dough in the fridge after
18 hours)
The
next morning, the dough will have doubled in size. Turn it out onto a
floured surface. Cover with cling wrap and a kitchen towel and let rest
for just 10 minutes.
After
resting, the gluten will have relaxed. You can now roll it out to about
2 cm or slightly over an inch in thickness. (In the video I said roll
to 1 cm however I found this to be very thin later)
Using
a 3-inch cookie cutter dusted in flour, cut out rounds and transfer
them to another a baking tray lined with parchment. Any scraps can you
re-rolled and made into another muffin. Note: At this point, you can
place the muffins in the fridge to be cooked off later.
Cover
the muffins with plastic wrap and a tea towel and let it rest for about
40-45 minutes. After 45 minutes, the dough circles will have puffed up a
little. Proceed to cook!
Cooking the English Muffins:
Heat a large nonstick frying pan over a steady, medium to medium-low heat.
Using a flat spatula, carefully move over the English muffins onto to a non stick frying pan and cover with a lid.
Leave
at least a 2 inches between each muffin. It makes 8-10 muffins so you
will probably need to cook them off in two batches. Take extra care when
moving your muffins to avoid compressing the dough and knocking out the
bubbles.
Cook on this side for about 6-7 minutes. The steam created with the lid on will help the muffins rise and cook through fully.
Flip over and cook on the other side for another 3-4 minutes.
Set the muffins aside to cool down before eating them fresh. These muffins also toast up really well.
Store for 4 days at room temperature or freeze for up to 8 weeks.
