45. English Muffins

Take a little time to make these bad boys if you fancy waking up to some wicked breakfast muffins or eggs benny on a Saturday morning.

English Muffins

Makes about 10 muffins

450g strong white bread flour

350g semi-skimmed milk

25g honey

10g salt

8g dried active yeast

about 100g cornmeal

Heat your milk in a saucepan for about 30 seconds until "hand hot" or a thermometer reads 35ºC. Tip in your dried active yeast and set aside for 10 minutes to allow your yeasty friends to become active. Once your yeast is good and active, add all your ingredients to a large bowl and mix to form a soft dough. Place your dough on a clean work surface and give it a good 10 minute knead, until it is smooth and elastic. Pop your dough back into your bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise for 1 hour.

Once your dough is risen, roll it out to 2cm thick and, using a 7.5cm cutter (or something similar), cut out as many muffins as possible. Place them on a baking tray sprinkled with cornmeal. Bunch up the leftover scraps and roll them out again to make a few more muffins (don't waste any of this dough... it's delish!). Sprinkle more cornmeal over the top of your muffins, cover with cling film and leave to rise for another 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes is up, preheat a large frying pan on a medium low heat and rub a bit of butter onto the cooking surface and place as many muffins as will comfortably fit into the pan. Cook them for about 10-11 minutes flipping halfway through and pressing down on them slightly to flatten. Eat warm or allow to cool completely before storing in a plastic bag to keep them fresh about 4 days (or 3 months frozen).