gary’s english muffins

How To Make gary’s english muffins

• 1

  The night before you want to make your English Muffins, combine the starter ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir well with a fork to mix well. Cover with plastic wrap. Let stand at room temperature 12-18 hours.
• 2

  Also, the day before, make the clarified butter. Place unsalted butter in a vey small saucepan. Place on very low heat to melt slowly. Do not stir. When butter has melted, it will have separated. Pour through a very fine mesh strainer to remove the solids that have collected on the top. Discard solids. Save the clarified butter, covered on counter for the following day. Alternately, the melted butter can be poured into a fat separating cup. The solids will float, and the clarified butter will pour out from the bottom through the spout.
• 3

  To complete the dough, add all the remaining ingredients, except the extra flour and cornmeal to the starter. Mix with the paddle attachment until mixed. Remove paddle and scrape off excess dough in to the bowl. Cover with plastic and rest 20 minutes. The resting period allows for the whole wheat to absorb more of the liquids.
• 4

  With the dough hook attached, start to knead the dough on low after the resting period. If the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl, add a little additional flour, until it no longer sticks to the sides. It is still going to stick slightly to the bottom of the bowl. Continue kneading with the dough hook for a total of 7-8 minutes. Scrape dough into an oiled bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled. If all is well, that should be about 60-70 minutes.
• 5

  When dough has doubled, turn out to a floured board to work lightly for a couple of minutes.
• 6

  Meanwhile, you should have prepared two baking sheets with parchment paper that you have sprinkled with cornmeal.
• 7

  Divide dough into 12 portions. Form, by hand into a ball. Flatten the ball to make a disk. Place on the prepared baking sheet, 6 to a sheet. Sprinkle all the tops with additional cornmeal. Cover with plastic to rise for about 30 minutes, a 50% rise.
• 8

  15 minutes before you fry the muffins, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• 9

  When ready to fry/bake muffins, heat a large cast iron pan over low heat. When hot, add a good bit of clarified butter to the pan. Heat a minute or so. Add, without crowding, enough muffins to fit in the pan. Fry a total of 7-8 minutes, flipping at least once and flipping as necessary to evenly turn a rich golden brown color. Place the partially cooked muffins back on the tray with the parchment and cornmeal. When you have 6 muffins to the tray, place in the oven to bake for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, keep frying muffins, adding more clarified butter, as needed.
• 10

  As you take the muffins from the oven, place on a rack topped with paper towels to cool and absorb extra butter.
• 11

  When muffins have cooled about 30 minutes, they can be fork split. Continue cooling before toasting in a toaster or storing in fridge in a ziploc bag. Any muffins that will not be consumed in a couple of days should be frozen.
• 12

  Once toasted, serve with butter and jam of choice.
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