14. English Muffins

I'd been wondering when to bake these muffins for weeks; they're not really the sort of thing you take into work to share around and the idea of Joe and I wading through a mountain of muffins didn't appeal. Then I remembered the wonderful invention which is the freezer, and thought that it couldn't hurt to deposit half of them therein.

In true baker fashion, I got up early on a Saturday to make these. There I was, bustling about the kitchen in my jim-jams, preparing our daily bread. Grandad would be proud, but would note my poor time-management. As if they would ever be ready for eating at a civilised hour for breakfast!

They were very easy to make - I didn't even break a sweat about the 'tepid' milk, just put the jug in the microwave for 30 seconds and decided that would do. Maybe I was wrong, and bad things happened to the dough as a result, but it didn't cause me any anxiety. What did, was the temperature of my 'warm place' for the proving. I'd heated the oven a bit, then switched it off, but worried about the clingfilm melting into the muffins. It didn't.

After an hour, they'd puffed up nicely. First hurdle over. The next process was more worrying: cooking them on a griddle rather than in the oven. Here, I have to have a grumble about the Baking Bible. It doesn't decree with enough precision. 'Heating' the oil and then 'turning down the heat' are not helpful suggestions for the beginner baker. Thus, I found myself in trial and error territory, which isn't a bad thing, but without reassuring 'don't worry if it's a bit doughy' or pictures, I don't really know whether I've done something wrong or that's how it's supposed to be. One thing I will say is that they looked bloody good. They puffed up even more, and I liked the griddle effect. The big worry was the doughy middles. Were they cooked enough?

We experimented a bit and put some in the toaster, to try and crisp up the soggy middle: still decidedly doughy. The only point of comparison either of us had were the Big M muffins, which we know as quite light and fluffy (but maybe that's what chemicals do to your muffins). They were certainly less stodgy when they'd cooled a bit; actually I quite liked them this way. I like a bit of chew to my bread. They were quite bland tasting, but satisfying when smothered in butter.
After having one with a fried egg in for breakfast, we saved a few for eating with soup for lunch. It was very satisfying to have homemade soup and bread and they really came into their own when dunked into a bowl of hot soup.
I had one for breakfast the following day, with apricot jam on, and as a sort of scone with cheese later: both yummy. The remaining six have been frozen, ready for breakfast next weekend. We'll see how well they cope with this.
Baker's verdict: fun to make; doughy inside and not sure if they were meant to be. What did I do wrong?
Husband rating: 4.5 - didn't really like them. Too doughy and lacking in seasoning.