Crooks and Nannies

No wait, strike that – reverse it.

Summer is here and it’s too hot to fire up the oven which makes it a perfect time to take the electric griddle outside and make English muffins.

The problem, of course, is getting those great nooks and crannies.  My old formula and technique got me plenty of little holes in the muffins, but not those great nooks and crannies (well, the little holes caught the melting butter, but still, the drive for “just a little better” is strong.)

So I thought about both my formula and my technique.

I was using an adaptation of the King Arthur “English Tea Cakes” recipe which calls for beating the dough for 5 minutes in a mixer.  I thought about “Batter Whipped” bread and how beating the dough caused its fine texture.  Then I thought about baguettes.

Well, English – French, different, but in the end – all European.  So I thought I would adapt my baguette technique for my English Muffins.

I use King Arthur All Purpose flour.

The formula:

Levain Build

Starter    .65 oz (100% hydration)

Flour      .95 oz

Water     .95 oz

Let ripen overnight.

Final Mix

All of the levain build

Flour                9.25 oz

Salt                   .16 oz

Dry Milk         1.25 oz

Sugar                .55 oz

Vegetable oil    .55 oz

Water              9.25 oz

Mix to a loose batter.  Four times at 30 minute intervals, stir 30 strokes with a spoon or spatula.

Let rise until domed and bubbly.  Do not let it collapse.  This particular batch took about 3 hours at this phase.

Baked in greased muffing rings on a lightly greased griddle at 325F.  8-9 mins per side.

The results. 

(I'm no photographer - that's for sure...) 

Finally the nooks…