Dan Lepard's Cider Vinegar English Muffins

I ordered 2 boxes of 4 inch Genuine Certified English Muffin Rings.  The vendor claims these are the exact same rings used at Buckingham Palace for the Royal Family's English Muffins.  Well, they're sitting on the kitchen counter...still in the boxes.  I've been duped by Madison Ave. hucksters who sold me crumpet rings under the guise of English muffin rings (you can't make'm without these babies) sales pitch.  Right now I'm thinking these things may end up being molds for my new monster burger to be unveiled at the Florida Beef Producers' booth at Central Florida Food Expo. in December :-)

Oh yeah, the flour for the English Muffins was Gold Medal unbleached organic AP.  It works really well.  It's a little more expensive than King Arthur AP.  Around here KA AP is selling in the supermarket for $3.79 per 5 lb bag and Gold Medal unbleached organic is around $4.29 for 5 lb. bag at Walmart.  Yeah, hard to believe, but Walmart carries it, at least here in St. Augustine.

I'm stlll going to make Pat's (Proth's) muffins as soon as hurricane Fay clears out of here tomorrow.  We're expecting Fay to hit later tonight...around midnight  We're 60 miles south of Jacksonville on Anastasia Island near the ocean and Fay went out to sea down around Sebastian Inlet and is expected to return to land around midnight...HERE.  It's raining like crazy out there now.   

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

Appreciate your kind words.  I think you'll really like these.  As I said in the recipe post, if you want a little less sourness you can dilute the cider vinegar amount in Mr. Lepard's recipe to half vinegar and half water (25 ml water, 25 ml cider vinegar for a total of 50 ml.) 

Charlene checked the Thomas English muffin package when we were in the supermarket yesterday and they list vinegar as one of the indegredients in their mix.

Good hearing from you.

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

If you make them don't overwork the dough.  Just follow the recipe closely and they'll turn out fine.  Also, don't overheat your griddle when you start out.  You can turn the heat up if they aren't browning fast enough but don't overheat and run the risk of burning them before they've reached an internal temp. of between 190-200 deg. F.  I used a digital thermometer inserted into the side of one of the muffins to check.  Actually, I let it reach an internal temp. of 210 deg F.

Good luck with your baking adventures.

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

Jane,

You just need a cutter to cut the dough into round disks once it's rolled out.  I used a 4 inch diameter (round biscuit type) cutter.  You could actually use a tuna fish can with both ends cut out, and washed thoroughly, as a cutter.  These are very light dough muffins. 

With the batter type crumpets you need rings to keep the batter from spreading as you cook them on a griddle or in a frying pan.

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

As Dougal explained it, crumpets are made with batter and English muffins with dough.  At least that's my understanding of how it goes.  I have some round dough cutters (coupe pate) in various diameters, from school (long ago) that I used to cut the rounds.

Dont' know what dino cutters are but they sound good to me.  Actually, anything that cuts through the dough cleanly will work. 

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

Your travel situtation doesn't sound like much fun.  Inform the airline that you have a hungry child waiting for you at your destination and need to get home soooon.  Drop some hints about upgrading you to 1st class at no charge, etc. :-) 

I have your levain-build for the English muffins in the fridge as I write this.  I am doubling the recipe to get a dozen muffins.  Tomorrow morning I'll break out the muffin rings for their maiden voyage and make your muffins from the recipe you posted.  Your recipe looks like a winner.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

Good hearing from you.  Hang in there and get back to your levain asap.

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

Thanks for your kind words.  I don't see why buttermilk wouldn't work.  The yogurt I used was Cabot Vermont extra rich, all natural Greek Style plain yogurt with 10% milk fat.  This yogurt is very thick, almost the thickness of sour cream.  If you're substituting buttermilk I would suggest using maybe 2/3 to 3/4 the amount buttermilk because it's going to be wetter than the yogurt, unless your buttermilk is as thick as sour cream.

I would also suggest diluting the vinegar with half water (25 ml water mixed with 25 ml cider vinegar) or use half the vinegar called for in the recipe and use the full amount of buttermilk in place of the yogurt.  You want a tacky dough, not dry.  So don't be tempted to add more flour than Mr. Lepard calls for and be sure not to overmix your dough. 

Give the buttermilk a try and let us know how it works out.

Good luck. 

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

Betty,

Don't get discouraged.  These may require some fiddling with the dough and heat but in the end I think you'll be glad you perservered.

Yes, the dough is slack and sticky.  I had to use a light dusting of flour on the work surface and on the rolling pin (a few times) as I rolled the dough out.  Don't worry too much about using some flour on the work surface and rolling pin and also lift, move and turn the dough after a couple of rolls.  You can even flip the dough over and roll the other side.  Just try not to get it too thin.  Move it around and dust both counter and pin with flour.  Otherwise it will stick to the counter and rolling pin.  Also, don't worry about getting it into a square or rectangle just concentrate on getting the right thickness over the entire dough area.  When cutting out the rounds, move your cutter around taking advantage of the largest areas of dough remaining, after each cut, in order to optimize the number of rounds you get. 

As for the scraps of leftover dough, I simply gathered them up, kneaded them back into a ball.  Let them rest for a few minutes until the gluten relaxed a little, then rolled it into a ball (like you would do for shaping a roll) then using the rolling pin I rolled it out to the same thickness as the original dough and cut 2 more muffins.  The last muffin will be mostly a hand shaped one. 

You'll definitely need a heavily floured dish towel or piece of cloth in a baking pan, to lay them on for proofing.  Otherwise they're going to stick to whatever you use.  I was reluctant at first to use a heavily floured cloth but decided to go with Mr. Lepard's directions and was glad I did, because I had to gingerly roll them off the floured cloth and into my hand because they wanted to cling to the cloth, despite using a heavy sprinkling of flour and rubbing it into the cloth.

I have a Le Crueset skillet but I have the same problem with mine that you mentioned.  If you have either an electric frying pan with a lid or, failing that, have an electric griddle, those are the appliances that do the best job set at around 290-300 deg. F.  If you're using the skillet try checking the heat on the cook surface with your digital thermometer, if you have one.  As you are aware, the Le Crueset needs low temperature to keep it from overheating.  Medium heat in the Le Crueset will be too hot and they will scorch before the centers get sufficiently done.  So, if you have to use the Le Crueset keep it on low or med/low.  I know you're a good baker and cook but my experience with Le Crueset is that the heat they produce is, in a sense, like salt.  You can always add more but can't take it away after it's been added, especially to something like these muffins.  As I said, if you can use an electric skillet with lid, that's ideal and it's what Mr. Lepard calls for.

Hope this helps.

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

One final thought.  Roll the dough straight from the refrigerator and cut the rounds while the dough is cold and firm.  Don't let it sit around and soften or it will become unworkable.  I dusted my work surface and rolling pin with flour, took the dough out of the refrigerator, emptied the container of dough onto the floured work surface and used my floured hands to gently press-shape the dough into a rough square.  Then I rolled the dough out with a floured rolling pin, turning the dough a quarter turn at a time and dusting the work surface and rolling pin, as necessary, to keep any dough from sticking to the rolling pin or work surface, until it was the correct uniform thickness.  Mr. Lepard says to be careful not to lose too much of the air in the dough, but I don't see how that is possible if you're going to get the the mass of dough pressed and rolled to the thickness needed.

They take a couple of hours, on the floured cloth, covered, for final proof. Also lightly dust the tops with flour for final proofing.  Rub some flour on the palms of your hands when you're ready to remove them from the cloth after final proofing.  That way they're less likely to stick to your hand when you flip them off the cloth into your hand to be placed into the pan or onto the griddle cooking surface.

What time is breakfast? :>) 

Howard - St. Augustine, FL