English Muffin Bread

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ShadowsDad
Posts: 3121
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:13 am
Location: Central Maine

English Muffin Bread

Post by ShadowsDad »

This is an ATK recipe as placed into the public domain by broadcasting it over the air, but frankly they screwed it up. I'm fixing it and making it better; it'll be faster and have better flavor. It will also have a variation to use home ground white whole wheat for the folks who want that (me for one). At least that's the goal. It should be easily attainable from what little knowledge I have.

Stay tuned; this is still experimental but works as it is here. The basic recipe as put into the public domain by ATK (on air) has promise and we like it, but it can be better with minimal effort. I tip my hat to ATK though for the impetus for what will follow.

Here's what I have so far and it's ATKs as transcribed by me. Anyone can do this since it requires no special equipment. I've already made changes to it but the original recipe is there if you want to follow it. With notes to myself...

English Muffin Loaf (bread) 2/23/14

If there’s an easier loaf of bread to make I have no idea what it would be. It requires a bowl, ingredients, a spoon, pans and minimal time ( 2 hours total?).

EXPERIMENTAL Still working on this, but...

This yields 2 loaves quite similar to English muffins in texture. I’m working on the flavor and I also want to develop the recipe to use home ground 100% white wheat berries. But as it stands now this recipe works fine. Be sure to watch the loaves and not be slavish to the timer.

Ingredients:
5 cups bread flour
4 ½ tsps instant yeast
1 TBL sugar
2 tsps salt
1 tsp baking soda
(no malt vinegar for flavor? I intend to add 2 TBLs malt vinegar next time.)

3 cups of whole milk (or 3 cups water and enough non-instant milk to make 3 cups whole milk)

Directions:

1. Mix the first set of ingredients (dry) together. The dry non-instant milk gets mixed in also if you go that route (I did).

2. Heat the milk (or water) to 120°F (note: I question this. Yeast is killed at 115°F, so I intend to limit the temperature to that. Note: Yes, do this, it works.).

3. Fully combine the wet and dry ingredients with a spoon or some such implement until everything is wet.

4. Spray plastic wrap with oil (or butter it), cover the bowl, then set aside to rise for 30 minutes.

5. Stir risen dough to knock it down, then divide into 2 equal amounts in the bowl. Or see #6.

6. Using 2 loaf pans, spray each with oil (or butter/grease) and dust with cornmeal (or coarse ground semolina), portion out the equal amounts of batter into the 2 pans. I used a scale and went by weight to even out the loaves. It’s a great deal easier than trying to divide batter in a bowl. How does one do that exactly!? With your mixing implement try to get the batter into the corners of the pans as best you can.

7. Using plastic wrap (buttered/greased/ oiled) cover the pans and allow to rise approx 30 minutes. They should rise to the top of the pan. (Note: by not using 120°F water the yeast isn’t killed prematurely to set it back. I would check the loaves after 20 minutes. When I timed 30 minutes w/o checking, the dough had risen far too much.) The dough should rise to the tops of the pan.

8. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven, on the middle rack for about 30 minutes, rotating them halfway through the time. Internal temp needs to be 200°F. (my accurately calibrated non convection oven took 5 minutes more)

9. Turn the loaves out onto a cooling rack, allow to cool to be able to slice. Toast, butter, and enjoy. It’s OK to use jam on the buttered and toasted slices. :-)

Recipe courtesy of Americas Test Kitchen, transcribed from the video and improved by the BBQinMaineiac

Notes: These loaves rose so fast, that the times need resetting. I didn’t watch the rising the first time; maybe use 20 minutes for the second rise in the pans. (it's still experimental)
Brian

Maker of Kramperts Finest Bay Rum and Frostbite
Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
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