LAMORINDA WEEKLY | The perfect breakfast muffin to follow a filling Thanksgiving feast


Homemade Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins Photo Susie Iventosch

I was looking for bread recipes when I stumbled upon this great recipe for English muffins on Valerie's Kitchen cooking blog. It sounded like such a fun thing to do and so I went straight to it! They were delicious and the only thing I could think of to improve the recipe was to add raisins and cinnamon to her plain English muffins for a different kind of breakfast treat. The result was amazing and I think that you could probably add dried blueberries, cranberries, or whatever dried fruit you like to create your own version.

Made with yeast dough, these English muffins need to rise twice, and they also have two baking sessions. The first baking actually takes place on the griddle on top of the stove and then they're finished off in the oven. It's so much fun to see this soft, sticky dough come together as a batch of English muffins. They are super crispy and delicious and you can add just a hint of butter or your favorite jam for the perfect breakfast!

For Valerie's recipe: www.fromvalerieskitchen.com/homemade-english-muffin

Homemade Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins

(Makes 16 English muffins)

INGREDIENTS

5 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

4 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar

4 1/4 teaspoons yeast

2 3/4 cups warm water (about 110 F)

1 cup raisins

1 cup boiling water (for reconstituting raisins)

DIRECTIONS

Place raisins in a small bowl. Pour about one cup of boiling water over raisins. Allow to sit for about 20 minutes to soften and reconstitute raisins. When cool, squeeze the liquid from the raisins and discard the liquid. This process allows the raisins to stay nice and plump during the baking.

Mix flour, salt, cinnamon, sugar, yeast and raisins in a large mixing bowl. Blend with a whisk. Using a wooden spoon, slowly add water and mix until all of the dries are moist and there are no dry pockets of flour. The dough will be quite sticky at this point.

Keep dough in the mixing bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Place in a warm, draft-free spot in the house, (not in a heated oven) and allow to sit until double in size. This will take about one hour.

While the dough is rising, line two baking sheets with parchment and sprinkle them generously with corn meal.

When the dough has doubled in volume, divide it into 16 evenly sized balls. You will need to spray your hands with cooking spray or rub them with oil to keep them from sticking while you form the individual English muffins.

Form each muffin into a round and place them on the trays. Tuck in the edges as necessary to keep them round in shape. Flatten the dough slightly to be about 1/2-inch thick. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a little more corn meal.

Again, place the trays in a warm, draft-free place and allow to rise for another 20-25 minutes, until puffy.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Preheat a cast-iron griddle on the stove over medium high heat. Spray the griddle with cooking spray and with a spatula transfer the muffins from the baking sheet to the griddle and cook until slightly browned. Flip and repeat. Once the muffins are browned, transfer them back to the baking sheet and bake in the oven for another 5 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven.

If you're ready to eat the English muffins right away, fork split them and toast them in the toaster or toaster oven. By fork splitting, I mean take a dinner fork and poke towards the center of the muffin all the way around. This will allow you to split them in half and it also yields a nice nubby surface with nooks and crannies that will be perfect to receive butter, peanut butter or jam.

Store unused muffins in a Ziploc baggie or a plastic container in the refrigerator until ready to use. Or, you can freeze them for several weeks, too.