Sourdough Discard English Muffins
Sourdough Discard English Muffins are really simple to make and full of the goodness of milk and honey. Using sourdough starter discard gives them the tanginess needed for perfect muffins. Serve for breakfast (your own Egg McMuffin!) or toasted with butter and jam, or however you choose.
Wow, these little English Muffins are just so cute, and they taste sooooo good!
What can be simpler than milk, honey, flour, butter, yeast, and natural yeast from your sourdough starter?
They are made with the excess starter that is normally thrown away after the starter has been fed. I talk more about starters in my Easy Homemade Sourdough recipe.
I really don't like throwing anything away, so making muffins with the discard saves any waste.
Making your own English Muffins is also just so much cheaper with no additives, and the taste and fluffy texture are infinitely better than shop-bought muffins.
This recipe is quick and easy. You can make the muffins right away, or you can pop the dough in the fridge for a cold retard overnight, just to give them even more sourdough tanginess.
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Why make Sourdough English Muffins?
Made with milk and honey✔️
Fluffy and light inside ✔️
Uses up sourdough discard rather than throwing it away ✔️
Quick and easy to do ✔️
Bake up on the stove ✔️
No additives or other rubbish they put in shop-bought ones ✔️
Can be baked up on the day or the following day ✔️
.... and just immensely satisfying to make!
Ingredients and Substitutions
See the Recipe card below for the exact quantities.
As there are just a few ingredients, there aren't many subs that can be made for this one:
- Full fat milk
- Unsalted butter
- Hunny - or you can replace with 30 grams of granulated sugar, or brown sugar
- Sourdough starter discard - does not need to be active
- Fast action yeast - or you can use active dry yeast, or three times the amount if using fresh yeast
- Strong white bread flour
- Fine salt
- Fine semolina
Instructions
See Recipe card for exact instructions.
Melt your butter gently, then add the milk. Heat until about 38 degrees centigrade.
Tip: Be careful not to overheat the milk and butter, as if it is too hot, it will kill off the yeasts and your Sourdough Muffins will not rise when cooked.
.
Add your sourdough discard, dried yeast, honey, milk and butter mixture to a mixing bowl and whisk with a balloon whisk for 2 minutes. Leave to stand for 5 minutes, by which time all of the yeast should have dissolved.
Mix your flour and salt together, and then add them to the bowl. Use a dough whisk or wooden spoon to mix your muffin dough for 2 minutes.
Tip: A Danish Dough Whisk is the best tool for mixing heavy sticky dough. Its design prevents clogging as the dough flows through it rather than getting stuck around it, and it cuts through the dough without building tension on the dough surface. Use it for any heavy dough, including pizzas and bread.
Remove the dough from your bowl and then lightly grease the bowl with some olive oil.
Return the dough to your oiled bowl, and cover with cling film (plastic wrap). Set aside for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.
Tip: I find covering my bowl with a clean, clear shower cap is an easier option than messing around with cling film.
You can then either proceed with the next steps and cook your muffins right away, or you can leave the dough covered and refridgerate it overnight.
I do recommend refrigerating it if you can though, as this cold retard gives the English muffins better structure and flavour.
Lightly flour your work surface and tip the muffin dough out onto it. Press out into a circle about 1 inch thick. Use a 3-inch cookie cutter to cut out 8 or 9 muffins and place each one in a muffin ring.
Take a large baking tray and cover it with a liberal layer of fine semolina. Lightly oil your muffin rings (I use an oil spray) and place them on the tray.
Place your cut-out muffins into the muffin rings, cover with a clean tea towel and set aside to rise for 1-2 hours until they have filled the muffin tin.
Heat your frying pan on a medium-low setting for a minute until nice and hot. Slide a spatula under the muffin and its ring, move it to your frying pan and then flip it over so that the base cooks first. Sprinkle semolina over the top. Fit as many as you can onto the pan; you will likely need to cook the muffins in 2 batches.
Place the lid on the pan and cook the muffins for 5-10 minutes, or until the base is a deep golden. Then use your spatula to flip them over, replace the lid and cook the other side until golden.
Place the cooked muffins, rings and all, onto a cooling rack and leave to cool for 10 minutes. Then run a knife around the edge of the tin to loosen the muffins, remove the tin and leave the muffins to fully cool.
Storage
Given English Muffins don't contain all the additives and rubbish in bought muffins, they do go stale quickly.
If you want to eat them untoasted, use them on the day they are baked.
However, if you want to toast them, they will be fine for 2-3 days ( in fact, they are better toasted if they have gone a little stale).
They can be frozen once fully cool and need to be eaten within 3 months.
Top tips for perfect Sourdough Discard English Muffins
Use discard as soon as possible
Recently discarded discard (if that's a phrase?!) will ensure your English Muffins have more characteristic holes and sourdough flavour.
Don't overheat your milk and butter
Don't worry too much about getting the liquid to the right temperature when making bread or muffins. It just needs to be a little warm to "wake up" the dried yeast and the natural yeast in the sourdough discard. If it is not warm enough, it will just mean your bread takes longer to prove.
Leave the dough overnight if you can
These discard muffins will taste so much better if the dough is refrigerated overnight, as the flavour will continue to develop and intensify. The low temperature slows the fermentation and allows the yeasts to develop, making the muffin dough stronger and easier to handle.
Use Muffin Rings
Using a muffin ring keeps your English muffins all uniform in shape and height.
You can just cook them without the rings, though; using them is just my personal preference.
Keep checking your Sourdough muffins as they cook
If your pan is too hot, the muffin base will cook before the inside of the muffin has fully baked so ....
- ... keep checking the base of the muffins; if they start to brown after only 3-4 minutes, turn the heat down
- ...the longer your pan is used, the hotter it becomes with residual heat in it, so turn the heat down for the second batch
- ...better to cook the muffins for longer at a low heat, so that you can be sure they are fully cooked
- ....your English muffins need to be a deep brown on each side
Serving Suggestions
You can use English muffins as you would any bread, for example
for a sandwich
cheese on toast
poached egg and a hollandaise sauce (add a sprig of watercress too and/oror some chopped chives, yum!).
scrambled egg on toast
toasted with butter and jam
breakfast sandwich, such as sausage sandwich, bacon sandwich
or make your own McMuffin!
Alternatives
No sourdough starter? No problem.
Here is a recipe for normal English Muffins
Simply use these ingredients and follow the same process as per the recipe card.
400 grams strong white bread flour
30 grams honey (or sugar)
5 grams of dried fast-acting yeast
250 ml full-fat milk
Fine semolina for dusting
Cheese Sourdough Discard English Muffins - to make savoury English Muffins, follow the recipe card and add 100 grams of grated strong mature cheddar cheese when you add the flour and salt.
Herby Sourdough Discard English Muffins - as above, add grated cheddar and also two teaspoons of chopped thyme leaves.
The more active your discard still is, the more characteristic holes will be in your muffins. I have used discard for English Muffins as soon as I have fed my starter, and also after a few days.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
📖 Recipe
Sourdough Discard English Muffins
Here's what you'll need...
- crumpet rings optional, but these do help to keep your muffins uniform and prevent spreading
- Small saucepan
- Dutch dough whisk or wooden spoon
- Frying pan with lid preferrable heavy duty one
- Dough scraper (optional)
Ingredients you'll need...
- 125 g Sourdough discard preferably use recent discard (9 tablespoons)
- 30 g Runny honey (1½ tablespoons)
- ¾ teaspoon Fast action yeast
- 30 g Unsalted butter (2 tablespoons)
- 235 g Full fat milk (1 Cup)
- 320 g Bread flour (2 ⅔ Cup)
- 1½ teaspoon Fine salt
- 60 g Fine semolina (⅓ Cup)
Here's what we do...
- Add your sourdough discard, honey and yeast to your mixing bowl, but do not stir them together.
- Slowly melt your butter in your small saucepan over a gentle heat and then stir in your milk.
- Bring your milk and butter mixture to a lukewarm temperature of about 38℃.
- Tip your warmed milk and butter into the ingredients into your mixing bowl and use a balloon whisk to whisk together for 2 minutes.
- Leave the mixture to stand for 5 minutes, by which time the dried yeast should have all dissolved.
- Mix your flour and salt together and add them all in one go. No need to sift it first.
- Mix for 2 minutes using your Dutch dough whisk (or a wooden spoon) to form a shaggy dough.
- Remove the dough from the bowl, then lightly oil the bowl with some olive oil (or other oil, any is fine) to stop the dough from sticking to the bowl whilst it proves.
- Return the muffin dough to the oiled bowl, cover the bowl with cling film (plastic wrap) and set aside to prove for 1-2 hours.
- For best results, once your dough has doubled in size, place the covered bowl in the fridge and leave it overnight. You can, however, cook your muffins right away if you prefer.
- When you are ready to cook your English Muffins, lightly flour your work surface, and tip the dough onto it. A dough scraper is useful to useful to help get the dough out of the bowl.
- Use your hands (or a rolling pin if you prefer) to spread the dough out into a circle one inch deep.
- Use your 3 inch cutter to cut out 8 or 9 equal sized muffins. You will need to re-roll the dough and do this in two batches.
- Spread your fine semolina over your baking sheet and oil your muffin rings (I use a spray oil). Then place your muffin rings on the baking sheet and insert a cut out muffin into each one. Wiggle them around a bit to fully coat the base of the muffin with semolina. Sprinkle semolina over the top.
- Cover the English muffins with a clean tea towel and allow them to rise for about 1-2 hours (again, mine can take up to 2 hours if my kitchen is 21℃).
- Heat your frying pan over a medium heat for a minute. Then gently edge your palette knife, or a large flat spatula or fish slice, under a muffin and its ring and lift it and place it in the frying pan. Repeat until you have as many muffins as you can fit in the pan.
- Place the lid on the pan and cook for a couple of minutes, then check the base of the muffin. At this point, they should only just be starting to brown; if they are a deeper brown, then turn the heat down to allow the inside of the muffin to cook.
- Once the base is a golden deep brown, turn the muffins over, replace the lid and continue cooking the other side until that side is also a deep brown in colour.
- Remove the muffins and their muffin tins to a cooling rack. Leave them to cool for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge of the tin and removing it. The sides of the muffins should be shiny with no signs of doughiness. If they still look doughy, return the muffins to the pan, turn the heat down low, cover and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
- Enjoy! See blog post for serving suggestions.
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