Although I’ve been making yummy English muffins since the pandemic blew into town, Dale always thought the muffins were a tad small. His specific complaint was about sausage-to-muffin ratio. He has his reasons, which I shall explain.
Dale makes delicious breakfast sandwiches starting with one of my toasted muffins and topping it with pan-seared sausage patties, melted cheddar cheese and a smattering of mustard. I do believe we could sell them on the street and live comfortably off the proceeds.
However, the sausage patties are slightly bigger than the muffins and hang over the edge. I’m usually the anal one, but that doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I like to go around in a circle and bite off the edges. You know, just to tidy things up. In this case, Dale is much more persnickety and asked if I could make the muffins larger so the sausage fits well within the confines of the muffin.
You know, of course, all this is privileged nonsense, but we really don’t have much else going on. Welcome to my retired pandemic life. Today, we’re talking about breakfast!
Anyway, the no-knead English Muffin recipe is from the Washington Post, and it was just ranked their fifth most popular recipe of the year. First, the dough rises four to five hours in the bowl. Then you shape muffin-like things out of the dough and put them on a sheet pan to rise in the refrigerator overnight.
Normally, the recipe makes a dozen muffins. Yesterday, vowing to go big or go home, I somehow ended up with seven. In my math, seven is 12 when you’ve had three beers.
When my brewer’s dozen uncooked muffins came out of the refrigerator in the morning, I plopped some butter in a cast iron pan and slowly browned them. The muffins grow as they cook.
And how mine grew! They are huge. Approximately four inches in diameter, which is more along the lines of a burger bun. I was pissed that I got hoodwinked into sabotaging a perfect recipe, but other than some low-key muttering, I kept my mouth shut. It was my choice, after all.
By the way, low-key muttering is an iffy thing. For us, a lot of it depends on Dale’s hearing aids and whether they are working properly. One time I thought my muttering was just for my own amusement, but his hearing aids were highly tuned, and he heard every vile thing I said.
When I was finished cooking, I came upstairs to let him know he was on his own with the muffins. It may be that we don’t eat them for his world-famous breakfast sandwiches, but perhaps we split one instead? I said I’m playing golf early tomorrow and won’t be here to try them. Do whatever you want. I view them as monstrosities.
Monstrosities was the siren call. Dale immediately marched downstairs to get a sneak preview and said they looked absolutely great to him. I mean other than being size-forward, they do look pretty good. I’ve decided to get over my snit and lovingly accept them into our family of food.
And you know, the weird thing about cooking is sometimes you end up with happy mistakes. They might turn out to be the best English muffins ever. Maybe this is what they could have been all along, if someone had simply taken the time to consume three beers before shaping the dough.
I think they look delicious. I will go check out the recipe. I haven’t done much with English muffins mostly the Tartine sourdough. BTW, I hear you on the mumbling. I used to never mumble out loud and now this past year, I am muttering underneath my breath A LOT!!! Barclay doesn’t have hearing aids but he also doesn’t have great hearing( of course, unless he wants). Anyway, I’m glad I’m not the only mutterer.
Good to know a fellow mutterer.
I hope you try the muffins. Dale just said he’s looking forward to the bigger ones — that there’s more potential for something like a lobster roll or a tuna salad sandwich. I like the way he thinks!
Having grown up in Scotland before immigrating to Canada, my wife and I have a deep fondness for “Scottish square sausage”, called “slice” in Scotland. If you have a Scottish-Irish store near you, I would highly recommend that you give them a shot – you won’t be sorry.
Slice on a bread roll with HP sauce and a cup of tea? To die for!
Here’s a link to a USA site which sells them – apparently called Lorne Square Sausage:
https://www.scottishgourmetusa.com/product/lorne-square-sausage
Very interesting! I see some of that sausage in our future. Thank you for much for the link. You might be my new Scottish advisor. What’s up with clotted cream? Is it even Scottish? How do you use it?
Oh gawd. I love clotted cream.
I first had it on a British Airways flight. I fell in love. Slather it on your scones and of course your English muffins.
Wow, and you can imagine you weren’t getting the best version on that flight, and you still love it. I will have to give it a try.
I’m not sure but I think clotted cream is just that glob you get in your high quality heavy whipping cream sitting in the fridge. I buy that Strauss family cream that comes in the cute returnable glass. I find myself digging into the stuff that accumulates around the rim. yum.
I used to love the Strauss yogurt but eventually decided it sometimes tasted a little cheesy or gamey — not sure how to describe it. I’ve since switched to Wallaby. We’ll have to look for the Strauss cream and give it a try.
Those muffins look yummy. Further to the comment on clotted cream, it’s worth searching out. I love it with rich strawberry jam on scones.
Another vote for clotted cream. I will begin my search.
I’m addicted to these (link below) if you want to try a different recipe. I found this one after you posted about making your own. I add craisins and/or raisins and have found 10 to give just the right size for my avocado toast breakfast. They are also no knead, but you don’t have to do overnight in the frig. I can relate to Dale – I have “bionic” ears now, but enjoy turning them off/down in select situations :).
This looks like a great recipe, and I especially like her instructions for how to handle the dough. I will give these a try next time around. Thanks for much for sharing!
Oh my gosh… clotted cream. I’ve never tried it but whenever I read or hear about it from others, I tell myself I need to get some and try it. Then again, do I need something else to eat that I would find irresistible in my life? ha! Your muffins look really good.
I know what you mean about new irresistible treats. There are so many things I’d love to try, but I just don’t want all that food sitting around. The muffins did taste good, just a little bigger than normal.
We were inspired to make English muffins today using the recipe posted by Dot above. I was surprised at how easy they were to make. Really yummy! Thanks for writing about English muffins. I would never have tried baking them.
That’s fantastic! I can’t wait to try the new recipe.
Your English muffins looks fantastic. Me and baking (especially gluten-free tries)…not so good. (Although I have made a wheat flour artisan loaf 2X times now, and both attempts were a roaring success.) Back to the drawing board….
Deb
I understand gluten-free is tricksy. I go for extra gluten!
Just had to come back on and ask if you’re a crumpet lover. A friend just dropped off a couple that she’d made. So good! She gave us the recipe to go along with them. Looks like it’s from Cooks Illustrated.
Interesting. I’ve never had one and don’t really know what they are. But I’m on it. I’ll check out CI. I also need to start watching the Great British Baking Show. Thanks for the inspiration!