Clean Eating English Muffins

I found this recipe some time ago and it had been on my recipes to try to do list but I had never got around to it.  That was until this weekend!  I got into the kitchen on Sunday morning and started a whole bunch of projects for the week ahead and making these Clean Eating English Muffins was on of them!  

I'll say the recipe is very simple and in total the actual time spent on these isn't long but there is a lot of waiting for dough to rise and the cooking process is long and slow too.  But they sure are worth it!!  

CLEAN EATING ENGLISH MUFFINS

(Makes approximately 14 muffins – depending on the size you cut them.)

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups whole wheat flour (+ 1 cup on reserve)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups milk (any type will work, I used whole milk), warmed.
• 1 (2 1/2 tsp) pack of active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup brown rice flour or cornmeal

YOU WILL NEED:

• 2 cookie sheets lined with parchment paper
• An oil sprayer/mister is very helpful
• A cooking griddle, non-stick pan or a heavy-duty pan such as cast iron.  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Warm the milk (I did this in the glass measuring cup), and pour in the yeast. Set aside and allow to foam a bit before using.
2. In a large mixing bowl, blend the 4 cups of flour and salt. Add the oil, but don’t bother stirring until you are ready add the milk.
3. When you have a nice bit of foam on top of the milk, pour the milk and foam into the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until it gets too thick to stir.
4. Knead.
5. The goal with this dough is to get a, “just-barely” sticky dough that is smooth and soft in texture. Your dough will still be pretty sticky at this point. Add that extra 1 cup of flour, 1/4 cup at a time, kneading after every addition. DO NOT dump in the entire cup because you may not need it all (though you most likely will). Plus, doing a 1/4 cup at a time allows for the necessary amount of kneading.
6. When you have a nice, soft ball of dough, cover it with a nice, thin coat of olive oil to keep it from drying out while it rises.
7. Put it back in the mixing bowl, cover with a towel and let sit in a warm area for 1 hour. (I put mine in my stove – heat OFF but I turned the heat on to make it warm in there before putting my dough in to rise)
8. Punch the dough down and give it another brief kneading. Just a few flops of the dough are fine.
9. Sprinkle the rice flour or cornmeal lightly over your work surface. Put your dough on the work surface and roll with a rolling pin until it’s about 1/2 inch thick.
10. Cut out the muffins. I used one big circle cookie cutter that I often use for scones. 
11. Place the cut out muffins on a cookie sheet, spray them with a very light coat of olive oil, sprinkle tops with a light dusting of rice flour or cornmeal, cover with a towel and allow to rise for another 30 minutes in a warm area.

    

    Muffins Rising on the warm stove top

12. Using an ungreased frying pan or cooking griddle and place as many muffins as you can comfortably fit, in the pan.

    

    First Batch of Muffins cooking on
    my cast iron griddle.  Love this Griddle!

IMPORTANT: These cook on your STOVE TOP on LOW heat for a long time. Do NOT raise the heat to try and cook them faster. All you will get are burnt outsides and raw insides. Time is key. I cooked mine for about 15 minutes on each side. Test yours to adjust cooking time as needed.

Looking good!  The front ones got a little dark
so I moved them to the back and turned down
the heat a bit more!  Double burners are tricky!

I wasn't sure how mine had turned out until we decided to cut into one and see how it tasted.  I have to say Gord and I were both pleasantly surprised at the result!  They were perfect, soft and just fluffy enough and dense enough to be an english muffin!  YUM

This morning I enjoyed one toasted with some homemade peanut butter and honey.  SO GOOD!  

I know we won't use up the whole batch this week so I'll be freezing a bunch after I pre-cut them.  

This Whole Wheat English Muffin Recipe will be going in my recipe book for future use!

Recipe adapted from The Gracious Pantry