Made with KAF bread flour and FMF whole wheat. The buttermilk adds a little extra tang, and the fresh-milled whole wheat adds some nice flavor.
The dough was mixed in my Ankarsrum and bulked to 25% and finished overnight in the refrigerator. I baked them in my electric non-stick skillet with the cover on. Each muffin was dipped in cornmeal before baked.
I was very happy with how flavorful they are and how the nooks and crannies came out.
This bake used fresh milled Butler’s Gold from Bartonspringsmill, milled with my Mockmill 200. I sifted once with a #30 drum sieve and re-milled at the finest setting. I also used King Arthur bread flour.
Formula
Levain Directions
Mix all the levain ingredients together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap.
Let it sit at room temperature for around 6-7 hours or until the starter has almost doubled. Either use in the main dough immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 day before using.
Main Dough Procedure
Note: I use an Ankarsrum Mixer, so my mixing order is slightly different from that of a KitchenAid or other mixer. Add all the buttermilk to your mixing bowl except for about 1/4 of it. Add all the flour to the bowl and mix on low for 1 minute, until it forms a shaggy mass. Cover the mixing bowl and let it rest for 20 minutes. Next, add the levain, salt, honey, and the remaining buttermilk, and mix on medium-low speed (about speed 4) for around 15 minutes, until you have a nicely developed, smooth dough. You should end up with a pretty smooth and silky dough.
Remove the dough from the bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl, and do several stretch and folds. Make sure the dough is as flat as possible in your bowl/container, and measure the dough in millimeters and take the temperature of the dough. Based on the chart from http://www.thesourdoughjourney.com, determine what % rise you need and make a note. If you have a proofer, decide what temperature you want to set it at and what rise you are aiming for. If the dough is fully developed, you don’t need to do any stretch and folds, but if it’s not, do several sets 15-20 minutes apart. (Note: since I planned to bulk ferment overnight in the refrigerator, I decided to let it go to 25% at 80°F. This worked out perfectly)
The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes to an hour. Lightly oil or flour your work surface and pat out the dough to your desired thickness, depending on how tall a muffin you desire. I made mine to be about the same size as a store-bought muffin and patted the dough out to around 3/4″ thick. You can experiment with this until you get the desired result. I used a 3″ diameter round dough cutter to cut out the muffin dough. You can use a bigger size if you want them extra large. If you don’t have a metal dough cutter, you can use a can or a glass to cut out the muffins.
I dip one side of the cut muffins into a bowl of cornmeal so the bottom is nicely covered and place them on a parchment-covered sheet pan.
After you are done forming all of your muffins, you can take any scrap dough and let it rest for a little while, and cut out some additional muffins if desired.
Let the dough proof for an hour or so at around 75 F – 80 F covered with either a moist tea towel or plastic wrap sprayed with some cooking spray. The dough should leave a slight indent and not spring back when poked. Don’t let the dough over-proof or it will be difficult to get them to keep its’ shape when baked.
I use a covered electric skillet similar to below to bake mine, and it works perfectly. I pre-heat the skillet to 400°F with the glass lid on and load the English Muffins into it to cook. I flip them over after a few minutes and let them finish until they are slightly brown on both sides.
Let them cool on a wire rack until ready to eat. This next step is very important! Always use a fork to split them open or your fingers. Never use a knife, or you will lose your hard-fought nooks and crannies!
mookielovesbread 