From scratch · Yeast breads

English muffins

A soft, wet dough cut into rounds, rolled in cornmeal and cooked slowly on a griddle.

✋ 1 hr 5 min hands-on ⏱ 3 hr 5 min start to finish 🍽 About ten 3-inch muffins.

ContainsWheat, Milk.

Ingredients

  • 450 g all-purpose flour, or bread flour
  • 7 g active dry yeast
  • 7 g table salt
  • 12½ g granulated sugar
  • 28 g butter, salted, melted
  • 1¼ cup whole milk, warm
  • ¼ cup water, warm
  • 3 tbsp yellow cornmeal, for dusting

Time

Hands-on time is when you’re busy; the rest is rising, simmering, chilling or cooling, when you can do something else.

StepHands-onWaiting
Mix and knead the dough15 min1 hr
Cut and rest in cornmeal15 min40 min
Cook on the griddle35 min–
Cool–20 min
In all1 hr 5 min2 hr

How long it keeps

  • Counter: in a bag, about 3 days (NDSU’s figure for bread and rolls).
  • Freezer: bag them once cool, up to 3 months (University of Missouri).

Nutrition

Estimated from the ingredients’ USDA FoodData Central numbers.

Steps

You’ll need: bowl, 3-inch round cutter or a glass, griddle or large heavy skillet, baking sheet.

  1. Stir the yeast and sugar into the warm milk and water and let it stand 5 minutes. Add the butter, salt and flour and beat to a soft, sticky dough.
  2. Knead about 5 minutes (in a mixer is easiest). Cover and let it rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
  3. Pat it ¾ inch thick on a floured counter and cut 3-inch rounds. Press the scraps together once for the last few.
  4. Set the rounds on a sheet dusted with cornmeal, dust the tops, cover, and let them rise 30 to 45 minutes.
  5. Heat a dry griddle over medium-low. Cook the muffins a few at a time, 7 to 8 minutes per side, until browned and the sides spring back (about 200°F in the middle). Keep the heat low so the inside cooks before the outside burns.
  6. Cool on a rack. Split them with a fork for the craggy, crisp-toasting inside.
⚖️ ScalingEach muffin is a tenth of the dough. Cook in batches; a griddle holds 4 to 6.
🛡 SafetyDon’t taste raw dough or batter, and wash your hands and the counter after handling flour: raw flour can carry germs that only baking kills (FDA).

🌱 Grow it

You can grow some of what goes into this: flint or dent corn.

🌱 Plan a garden with it →

Sources

  1. Food Storage Guide (FN579), NDSU Extension, reviewed January 2023. Accessed 2026-10-25.
  2. Tips for Storing Bread, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Herkimer County, 2020. Accessed 2026-10-25.
  3. How to Freeze Home-Prepared Foods (GH1505), University of Missouri Extension. Accessed 2026-10-25.
  4. Handling Flour Safely: What You Need to Know, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed 2026-10-25.

In the meal planner, tap Make it next to English muffins on the shopping list: the list swaps it for these ingredients, scaled to your meals, and the Prep day tab fits the waiting into your week. More from-scratch recipes.

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