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English Muffins
Use any standard roll recipe, making a very soft dough. Knead lightly until smooth and elastic. Work down and when light again roll out with rolling-pin to about one-fourth inch in thickness. Cut in circles. When light, bake on ungreased hot griddle. As soon as they are brown on one side, turn them over. When both sides are browned, bake more slowly until finished. They may be browned on the griddle and then may be put into the oven to finish baking. A modification of this recipe may be made by adding enough flour to make a drop batter. Let it rise until light. Drop batter into large, greased English muffin rings, arranged on a greased baking-sheet. Bake in a hot oven until nearly done. Turn rings upside down and complete baking at 400 degrees-450 degrees F.).
A method rather than a formula: the recipe assumes you already have a favorite yeast roll dough and know what "light" means. Two routes are given, a rolled-and-cut dough baked on a griddle and a looser batter baked in rings.
- The hinge: griddle heatThe recipe calls for a hot griddle but then says to brown both sides and "bake more slowly until finished," so the heat has to come down once the surfaces are set; too hot throughout and the crust sets before the interior expands. A moderate griddle, roughly medium-low on a modern appliance, suits the second stage.
- "When light"This means fully proofed, when a fingertip dent springs back slowly. It appears twice in the griddle method: after the dough is worked down, and again after the rounds are cut (the batter variation repeats it as "let it rise until light"). Skipping the final proof on the cut rounds gives dense muffins.
- Oven temperaturesThe recipe's own finishing range is 400-450F, which is in line with what "hot oven" conventionally meant at the time, so if you use the batter method there is likely no need to change the setting partway through.
- Muffin ringsRings a little under 4 inches across and roughly an inch deep are the usual sort. Clean tuna cans with both ends removed, or straight-sided crumpet rings, work the same way. Grease them and the sheet beneath.
- Dough consistency"Very soft" is the key word for the rolled version: a dough slack enough to be tacky but still rollable. For the second version, add flour only until the batter drops thickly from a spoon rather than pouring.
- Cutting and rerollingCut circles to whatever size suits your rings and handle the scraps gently; rerolled trimmings will be tougher and rise less. Dust the tops with cornmeal if you want the traditional gritty crust, which this version omits.
- YieldSince the recipe names no quantities, the yield depends entirely on the roll dough you start from. Split the finished muffins with a fork rather than a knife to preserve the torn interior that holds butter.