The night before you plan to make the muffins

1. The night before you want to make English muffins. If you are using fresh milk heat the milk to just barely boiling and let cool to room temperature. If you are using the powdered milk stir enough powder into water to make 2 cups.

2. In a large non-metallic bowl, mix together the starter, honey or malt syrup, milk, and the 4 cups of flour. Mix just until thoroughly combined and all the flour has been incorporated. 
   

3. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and let sit overnight at room temperature, 12 to 16 hours. It doesn’t have to be exact. The mixture will rise to more than double and probably fall.  
   

4. The next morning.: Add the mixture to the bowl of your mixer or you can do all this by hand. 
   

5. Add the 1 ½ cups of flour, the baking soda, and the salt. 
   

6. Knead for 5 minutes, until the dough comes together and begins to form a smooth ball. The dough will still be sticky and very wet, you don’t want it as stiff as bread dough. It should be very soft.
   

7. Heavily sprinkle some cornmeal on a big piece of wax paper to place the finished muffins on.
   

8. Flour a work surface and pat or roll the dough out ½ inch thick. 
   

   

9. Cut the dough with a floured 3 to 4 inch cutter. If you want huge ones, go for the 4” But, the standard is 3”.
   

10. A little trick is to push down with the cutter and then wiggle the cutter in a circular motion just a bit to round the cut dough before removing. The dough will be sticky around the edges. Re-flour the cutter between each cut.

    

11. Place each cut muffin onto the cornmeal, placing them 3 inches apart or more, as they will expand.
    

    

12. Sprinkle some extra cornmeal over the tops of each muffin.  
    

    

13. Let rise for 1 hour, or until almost doubled and puffy. 
    

14. When the Muffins have risen, heat a griddle or flat-bottomed skillet to medium heat. You can heat more than one pan if you have them and have the burner space.
    

15. Melt a little butter on the griddle, about 1 tablespoon or so depending on the size. 
    

16. Being careful not to over crowd carefully place several muffins on the hot griddle. This can be done in batches.. It might be easier to lift each one using a spatula.
    

17. Fry the muffins for 4-5 minutes until the bottoms are nicely browned. 
    

18. Flip the muffins and fry on the other side for 4 to 5 more minutes until the muffins are nicely browned on the other side. You may have to adjust the heat so as not to cook them too quickly. If you are unsure if they are cooked through you can use an instant-read thermometer inserted in the side to check the temperature, it should read around 200°. 
    

    

19. Let cool on a rack while you cook the remaining muffins. 
    

20. To split them properly, just insert a fork around the edge every inch or so until you have gone around the whole muffin it should come apart in two. You can just use a serrated knife but it won’t have all the nooks and crannies.