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Sourdough Walnut English Muffins overhead

Sourdough Walnut English muffins

Walnuts and sourdough make an incredible variation on English muffins, toasted on a cold winter’s morning or anytime. These walnut studded English Muffins are a treat.
Course Baking, Breakfast, english muffins, Sourdough
Cuisine American
Keyword breakfast ideas, english muffins, sourdough
Prep Time 1 day

Ingredients

The Night Before

  • 1 cup proofed sourdough starter
  • 2 tablespoons honey or barley malt syrup
  • 2 cups milk from reconstituted powdered milk (or regular milk, brought just to boiling and cooled to room temperature )
  • 4 cups unbleached white flour

The Next Morning

  • 1 -2 cup unbleached white flour
  • 2 teaspoons salt preferably sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts
  • 1/4 cup cornmeal for sprinkling
  • Butter, for frying them

Instructions

  1. The night before you want to make English muffins.
  2. 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 powdered milk into the water to make 2 cups.
  3. 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.

  4. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and let sit overnight at room temperature, 10 to 12 hours. It doesn’t have to be exact. The mixture will rise to more than double and probably fall.

  5. The next morning.: Add the mixture to the bowl of your mixer, or you can do all this by hand., Add the 1 ½ cups of flour, the baking soda, and the salt. Knead briefly to combine. Then add the 2 cups of chopped walnuts.
  6. Knead for 5 minutes, until the dough comes together and begins to form a smooth ball. The dough will still be sticky and still very wet, you don’t want it as stiff as bread dough.
  7. Heavily sprinkle some cornmeal on a big piece of wax paper to place the muffins on to rise.
  8. Flour a work surface and pat or roll the dough out ½ inch thick.
  9. Cut the dough with a floured 3 to a 4-inch cutter. If you want huge ones, go for the 4” But, the standard is 3

  10. Re-flour the cutter between each cut. Place each cut muffin onto the cornmeal, placing them 2 inches apart or more, as they will expand.

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

  12. Let rise for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, or until almost doubled and puffy.

  13. 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. You want the muffins to cook all the way through, so don’t heat the pans beyond Medium.
  14. Melt a little butter on the griddle, about 1 tablespoon or so depending on the size. Being careful not to overcrowd the pan, carefully place several muffins on the hot griddle or skillet. It might be easier to lift each one using a spatula.
  15. Fry the muffins in the butter for 4-5 minutes until the bottoms are nicely browned.
  16. 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°.
  17. Let cool on a rack while you cook the remaining muffins.
  18. To split them properly, 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 use a serrated knife, but it won’t have all the nooks and crannies.