brunch

It’s fall, let the baking begin! Last fall after visiting King Arthur Flour, I started doing a bit more baking. A busy work schedule and the arrival of the summer heat kind of ended my baking streak, but now that the temps are dipping lower, I am excited to start getting back into it, especially fresh baked breads and rolls.

My new Stonyfield cookbook contains lots of great recipes for baked goods made with yogurt, and I opened it almost immediately to an English muffin recipe. Homemade English muffins? I always thought it would be too complicated, but the recipe seemed pretty straightforward. With plans to brunch on the boat, I decided to make mini English muffins to go with my mini truffle, leek, and parmesan quiches.

Two of the best parts of the recipe were honey and yogurt. They definitely gave the finished product a lot of flavor and texture.

For my English muffins, I used 100% whole wheat flour from King Arthur. Next time I would probably use half all purpose flour and half whole wheat to lighten the muffins up a bit.

To kick things off, I mixed the yeast with honey dissolved in warm water. It got to work right away, and when I looked away for a second, the frothy mixture was overflowing! It smelled amazing, like a honey wheat beer. That yeast really ate the honey up!

The dough gets a liquid-y start, combining yogurt and water with the yeast, honey, and water mix, then gradually stirring in flour, making for a sticky dough. I got a little frustrated with it!

Once the dough is stiff, it is turned onto a floured surface for the rest of the flour to be kneaded in.

As you can see, my Bonne Maman preserves were eager to get in on the action! Once the dough had risen the first time, I shaped it into small circles using a glass to cut the dough. I patted on some corn meal and then covered the dough to let it rise for another 45 minutes.

I used two methods to cook the English muffins. The recipe called for an electric skillet, so for some, I cooked them atop my cast iron grill pan, which resulted in grilled outsides and raw insides. I ended up baking the rest of the muffins until crusty on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

Not too bad, right? As I mentioned above, I would likely use less whole wheat flour next time to make these a little less dense and chewy, but overall they were pretty good.

I love making a fun weekend brunch, and with a long weekend coming up (yes!!!), I am looking forward to another brunch. What are your favorite home made brunch items?