Farmhouse English Muffins
I have fond memories of English muffins from my childhood. I grew up in Kansas City and there was a Wolferman’s Bakery a short drive away. Every so often, we traveled there to treat ourselves to their delicious fresh muffins. The store was a beautiful shop and I loved to wander, looking at every type of muffin, at each spread and jam offered to top those thick muffins. I loved every single moment of those trips. For a kid who loved food, who dreamed of eating and creating decadent meals, those trips were like being set loose in a candy store. Sadly, the store closed when I was 11 and those trips came to an end.
Many years later, I found myself craving an English muffin yet unable to find those thick, delicious muffins I treasured during trips to the bakery as a child. The “artisan” style English muffins that I found at specialty shops weren’t a viable option for our family due to food allergies. If I’ve learned one lesson during our decade living and eating around food allergies, it’s that if you can’t find a safe option, you just figure out how to make it yourself.
So that’s what I set out to do. I looked at several different recipes and tried a few. In the end, I combined elements from a couple of those recipes and added a few adjustments of my own. After a few tries and a few tweaks, I had indeed created an English muffin as delicious as those I remembered from my childhood.
These English muffins are simple to make and so delicious toasted with plenty of butter and your favorite jam, jelly, or honey. It has those tiny nooks and crannies to capture the melted butter and toppings in the most delectable way. One bite and you’ll wonder where these muffins have been all your life and then you’ll make plans to make a second batch. With any luck, you’ll continue making them for years to come and create your own memories of delicious homemade muffins enjoyed around your family table.
Once you’ve mastered baking delicious homemade bread, you’ll need to learn all about the best way to store it. Different types of bread benefit from different storage methods. You can learn all about them by reading The Best Way to Store Fresh Bread.
If you’d like to learn more about the tools I use when making this recipe, you can find them right here:
Farmhouse English Muffins
Unlike most other breads, these muffins aren’t baked in the oven. Instead, they cook beautifully in a cast iron skillet or on a griddle. Whatever you use to prepare pancakes in would be ideally suited. In fact, the process has a lot in common with pancakes. The trick is in being patient, cooking over low to moderate heat, and not flipping the muffins any more than necessary which helps to preserve their soft texture.
Many people use biscuit cutters or muffin rings to create perfectly round muffins. The rings often stick and you need to have 12 of them on hand to make a batch. I have used rings in the past, but have decided that I like the handmade farmhouse style version better. They’re much less fussy to make and I don’t mind that they aren’t perfectly round. If you do, then you can simply place the dough rounds in an oiled muffin ring when you place them on the pan to rise. Transfer the muffin in the ring to the skillet and cook in the same manner. No matter how you shape them, you’ll have beautiful muffins to share at your table.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup milk
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tablespoons butter , softened
- 1 Tablespoon lard
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 ¾ cups bread flour
- cornmeal for dusting
Instructions
- Warm the milk to lukewarm in a small pot over low heat or by microwaving in 30 second intervals. It should be warm but not hot to the touch, around the temperature of bath water. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the warm milk and honey. Stir to incorporate and then sprinkle the yeast over the top of the warm liquid. Allow the yeast to proof for a few minutes as you gather the remaining ingredients.
- Add the buttermilk and egg to the bowl and whisk to combine. Add the butter, lard, salt, and flour to the bowl. Using the paddle attachment, mix for 5 minutes at low speed. The dough will become very stretchy and sticky, clinging to both the sides of the bowl and the paddle.
- Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl. Place in a warm spot or in a bread proofer and allow to rest for 60-90 minutes or until it has almost doubled in size.
- English muffin dough is very sticky at this point. It has an incredible amount of stretchiness and is quite wet. It doesn’t look like biscuit dough or dinner roll dough. Don’t worry about its seemingly gluey texture. Mine looks the very same way. They’ll cook up beautifully.
- Prepare a sheet pan or tray by sprinkling liberally with cornmeal. The cornmeal will help to prevent the very sticky dough from becoming stuck to the pan. More is better; use plenty of cornmeal for this step.
- Divide the dough into 12 portions. I use my digital food scale and make balls of dough that weigh between 90 and 100 grams. If you don’t have a scale, you can portion the muffins using approximately ½ cup of dough for each. Shape each portion of dough into a round disc and place on the cornmeal lined pan allowing at least 1 inch space between muffins. Repeat until all of the dough has been shaped.
- Set the muffins aside and allow them to rest and rise for about 30 minutes. You can also place them in the refrigerator overnight. If you choose to refrigerate them overnight, cover them loosely with plastic wrap or parchment lightly sprayed with cooking spray to prevent sticking.
- When it’s time to cook the muffins, warm a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. The skillet needs to be warm enough to brown the muffins without burning them during their time in the skillet. When the skillet is warm, lower the heat to low and sprinkle a bit of cornmeal into the bottom of the pan. Gently transfer a few of the dough rounds to the warm skillet taking care not to crowd them.
- Cook the muffins for 5 minutes before carefully peeking underneath to see if they are evenly browned. Cook for 2-4 additional minutes until they have browned sufficiently. Use a spatula to flip them over and cook on the other side in the same manner. The muffins should puff up nicely and begin to resemble the most gorgeous English muffins you have ever seen. If you have an instant read thermometer, the perfectly cooked muffins will register between 190 and 200 degrees Fahrenheit. They will feel fairly firm to the touch yet still spring back when pressed in the middle.
- Transfer the fully cooked muffins to a wire rack to cool. Repeat the skillet cooking method for the remaining muffins. Adjust the heat as needed to achieve browning without burning and add more cornmeal if necessary. My cast iron skillet heats up and holds the heat so well that I often need to reduce the heat a bit with each successive batch.
- Serve your English muffins toasted with butter and topped with your favorite delicious toppings. Room temperature muffins can be stored in an airtight container for several days or frozen for long term storage.
Is there a substitute that work to replace the lard?
You could use shortening or make an all butter batch. The lard adds fat in the same way that the butter does but in a form that is softer at room temperature. It’s an old fashioned way to make a dough softer. They’ll be equally delicious with either of these substitutes. I hope that you’ll let me know what you decide to use and how they turn out for you.
I grew up in the 50’s in Kansas. We would travel to KC for womens wear/ men’s wear shows. We would stay at the Muehlebach, go to Cinerama, eat at the Savoy and The Sirloin Room, and my most fond memories of Wolfermam’s.
I order them on a regular basis and want to make them at home … there is nothing that can compare!
Thank you,
Cristina
What lovely memories! I smiled at the thought of The Savoy. I remember that so well. Those Wolferman’s English muffins were special. I hope that you will enjoy this homemade version as much as we do!
I also grew up in KC in the 50,s. I remember going to Macy’s TeaRoom for Lunch with my mom and grandmother then always stopping for afternoon tea at wolfermans where they would have English muffins and I woul d get the hermit cookie.
Those are the loveliest sort of food memories!
Today I made your English Muffin recipe and they look beautiful! Just like Wolferman’s😁
The only problem I am having is in the cooking process. I cannot seem to get them to 190-200 degrees.
I kept them at a lower heat after starting at medium and they have gotten to 180 but no higher. I left them on longer, no rise in the temp , so I turned up the heat and they got too brown.
Feeling frustrated…
Thanks, Cristina
I am so glad that you feel like they measure up to the appearance of Wolferman’s. Yet I am sorry that you had trouble getting them to the 190-200 degree internal temperature. I will do my very best to help. I’ll start by asking a few of the first questions that came to mind.
Were you using a cast iron skillet/griddle or a different type of pan? When the muffins cooled to room temperature, were they cooked through? I hope that they were so that you could enjoy them.
Hi there. I was wondering if I can make your English muffin recipe without a stand mixer. I left mine in Texas. 😩
If I would have had a crystal ball to know we would be on lockdown, I would have brought it back to Louisiana with me.
Thank you.
Stay safe. And cook on!!! 💗
While I haven’t tried it, I don’t see why you couldn’t make them. If you haven’t made English muffins before, they are made with a very sticky dough. So, it will be a messy one to mix by hand. I might try rubbing a little oil on my hands before working it. It’s sticky and stretchy, but becomes easier to handle as it is worked. I say roll up your sleeves and give it a go.
I hope that you’ll be enjoying a delicious batch of English muffins soon. Keep me posted because I would love to hear how they work for you.
Stay safe and keep cooking and baking along with me!
I didn’t have that problem here but can relate with a previous recepie that I had tried. My solution and something I have read with other english muffins is to finish them in a 350F oven for and additional 10-15 min. after taking off the griddle. Don’t want raw dough in the middle or it spoils the whole thing.
That’s a great idea. I’ll have to give it a try with the next batch.
These are so freaking good….grew up in Overland Park and would eat at the Wolferman’s in Fairway before they closed. Used to order them often mail order after I moved away. You could even buy them in the grocery stores. Not really the same since Harry and David bought it and moved the plant to Oregon. These are fantasticly a dead ringer. Saw alot of recipes before trying and I think the lard and buttermilk really make these.
Thanks.
You put a smile on my face at the thought of Wolferman’s in Fairway! I have such fond memories of visiting that shop when I was a girl, especially around the holidays. I am glad that these English muffins reminded you of those delicious Wolferman’s English muffins just like they did for me. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave your comment. It certainly made my day and reminded me to make a batch of English muffins soon!
Can these be made with a gluten free flour like King Arthur’s ?
I wish that I had gluten free baking experience to share with you. I have baked around a lot of allergies and intolerances, but haven’t needed to master gluten free baking.
I’ll offer what I can about making English muffins. The dough is highly elastic. It has a lot of surface tension from the gluten strands in the flour. From a flavor standpoint, you could absolutely substitute a gluten free flour. I have to guess that you would need some sort of additive to the mix to increase the elasticity of the dough.
I trust King Arthur’s flour and their baking advice/recipes. While I would love for you to try my recipe, this one from them might offer you more predictable results in a gluten free version.
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/gluten-free-sourdough-english-muffins-recipe
Just found this recipe the other day and what a treat! I have never had such a wonderful muffin. Up here in Talkeetna Alaska we don’t have the option to shop so home made it has to be for most items. Your recipe nailed it as far as a Wolferman’s muffin. Just a quick question though. What brand of flour are you using and do you have weights instead of cups for the measurement on the flour? We have many brands of flour and they all weigh out different if you just try to use a measuring cup. Thanks again for the recipe.
I am so glad that you enjoy these muffins as much as we do. I use King Arthur brand bread flour which weighs 120 grams per cup. So, the 4.75 cups of flour called for in the recipe would weigh 570 grams. You are correct that each type and brand tends to be slightly different which can really affect a recipe. Happy baking!
Wow! I have never been so impressed with a recepie I dare say recreates the world famous Wooferman’s English muffins. So nice and tall when following your basic bread insticts and this process/receipie. I have lived in Kansas City over 40 years now and was very disappointed when the Woofermans bakery and outlet just 2 miles down I-35 closed many years ago. These were the “go to” muffins in original or many creative and tasty versions like blueberry, cranberry, cinnimon, etc, etc.
The only thing I would like to try now would be to sub some general purpose flower for the bread flour. No problem with bread flour, but I think getting to just a little more “crumb” in the final product would nail my memory of these premium English muffins. I can’t wait to try this next time and see how things go. In the meantime, I will enjoy the product of this great recepie! THANK YOU!
I am so glad that these muffins brought back memories of Wolferman’s for you. I remember that location off I-35 very well. Their muffins were such a treat.
Your substitution sounds like a delicious idea. I hope that you’ll let me know how it works out for you. I just might need to try it myself. Happy baking!
I still do live in Kansas City and have the childhood memories of going to Wolfman’s on the Plaza to order huge fruit baskets to send as Christmas presents and then going upstairs to have a treat in the tea room. Can this dough be made in a bread machine?
Those are the loveliest memories! I haven’t made this dough in a bread machine, but it should work just fine for you. I hope that you will give it a try and let me know how it comes together for you.
I just made these English muffins and was very pleased with the outcome. We have nothing but store bought
To clamper these to, so I am going to ask a question about texture.
Store bought muffins are a lot dryer than the batch I just made and I am really just learning to make different types of bread. My question is are fresh homemade English muffins a lot softer in texture or did I do something wrong.
Use iron skillet weight my ingredients took their temperature nicely brown them as instructed. They tasted great . Just not sure what to expect. Thanks Dana
I am glad that you enjoyed them! Yes, homemade English muffins tend to have a softer texture. If you prefer a firmer texture, you could move the muffins from the skillet into an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes. The time in the oven should give them a slightly stiffer texture.
I hope that you’ll make them again soon.