Sour Dough English Muffins

I've been dying to try this for days.  The recipe I found called for dry milk which I did not have on hand so it took me a few days before I went to the grocery store.  A couple of things shocked me about this recipe; 1. That English muffins are relatively easy to make, 2. Had no idea that they are cooked stove top and not baked!

I have been keeping a batch of sour dough starter alive in a big bowl on the counter for a few weeks now.  It has made a couple loaves of bread and now these.  So far I am in a 3 week long goal of keeping a starter going on Winter.  Since I had it on hand it seemed like a no-brainer to make English Muffins.

The recipe ended up making about 2 dozen.  Since I already had some store bought ones in the refrigerator I simply pre-sliced and vac bagged about 1.5 dozen that I put in the chest freezer to enjoy later on.  I've been doing a lot of this lately, freezing half of what I make and eating the other half fresh.  This ads to the arsenal of fresh healthy foods and also prevents us from getting sick of one thing too quickly.

You Will Need:

2 TBSP Sugar

They Freeze really well!

2 Cups Warm Water

1 TBSP Active dry yeast

1 Cup Sourdough starter

7 Cups AP Flour

1/2 Cups dry milk

1/4 Cup softened butter

1 TBSP Salt

Mix and Knead all ingredients together to make a smooth dough.  I use the hook attachment in the KitchenAid Mixer to do 90% of the work and then knead a bit by hand.  Form a ball and place into a greased large bowl.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 1.5 hours.  Dough should easily double in size.

Punch dough down and form into 24 small balls (about ping pong size) and place into a bowl (Just loosely stack them).  Let this sit for another 10 minutes.  

Roll out each ball into a circle about 3 inches in diameter.  Use a glass or cookie cutter to make these into perfect 3 inch circles.  Place onto a cornmeal covered pan.  Loosely cover pan and let rise for 30-40 minutes (Longer is fine.  I ran some errands for about an hour while they sat)

Heat 1-2 skillets on the stove over medium low heat.  Place the muffins with space in between in each pan.  Cook for about 10-12 minutes per side, watching that they do not burn).  Let cool on a wire rack.  When cooked, pre-slice is freezing or leave whole is using right away.