Sourdough English Muffins

Easy sourdough English muffins are a great low-effort sourdough recipe and freeze well for future breakfasts! No kneading and no oven needed.

We’ve had this recipe on our to-do list for a while now, but since Alex’s oven broke late last month, no-oven-needed recipes have popped up to the top of the list. Sourdough English muffins are a great way to have bread in the house without having to bake!

With a very simple method, English muffins are well worth making at home. The effort needed isn’t much more than for pancakes and this recipe makes plenty to freeze for later.

English muffins are very popular for breakfast in Canada, and in the US and Australia too. They’re called English to differentiate them from sweet muffins, and are excellent toasted with lots of butter. They make good mini pizzas for kids too.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Method
• Tips and Notes
• Substitutions
• Recipe

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top of the post, or scroll to the bottom of the post, to see the full recipe card with ingredient measurements and instructions.

Ingredients

Method

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low-medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the milk and honey to the pot and remove from the heat.

Place the starter into a large mixing bowl, and add the milk mixture. Stir to combine.

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Add the flour and salt to the bowl and mix into a shaggy dough. Set aside for 20 minutes.

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Once the dough has rested, do three rounds of stretches and folds, once every 20 minutes over the course of an hour.

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Once the folds are completed, cover the dough with a plate or damp tea towel. Set the bowl in a cool place (or refrigerate if preferred, see notes) overnight, or for about 12 hours.

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After 12 hours, the dough should be doubled in size. Lightly flour a work surface and place the dough onto it.

Gently press the dough into a rough oval, about 2cm (¾ inch) thick. Use a cookie cutter or glass to cut the dough into rounds. Pictured are 8cm (3 inches) in diameter, but slightly larger or smaller are fine.

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Place the rounds onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Press the remaining dough scraps together and repeat until all of the dough has been used.

Cover the rounds with a damp tea towel and set aside to rise again at room temperature for about 2 hours. After this time, the muffins should have risen slightly but not doubled in size.

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Once the muffins have proved, heat a frying pan over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, carefully remove an English muffin from the tray and place it into the dry pan. Don’t add oil. Don’t worry if it deflates slightly when moved, it’ll puff up again.

Cook for 4-5 minutes on one side, then flip and cook another 2-3 minutes on the second side. The muffins should about double in height and are ready when both sides are golden brown. Repeat until all of the muffins are cooked.

Cool fully before slicing and toasting. The English muffins freeze well for up to a month in an airtight container, and keep at room temperature for about 5 days.

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Tips and Notes

Don’t worry if the muffins get a little misshapen when you take them off the parchment to cook. Either use a spatula to gently push them back into shape once in the pan, or leave as is – a slightly oblong muffin will taste the same as a round one!

Adding the milk to the pan of melted butter before adding to the bowl to mix heats it up just slightly. Using cold ingredients can cause a much slower rise for sourdough (which can seem like no rise at all, sometimes) so heating it very slightly makes for a more consistent result.

If you like cornmeal added to your English muffins, sprinkle some on the parchment before placing the cut out muffins onto it, and add more to the tops before the second rise.

If the muffins aren’t rising as much as you’d like, the frying pan probably isn’t hot enough yet. They should about double in height while cooking. Much like pancakes, if the pan isn’t heated properly, the first couple will flop.

We keep the dough in a cool place, but not refrigerated, for the bulk ferment. If leaving dough that has milk in it out of the refrigerator is concerning for you, simply refrigerate it instead. It will require a slightly longer proofing time to double in size.

Substitutions

Substitute up to 50% of the white flour for whole wheat to make whole wheat English muffins. You can probably do 100% but we haven’t tested it.

Use vegan butter or olive oil and non-dairy milk for vegan sourdough English muffins.

Honey and sugar can be used interchangeably, and maple syrup or another sweetener would be fine too.

More Great Sourdough Recipes

Sourdough Biscuits
Basic Sourdough Pan Loaf
Sourdough Naan
100% Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
Sourdough Millet Bread

If you make this recipe, let us know by tagging @baked_theblog + #bakedtheblog on Instagram! We love to feel like we’re in the kitchen with you.