Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Bread Baker's Apprentice 12/43: English muffins

For those of you out there keeping score, let me put it to you plainly: Peter Reinhart's English muffins do not deserve the treatment I am about to give them. They have not earned the insult of just a few cursory paragraphs devoted to their glory. They deserve to be sung about; they ought to inspire the writing of a sort of 21st-century epic poem. The Faerie Queen of yeast breads, if you will.


But as it is, I have a date with a Qantas airplane in less than 48 hours, and my half-assed attempts at packing simply must take precedence over the magnificence of Reinhart's English muffins. Which is a travesty. But there it is.


However, were I not about to fly about as far as one can fly without starting back the other way, I'll tell you what I'd be doing: I'd be baking more English muffins. Because Reinhart's recipe is e-asy. Easy! And the resulting muffins -- especially if fork-split, toasted and slathered with a teaspoon of homemade blueberry jam -- are so much more delicious than anything anyone named Thomas ever baked. Reinhart's English muffins have a yeasty, vaguely sweet, roasted flavor and a dynamite aroma. And they even look professional!


When I return from Australia with a mind full of funny stories and a belly full of delicious food (not Vegemite, ahem) and a heart full of fond memories and a camera full of pictures, the first thing I'm going to do is whip up a batch of English muffins to welcome myself home. I might even do it before the jetlag subsides.

These English muffins are that good.



++++++

The Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge asks that we do not share Reinhart's recipes. If you are going to be in the country for the foreseeable future, turn your copy of the book to page 157 and get to work. You will be really, really happy with yourself.

6 comments:

Arlene Delloro said...

OK. I've been reading my copy of the book for weeks now. You've convinced me to start with the English muffins. Larry loves them and I can freeze them. Have a great trip.

Frieda Loves Bread said...

Excellent! I loved these muffins as well and will be making them again. And again. And doubling, no, tripling the recipe!

Dianne said...

Arlene, EXCELLENT place to start. Enjoy!

Frieda, you aren't lying. I'll definitely be doubling/tripling/quadrupling/quintupling the recipe the next time I make these....

misterrios said...

Nice Muffins! And nice quick post.

I totally agree. Six Muffins were not enough. Particularly when you can freeze them so easily.

The Blue Morpho said...

They look fantastic! For those of us trying to stay in the whole grains vein - do you have suggestions for making these more whole grainy, so to speak? I have not yet mastered getting dough to rise when making whole grain breads of pretty much any kind, so I'm open to advice! Thanks and safe travels!

Dianne said...

Thanks, guys, for the comments!

Jen, I will definitely give these a shot with whole wheat flour and let you know how it goes. I've found that whole wheat breads rise just as well as white flours but do require more time than the recipe states. I'll let you know what I discover.