Sourdough English Muffins – Easy Overnight Recipe

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These homemade sourdough English muffins are light and fluffy, with plenty of nooks and crannies to hold homemade butter, peanut butter, or jam. Made simple with easy overnight directions.

Making English muffins is easy whether you have experience with sourdough, or if this is your first time. Just like making a sourdough bread loaf, these easy English muffins start with an active starter, are allowed to bulk ferment, are shaped, and then finally cooked. 

I have been on a journey to swap out store-bought items with a homemade version and use my sourdough starter every chance I get. I love the gut health benefits of sourdough with its long fermentation process. 

Feed Your Starter

For this English muffin recipe, you will want to use an active starter, not sourdough discard. An active starter has been fed recently, with plenty of air bubbles. Feed the starter 4-12 hours before you want to make the dough. The exact time this takes will depend on the temperature of your kitchen and the ratios it was fed. Learn all about sourdough here.

Once the starter has doubled in size, is active and bubbly, and passes the float test, it’s ready to use. To do a float test, simply drop a small bit of starter in a glass of water, and if it floats it’s ready to use. If is doesn’t, then it needs more time.

Ingredients

• Active sourdough starter
• Warm water
• Honey or sugar
• All-purpose flour
• Butter, melted and slightly cooled
• Salt

Mixing the Dough

Feed your starter 4-12 hours before you want to use it. Then add the active sourdough starter, warm water, honey, melted butter, salt, and all-purpose flour in a mixing bowl of a stand mixer. 

Mix the dough ingredients on medium-low speed with a dough hook attachment for 5 minutes. The dough will go from looking shaggy to being more elastic and not fully pulling away from the sides of the bowl. The dough is a sticky, wet dough, making it a bit more difficult to work with but it will result in a lighter muffin. 

First Rise or Bulk Fermentation

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased large bowl, cover, and let the dough rest at room temperature for 8-12 hours to bulk ferment or double in size. This can be done overnight. Otherwise, once the first rise is done, place it in the refrigerator to chill overnight.

Shaping

The next day, remove the bowl from the fridge and place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Using a bench scraper or a sharp knife, divide the dough into 12 equal parts. 

To shape the dough, there are two different methods you can use.

Method 1:

Stretch the dough into a rectangular shape with floured fingers until the dough is roughly ½ inch thick. Using a 3-inch English muffin ring, cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, or the top of a drinking glass, dip in flour to prevent sticking and cut out 10-12 muffins. Reshape the scraps after the first round of cuts to use the remaining dough. 

Method 2:

Divide the dough into 12 equal parts. Form each piece into a round ball by pinching the edges to the middle to create a smooth ball. Place the dough balls with the pinched side down onto the prepared baking sheet pan. Sprinkle the tops with more corn meal and flatten slightly with your hand.

Second Rise

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. To get it to lay flat, crumple the parchment paper and then flatten it out on the baking sheet. Lightly dust with corn meal to prevent the dough from sticking. Place each ball on the baking sheet with space in between for room to rise. Sprinkle the tops with more corn meal to prevent sticking when pressed to flatten. Cover the dough with a tea towel and let rise 1-2 hours in a warm place. They will rise and look slightly more puffy. 

If your kitchen is cool, create a warm place by turning the oven on briefly to heat up. After a minute or two, check that the oven temperature is warm, not hot, and turn the oven off. Place the baking sheet with the muffins into the warm oven for their final rise.

Cook

Heat a cast iron skillet, griddle, or non-stick pan to low heat. Use a small, thin spatula to carefully lift the English muffins from the parchment paper, being gentle to preserve their shape. Cook for 8-10 minutes on the first side of the muffin, checking halfway through cooking time and rotating for even cooking. As they cook, they will puff up and expand. Flip and press down slightly to flatten the second side, otherwise, the final English muffin will be somewhat cone-shaped. Continue to cook for another 8-10 minutes. 

You know the English muffin is done when it’s golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed. If you aren’t sure, using an instant-read thermometer, the internal temperature of the muffin should read 200 degrees.

Place on a wire rack to cool. 

Storage

Once completely cool, store in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days. For longer storage, place in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Use a fork or your hands rather than a knife to gently split it in half to preserve the irregular texture.

My favorite way to enjoy an English muffin is to slice it in half, toast it, and top it with peanut butter and jam. I love how the gooey, melted peanut butter fills all of the nooks. I ate one of these every morning of my last two pregnancies.

Another great way to enjoy an English muffin is to make a perfectly sized handheld breakfast sandwich with eggs, sausage, and melted cheese.

FAQ’s:

What if the English Muffins are Undercooked?

If the outside of the English muffins are browning faster than the middles are cooking, remove the muffins from the griddle, place them in the oven on a baking sheet, and bake in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes. The muffins are done when the internal temperature reads 200 degrees.

Can I Make the English Muffins Vegan?

Yes, just substitute sugar for the honey, and a neutral oil for the butter.

I’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment and rate the recipe. Tag #Lockremhomestead in photos of your Homemade Sourdough English Muffins over on Instagram to share your!