2. English Muffins

The Muffin! Or moofin (1703).

Not a crumpet, not a roll, not baked. Instead you fry them.

Home made muffins tell you how things really are with the supermarket sorts. Those are fine toasted up and heaped with jam, or as a bed for a pillowy poached egg and hollandaise.

But these, these… eating them minutes from the pan is something else. There is a reason they have been a tea time favourite for 300 years. Soft on the inside with a mild crumb, chewy (in a good way) on the outside. Filling. And flavourful!

Mary Berry’s muffin recipe is a milk based, yeasted dough, and very sticky at first. It took a good 8 minutes of kneading to feel a smooth, workable texture.

Cut into 7.5cm rounds, and dusted with semolina, they looked tidy on the trays – very pleasing!

They proved for an hour and then it was time to cook them in a heavy-based frying pan (the one we used is from my Dad’s granny – it’s very heavy, very old, and still brilliant). The recipe suggests 7 minutes each side. On high heat though that led to seriously blackened muffins (those aren’t in the photos….).

We worked out that high heat for a couple of minutes folllowed by low heat with the lid on the pan works best. Golden brown chewiness surrounding a cakey – but not dried out – inside.

So here they are!

We learned they taste amazing still warm, slathered in butter. We also learned they are excellent toasted up the next day, as bed for a jammy egg and crisp bacon….