The BEST Sourdough English Muffins!

These scrumptious sourdough English muffins are a cinch to make! You’ll never buy store brand muffins again after cooking up this homemade sourdough version. Freeze your extras to have anytime you desire.

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Sourdough English muffins are so easy to make, and they freeze wonderfully! Simply take one out and either allow to defrost on the counter or defrost in the microwave. They taste as fresh as right out of the skillet!

The start of the sourdough English muffin

During the 2020 lockdown, I climbed on the sourdough wagon, where I nurtured my sourdough starter and tried hundreds of recipes. Let me tell you, I made some concoctions even my pups wouldn’t eat! But that didn’t stop me from my quest to make the perfect sourdough baked goods that I could be proud of.

I think most of my sourdough woes were linked to the temperatures in my home. Anyone who has any knowledge of Pennsylvania knows that we can literally experience all four seasons of the year in a single day! I was also inconsistent with flour and water ratios. Some days my poor sourdough starter looked so bubbly and healthy it was screaming to be used, and other days I thought it was dead and pleading for a chuck into the trashcan. I love English muffins. They are the most perfect vessel for anything, and my mission was to find a recipe that would rival the most popular store brand.

A perfect sourdough English muffin at last!

After converting to a dry sourdough starter, I revisited some of those stinker recipes and tried them using a fresh active sourdough starter. The results have been amazing! These sourdough English muffins are so good, I will never buy store brands again. They are light and full of tiny pockets waiting to hold your homemade butter or jams. My favorite ways to eat them are to throw an over-easy egg in between toasted slices with fresh spinach and avocado or simply slathered with a freshly opened jar of strawberry jam. You can’t get that at McDonalds!

Tools you’ll need to make sourdough English muffins

• Mixing bowl
• Optional Danish dough whisk
• Baking sheet with parchment paper
• Tea towel or cloth to cover muffins
• Non-stick skillet with lid

Ingredients

• 1/2-cup active sourdough starter or levain
• 1-cup milk
• 1-tablespoon honey or maple syrup
• 1-teaspoon salt
• 3-cups flour
• 1/4-cup cornmeal for sprinkling

Instructions to make the perfect sourdough English muffins

Feed your sourdough in the morning prior to making these sourdough English muffins. If you have a dry starter, check out how to make 1/2 cup of levain here. In the evening, combine the starter with the rest of the ingredients (except the cornmeal) in a bowl.

Allow to rest for 30 minutes. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and do a “pull, stretch, and turn”, as I like to call it. Grab one end of your dough and pull up, folding it onto the dough. Turn the dough and repeat until you have pulled and turned all four corners.

Cover the dough with the bowl and let rest for 10 minutes. Repeat this process one or two more times until the dough feels smooth and elastic. Place the dough back into the bowl and cover. Allow to ferment for 8-12 hours. I like to make this before bed and allow it to ferment overnight.

In the morning, turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Roll out the dough using your fingers or rolling pin to about 1″ thickness. Cut, using a 3″ biscuit cutter into rounds and place on parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal. I can never remember to buy a biscuit cutter, so I use a wide mouth canning ring. Sprinkle cornmeal on the tops, cover the rounds with a towel, and allow to rise for 1 hour.

Preheat a skillet over low heat. Place four muffins into the skillet so that they are not crowded and cover with lid. Do not add oil to the skillet.

Cook for approximately 4-5 minutes or until browned on the bottom and muffin has risen. Turn and cook an additional 4-5 minutes. Store your sourdough English muffins in an airtight container or freeze until ready to use.

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