and now for the recipe

The English version of a muffin is baked on a griddle. It is served warm or cooled, split and toasted for afternoon tea, accompanied with lots of butter and marmalade.

English Muffins

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/2 C. warm milk
1/2 C. warm water
2 to 2 1/2 C. flour
2 T. sugar
2 T. Farina
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. t. soda
1 T. oil
Cornmeal

In small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk and water (105 to 115 degrees F). Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup, level off. In large bowl, combine 1 C. flour, sugar, farina, salt and soda; blend well. Add yeast mixture and oil; blend at low speed until moistened. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Stir in an addition 1 to 1 1/2 C. flour until dough pulls cleanly away from sides of bowl.

On floured surface, knead until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl; cover loosely with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place (80 to 85 degrees F) until light and doubled in size, about 35-45 minutes.

Punch down dough several times to remove all air bubbles. On lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with floured 3-inch cutter (An empty 6 1/2-oz. tuna can with both ends removed, can be substituted for 3-inch round cutter.) Place on cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal; turn once to coat both sides. Cover, let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 20-35 minutes.

Heat griddle or electric skillet to 325 degrees F. Bake muffins on griddle about 5-8 minutes on each side or until deep golden brown. 10 muffins.

(I found that my skillet only needed to be at 300 degrees. I kept peeking at the muffins to see how brown they were getting, and never let them cook the 5-8 minutes before turning, but perhaps only 3-4 minutes per side. I also must have gotten half my dough thinner than the other half, as some of the muffins were thinner, and I ended up with 13 muffins. I will know better next time.)