By Request Betty Shimabukuro

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English muffin easy
to make from scratch

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The humble, pockmarked English muffin has none of the luscious potential of, say, a soft, sweet blueberry muffin. It's a no-nonsense breakfast food, but toasted crisp and with butter and jam pooled up in those pockmarks, it certainly has its own appeal.

Shirleen Chang e-mailed in search of a recipe for making the muffins from scratch and the search proved rewarding.

An English muffin is a raised muffin -- meaning made with yeast, as opposed to most muffins, which are quick breads. They are also cooked on a griddle, while muffins are baked.

The name is American. In England, this type of breakfast pastry is called a crumpet. Sort of how french fries in France are called pommes frites.

At any rate, if you're new to working with yeast, this is a pretty good way to ease into the process. The procedure is straightforward -- believe me, I'm a less-than-novice bread-baker and even I couldn't mess this up. They toasted up light yet nicely chewy.

The only trick is to cook the muffins over fairly low heat, so they'll cook through on the inside without burning on the outside.

English Muffins

"Judy Gorman's Breads of New England" (Yankee Publishing, 1988)
3/4 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, beaten
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
2-1/2 to 3 cups bread flour
Cornmeal

Pour water into large mixing bowl. Sprinkle yeast over surface and stir to dissolve. Stir in sugar and salt, then egg and butter. Add 2 cups of the flour and stir until smooth. Gradually stir in more flour until dough becomes hard to stir.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead, gradually adding as much of the remaining flour as needed to form a soft dough that is no longer sticky. Place in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until double in bulk, 30 to 40 minutes.

Punch down dough and turn onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and resilient. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest 20 minutes.

Roll dough to 1/2-inch thickness and cut into 12 rounds with a 3-inch biscuit cutter. Place on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle more cornmeal over tops of muffins. Cover with a clean towel and let rise again, 45 minutes.

Grease a griddle or skillet and heat over medium-low heat. Cook muffins until brown on both sides, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Cool.

To serve: Split muffins in half using two forks. Toast and serve with butter, jelly, jam and/or honey. English muffins can also be used to make mini-pizzas -- top with spaghetti sauce, shredded mozzarella and sliced pepperoni or other pizza toppings and bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted.

Variation: To make whole wheat English muffins, substitute 2 cups whole wheat flour for the first 2 cups of bread flour. Substitute 1/3 cup honey for the sugar.

Nutritional information unavailable.

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Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.