English Muffin

For full recipe: http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/english-muffin

Long before the "nooks and crannies" of Thomas' English muffins slogan, there were the nooks and crannies of 18th century English muffins. As early as 1747, recipes were being penned for the quintessential breakfast bread, one of which appeared in Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery and advised that the muffin's interior resemble honeycomb. Turns out, it's exceedingly difficult to get dough to resemble honeycomb.

The mixture of flour, yeast, and milk fat has to be quite soft—closer to pancake batter than bread dough—for those bubbles to form. If it's too stiff, as the dough bakes and expands the steam bubbles will remain as round individual bubbles, and result in a final product that is bread-like. If, however, the dough is loose, wet, and admittedly difficult to handle, then expanding steam will form large columns in the baking dough, resulting in that traditional honeycomb look in the final muffin.

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