Name: Sourdough English Muffins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 505 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup active sourdough starter; 1 cup water (or milk); 1 tbsp honey (or maple syrup); 2 cups flour (I usually use whole wheat) (+ 1/4-1/2 cup additional flour if needed); 1 tsp salt; 1 1/2 tsp baking soda; 1/4 cup additional flour (if needed)

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Sourdough English muffins are another simple, beginner sourdough recipe that’s made with active sourdough starter and fermented overnight.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

There’s nothing better than fresh English muffins for breakfast. Adding sourdough to the recipe makes it that much more delicious. Even though we love our sourdough pancakes, sourdough blueberry cream cheese bread, and sourdough vanilla almond scones, these sourdough English muffins have a special place in my heart. They’re so simple and delicious.

These muffins are so versatile. This recipe makes a perfect quick bread that can be eaten with butter and jam for breakfast, but you can also use them for sandwiches. We love to put eggs and cheese on them for an egg and cheese breakfast sandwich. They’re very versatile, and a favorite sourdough recipe because of how simple they are to make.

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Equipment

Medium size mixing bowl
Mixing spoon
Measuring cups and spoons
Cast iron skillet or griddle (I use cast iron, but use whatever you prefer)
Serrated bread knife

Ingredients

Active Sourdough Starter: This recipe uses active sourdough starter that’s been fed within the past 12 hours.
Water: You can also substitute milk or coconut milk for the water.
Honey: Maple syrup can be used in place of the honey.
Flour: You can use any flour you wish, but I usually use freshly milled whole wheat flour. This recipe will work with all-purpose and other types of flour, but you may need to adjust the water to flour ratio a bit.
Baking Soda: The baking soda helps make these English muffins soft and light.

How to Make Sourdough English Muffins

One of the things I love most about this recipe is that you get it started the night before. That makes it so much faster the next morning!

The Night Before

To make sourdough English muffins, combine the first four ingredients in a bowl. Mix together the starter, water, honey, and whole wheat flour in a mixing bowl. Stir well. If the dough seems too wet, add a little more flour (up to 1/2 cup). You don’t want to add too much flour. The dough should be slightly sticky, but not too sticky and wet.

It takes a bit of practice to know what the consistency of the dough should look like. But don’t worry! This is a very forgiving recipe, and I’ve never had a batch fail yet. It’s usually better to err on the side of the dough being a bit more wet than to have it too dry (which tends to make the muffins more dense). Cover the bowl and set aside until the next morning (or for 8-12 hours).

The Next Morning

The next morning, your sourdough English muffin batter should be looking bubbly. In the photos I used whole wheat flour.

Heat your cast iron skillet or griddle to low heat (I set mine to between 2 and 3). You may want to add a tablespoon of butter or coconut oil to the skillet, but if your skillet is non-stick or well-seasoned (cast iron), you may not need to grease it. I usually add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil to the pan.

Then add the remaining ingredients (salt and baking soda) to the other ingredients in the bowl and mix. You can do this by hand, but I usually put mine in a stand mixer with the dough hook, and add the salt and baking soda, and let it knead the dough for a couple of minutes. If the dough is still wet, I add up to 1/2 cup of flour to the mixing bowl and knead it in.

How to Cook Sourdough English Muffins

If your dough is wet, you can just drop the dough from a 1/4 cup measuring cup (or spoon) onto the skillet. If it’s a bit more dry, you can use your hands to form a ball shape and then set the balls onto the skillet (this is how I usually do it).

I grease my hands with a little bit of coconut oil, remove about 1/4 cup of dough, and form it into a loose ball shape before placing it into the skillet.

Cook the English muffins on low to medium heat for a few minutes on each side. I usually cook the first side for about 3-5 minutes and then check to see if that side has browned sufficiently. Then flip to cook the other side.

If it seems like they are browning too quickly and the center isn’t getting done, turn the heat down to give the centers time to cook.

If the insides still don’t seem sufficiently cooked (but the outside is well-browned), you can also transfer them to a baking sheet and bake in a 350° oven for 5-10 minutes to finish the cooking process.

This recipe makes from 8-12 muffins, depending on how big you make them. With the size I make, I often get around 10, so I double it if I want a bigger batch.

Transfer muffins to a cooling rack and allow to cool for at least five minutes before slicing in half with a serrated knife. Be sure the muffins are completely cool before storing in a sealed container.

These sourdough English muffins are so delicious while they’re still warm, slathered with butter and jam!

Do I Have to Use Whole Wheat Flour?

This recipe will work with other flour types. I’ve used whole wheat and spelt flour (and occasionally a combination), and the muffins always turn out great.

You could also try unbleached all purpose flour, or any other type of flour. When using other flours, you may need to adjust the amount of flour added in the first step.