Please welcome Erin, who is guest posting today to share her incredible sourdough English muffins! I know they’re incredible because I started a double batch right away on Sunday after receiving the recipe. Good heavens! My family is in love, and they’re so easy. Erin’s directions couldn’t be better and the pictures are spectacular. I will let Erin introduce herself…
I write from Anchorage, Alaska where my incredibly supportive husband, two precious boys and I are busy loving mountains, growing seeds, baking with sourdough, and preparing our hearts for Easter. We look forward to a summer of sunshine, hiking, gardening, fishing, travel and the addition of a few chickens to grace our backyard! Enjoy the English muffins, and thank you, Wardeh, for all of the time and thought you put into your blog. You are appreciated!
I found this recipe by “jmonkey” at the Fresh Loaf several years ago. I have changed it a bit to make it more flexible around what flours and liquids one can use. I also incorporated the seeds as add-ins, and also more salt!
This recipe is included in our Sourdough A to Z eBook and/or demonstrated on video in our Sourdough eCourse. We’re open for enrollment any time — please join us!
Erin’s Sourdough English Muffins
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter (thick or thin)
- 1 cup liquid (water*, milk, fermented dairy, coconut milk…)
- 2 cups flour (your choice)
- add-ins like seeds, dried fruit, or chopped nuts… (optional)
- 1 tablespoon raw honey (or any other sweetener)
- 3/4 to 1 teaspoon sea salt of choice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
*Note: The English muffins will turn out if you use water instead of full fat or fermented dairy and if you add more flour initially for easier kneading. However, the results will not be as soft on the outside or as tender on the inside once you’ve finished the cooking.
Place 1/2 cup sourdough starter (thick or thin) into a medium size bowl. Pour onto that the 1 cup of liquid. This is the first place where the recipe is very flexible. Your liquid could be water, milk, any fermented dairy, coconut milk… Stir to combine starter and liquid. In this photo, I chose to water down some of my homemade yogurt. If your sourdough starter is very stiff, you might need an extra 1/4 cup of liquid. I have never added extra liquid.
Once combined, add 2 cups of flour to the mixture. This is the second place where the recipe is very flexible. Use any combination of flours. I have used white wheat, whole wheat, and rye. I know there are a lot of spelt users out there and sprouted flour users, too. It’ll all work! The only flour I question is rice flour, but if used in combination with another flour, it might even work.
Stir well to combine. Along with the flour, I often add in a couple tablespoons of ground flax seed or poppy and caraway seeds (when I make delicious rye sourdough english muffins). The soaking affects the seeds as well as the flour. So, great! Cover and let your dough sit overnight, even up to 24 hours.
I’ve added these pictures to show you the thickness of my dough. The stiffness changes every time I make this recipe. Sometimes it is more wet. It really does not matter too much. In the morning, you will be able to tell that your sourdough has been at work.
On top of your soaked dough, sprinkle 3/4 teaspoon salt (I use 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt), 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 tablespoon honey. Use a wooden spoon to push/cut/stir in your newly added ingredients. Don’t worry about incorporating it perfectly; you will be kneading it in just a moment.
This next part of the directions might feel a little strange, because you are kneading something that could be quite wet. I pour about 1 tablespoon of olive oil onto my counter and spread it around with my hand and then rub my hands together. I then dump out my dough onto the oiled spot and knead the dough for 2 to 3 minutes. The purpose of this kneading is to incorporate the honey, baking soda, and salt. After this, I take a pizza cutter and separate my dough into 8 equal portions.
As you can see, the dough is quite wet. Up until this point we have not added any new flour. At this time, I do find it helpful to dust my hands with flour before I shape each muffin. You might prefer to use all-purpose flour for this dusting, or sprouted flour where the sprouting has done the work of soaking. I usually use what is on hand… whole wheat. Whatever.
With dusted hands, pick up a portion and gently shape it into your muffin. My muffins are usually about 1 finger thick and maybe 2-1/2 inches wide. Sometimes they are nice and round. Sometimes not. Size and shape are not important here. Place your muffins on a lightly floured or cornmealed (greased might work if you want to stay away from newly added flour) sheet of wax paper or parchment paper. Cover with a dish towel and let rest for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
About 5 minutes before you want to griddle/skillet your muffins, set the heat to mediumish. I usually set my cast iron to 4, the front of my stovetop griddle to 5 1/2, and the back of the griddle to 4 1/2. Each place distributes heat differently. You will figure out what works best for your situation. You don’t want the muffins to brown too quickly because the insides need a chance to cook. I also have found that I do not need to grease my skillet/griddle. Do what you think is best here as well.
Carefully transfer the muffins onto your heat source. Cook the muffins for about five minutes on each side. You can take a little peek every now and again to make sure the bottoms are not getting too brown. When it is time to flip, do this carefully. Your muffins will plump up beautifully, and you do not want to deflate them by being too rough. Cook for the second five minutes. Now, if you find that the outside edge of your muffin is not as done as you like, feel free to pop these into a 350 degree oven for 5-10 minutes. I do not bother doing this.
Mercy. I cannot express to you with words how good these are. Whether you are eating them fresh off the griddle, toasted, warmed, or room temperature, they are bound to bring a smile. My husband savors each sandwich as if it is a dessert. Incredible! The muffins pictured above used 1 cup rye and 1 cup whole wheat. I also added poppy and caraway seeds.
I’m shaking my head as I type. So, so good. Enjoy your muffins topped with butter. A truly nutritious treat! They last (if you can get them to last) for at least a week. I keep mine in a sealed container on the counter. They also freeze beautifully. Might want to slice them first. And it most definitely works to double or triple the recipe. Enjoy!
Thanks, Erin! This recipe is going to bless so many! I’m sharing this post in Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop, also Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet.
About Erin
ABCs of Grain Mills. Free PDF tip booklet. 
Take the guesswork out of what to fix, what to buy and what to prepare. This week:
Class materials compiled into easy downloads: 
Mama Rissa- I definitely agree with Wardeh on this one! I made the muffins with my sister in CA and ended up with a significantly wetter dough than when I make them in Alaska! I should make a note in the recipe. So, I would do as Wardeh recommended. Use more flour initially, and that should make the rest of the process much less complicated. I’m so glad you are willing to give it another try! I am confident that the end result will be well worth your time and effort. And, I’d love to hear about your bread!
Can I make this recipe without sourdough but using the soaking method? How should I alter the recipe?
Angela – That’s a good question. It would take some trial and error to get the consistency right. What I would do at first (to get the consistency right) is mix equal parts flour and water. Use 1/2 cup of that in place of the starter. (Eventually you could figure out just how much flour and water are needed to make 1/2 cup – and just use those amounts.) Then add the milk and flour. Add 1 tablespoon of acid per cup of milk. Then let the soaking happen. Then proceed with the recipe. You might need to add about a 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, too. The baking soda reacts with the sourdough starter to puff nicely. Lacking sourdough starter you might need to mimic this with baking powder. During summer months, you’ll need more flour in this recipe. Have fun and let us know!
These were awesome!!!!!! I did end up adding about 1 cup of flour to stiffen up the batter so I could work with it. They are light and fluffy and have an excellent flavor. I used spelt flour.
Erin – I LOVED these! Thank you so much. I think I might have a problem with baking powder (some kind of sensitivity and yes, I get the aluminum free one). Do you think these would rise as well with baking soda?
Thank you again. Wonderful recipe!
Maureen recently posted… Hashimotos Thyroiditis and Properly Prepared Foods Traditional Foods
Wardeh & Erin,
Thanks for getting back to me! I’m going to try making the muffins again tomorrow, I think. I’ll add more flour and I’ll let you know what happens!
As for my uh-may-zing (hehe) bread – well, I used the recipe that came with my starter (from King Arthur – the recipe was for an extra-tangy sourdough) and it turned out reaaaallly well the first time. The second and third time, I liked it okay, but I decided that the tang was a bit overwhelming, especially when I was sharing my bread with company (non-traditional food eaters don’t necessarily always love that sour flavor!). The recipe had me proofing the bread for a really, really, really long time. SO, I tried your recipe, Wardeh! And we LOVED it! It was much more mild than the previous recipe, but still tangy enough to please us! So…now that’s the recipe for my *new* UH-MAY-ZING bread.
Mama Rissa recently posted… this state of being
I have truly always wanted a recipe for these. Sourdough is my favorite english muffin! I like onion or ‘everything’ bagels but i would so love sourdough too, with the real stuff that is, I am sure!
Teri recently posted… Twisted Tuesday 7 27 2010
I did it! I added 1/2 cup more flour & they came out marvelously! Thanks for this incredible recipe!
Mama Rissa recently posted… Scratching my head
Oh my, how embarrassing! I just realized the recipe does not call for baking powder, rather baking SODA. Ignore that earlier post of mine referring to the baking powder. Whoops…
I am going to make these again tomorrow. I believe I am going to be hooked on them once I get the right cooking time down.
Thanks again for the recipe Erin!
Maureen
Maureen recently posted… Hashimotos Thyroiditis and Properly Prepared Foods Traditional Foods
Terri- So glad you enjoyed the muffins! I think with the summer heat, most of us will have to add a little more flour to the dough. And I’m not sure when you added the extra flour, but it’s best to add it before the dough sours.
Maureen- I’d love to hear how your second attempt goes! So glad I didn’t type up the recipe wrong!
For a moment there, I thought I put powder! 
Mama Rissa- Yeah! So glad you enjoy the muffins! Thanks for letting me know.
Teri- Sourdough bagels are one of the next things on my list to conquer! Hope you enjoy the muffins. They truly are a treat!
Mama Rissa – I’m really happy you liked my sourdough bread recipe!
I made these today and my family loved them! Yay! My husband said he would be happy to have these every morning! He was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and we have been on an amazing journey to find foods he can eat that will provide nutrients without aggravating his symptoms. This website has been a tremendous blessing. Thank you! God bless you for what you are doing.
Mandy- Oh, how wonderful! I am so glad you all find these english muffins a blessing! I’ve not updated this post yet, but I want you to know, if your dough seems too sticky, feel free to add a bit more than 2 cups of flour at the beginning. It works with a very wet dough and a drier dough. Sometimes adding more than 2 cups initially makes kneading after souring easier! Enjoy, enjoy!
These were SO good! We used spelt flour and raw goat’s milk and honey (yep, the cheap Wal-mart kind…) and ended up having to add quite a bit of sprouted kamut flour after souring since the dough was really sticky and wet. But… that might have to do with me letting it sour for umm.. 29 hours or so?
Such is life when you work 12 hr night shifts and you try to do too much in the hour before/after work. But I was still so pleased that these turned out! My husband actually cooked them up on our cast iron skillet for me while I slept the other day 
I brought one to work last night and toasted it and then heated it up in our little “pizza oven” (since we don’t have a toaster oven at work and I hate using the microwave) with some roasted chicken and a slice of cheddar cheese and OH YUM! Did I say yum enough? Ok, sorry, it’s my time for bed, I am a little kooky after working last night!
Hi Carrie- I should update my post. You will end up using different amounts of flour depending on what kind of flour you choose to use! I am glad your english muffins turned out for you. Next time you make them, try adding more flour for the initial souring time. Look for a somewhat sticky dough, but not wet. After the souring, it should be much easier to knead. So glad you enjoyed them!
I Googled Tef Flour and your article came up due to your mentioning of Tef flour. I lived in Ethiopia (Eritrea actually) and I loved the injera bread and I am trying to find some Tef flour so I can make some to go along with my Zigni. My question to you is this; Is there some place where I might buy some of this flour locally in Anchorage or even the surrounding area? Any help you can give me would be most appreciated. Thank you
Ralph — I suggest you try the health food store. Or, through Azure Standard ( http://azurestandard.com ). They are a natural food warehouse co-op and that’s where I get teff.
Thanks for the reply….as it stands I actually found some locally at the Natural Pantry on Old Seward.
I think you can buy almost anything on Amazon, and amazingly, tef flour also came up. When I am unable to find things locally, I always go to the internet–and have often founds things are much less expensive when mail-ordered than are available locally anyway! I don’t know if Azure Standard delivers up where you are (they barely deliver here in Colorado, and charge more than our tax rate as a “shipping surcharge,”), but even if they do, you have to place a pretty big order to avoid extra fees.
Hi Ralph- Sorry I didn’t see your comment sooner! I would’ve recommended Natural Pantry. Just returned home from there actually! Enjoy your injera bread!
I just made these this morning for the first time. I used whole wheat flour. Oh my goodness!! They are wonderful and SO easy! Thank you.
Yolanda recently posted… My New Bread Recipe – whole grain
I made these today to help use up some starter – never made English muffins before and can’t remember when I last had one.
Now, my dough did wind up being WAAAY TOO WET – I added about another cup of flour while kneading – I use Dakota Maid stone ground whole wheat, and added some whole golden flaxseeds as a mix in.
Hubby just loved them – the batch may or may not make it till Saturday morning and there are only two of us!
I made this recipe exactly as written, with rice milk and about 3 gracious tablespoons of flax, and it was WONDERFUL! It is actually the first thing I have made from my sourdough starter that I liked. My family loved them! Big hit here. So thank you for this blessing of a recipe. Thanks for sharing
Take care,
Mary
Hi Mary! I’m so glad they worked out for you and your family! On to your next sourdough adventure! What will it be?
Erin, Just wanted to say thank you for the recipe. We love it! I am new to sourdough and decided to feed my starter daily, instead of putting it in the fridge and feeding weekly. I read that you do too. What do you typically do with your excess starter? Just looking for some suggestions.
Hi Shannon- So glad you enjoy the english muffin recipe! Thanks for letting me know. As far as what I do with my starter? Tortillas, pancakes, cake, muffins, crackers, cookies, bread, crepes, cinnamon rolls and gingerbread… Such fun! You should check out the GNOWFGLINS Sourdough E-course! Wardeh and I had such a great time making it, and the recipes for each of those treats (plus more) are included. Let us know if you have any questions. Enjoy your starter!
I just made these using sprouted whole wheat flour and a whole wheat sourdough and they are absolutely amazing and wonderful and may well become my new favorite food. They were so quick and easy, too. When I have a little more time I’m going to sign up for your e-course because you are now my sourdough goddess!
Hi Jan- Thanks for your comment! So glad the english muffins worked out for you. I’m eating one right now as I type your note. Delish! We look forward to seeing you in the e-course.
I just made these and they turned out great! I only just started my sourdough starter a little over a week ago. I did let them sour for about 18 hours because I got busy and they are a little sour for my family. I love them though and I think my family will get more used to the sour taste as I use it more. Next time I will cook after 8-12 hours of souring to be on the safe side.
I made these over the weekend, and they turned out great! My husband loves them (I am gluten free at the moment).
I was confused, though, because I made them using the recipe in the sourdough A to Z book, which seems to skip the second resting step. In the e-book, the recipe goes straight from mixing in the baking soda/salt/honey to cook them on the griddle. But the online version contains a second rest/rise.
Mine turned out fine, but I wondered if there’s a reason the book version is different.
Hi Leah- Both methods work. I prefer the e-book method now because it works just as well and saves time! I’ve got to update the blog post. I’m glad you asked about it, and I’m glad your husband enjoyed the english muffins!
Thanks for responding, Erin! That’s very helpful. I’ve had to freeze the extras so that he won’t eat them all in a day! That man loves his sourdough, I guess. I had fun making them, even though I can’t eat them right now.
Any suggestions on how to bake them without a cast iron skillet or stove top griddle? Can I make them in a reg. old saucepan? Or, do you suggest I try to bake them. . . . I want them to get that ‘English Muffin’ top to them, ad I suppose baking them in the oven will not give you that. I hope to start soaking them tonight! =) thanks!
Hi Annalise- I would go ahead and try putting them on whatever skillet you have available. If you think the muffins might stick, you could lightly grease them before hand. Members of the forum have also had success baking them. If you find they are cooking unevenly, you could try covering the frying pan with a lid. Let us know if you have any more questions, and we’d love to hear how they turn out!
Erin, it’s just a little over a year now since you gave us this recipe, and I’ve made them several times a month since. Thank you so very much for this recipe. I’m in Vermont but will be visiting in your neck of the woods, as my daughter lives in Wasilla……..My family and friends also appreciate the recipe for the English Muffins, and I’ve passed it on to some of my friends. I’ve found that when I use a fermented (kefir) milk product, the muffins get more “rise” on the griddle………just thought I would mention that………
In Him,
Connie
Thank you Connie for you kind comment! I am so glad you enjoy the muffins, and thank you for the kefir tip. I just love the flexibleness of the recipe!
Have a great time in Alaska!
Is there anyway to make the dough, form the muffins, let it rise and put them in the fridge to make later?
Hi Nicole- You’ve reminded me that I need to update this post! The easiest way to make these would be to sour the dough over night and then add the rest of the ingredients, knead to combine, shape and place on the fry pan. I no longer give them the rest time in between shaping and griddling. You may, but it’s not necessary. The baking soda helps give the muffins a nice rise so to add it early on and let them sit… I just don’t think that’s a good idea. Does it help you to know you don’t need to let them rest before cooking? I know the english muffins have also been successful with the refrigerated bucket dough method. It’s covered in the sourdough e-course, if you are interested!
Let me know if you have any more questions. Thanks!
Ok first off we live in AZ….second I added more flour…and third…no matter what I tried they would not cook on the inside….am so disappointed …so I need a bit of brainstorming here so that when I try them again they are as good as everyone else’s. In the interim I will be sitting here crying cause I was so very hungry for a good english muffin
If the outside is done and the inside is not done, you probably have your griddle too hot.
Yolanda recently posted… A Gentler Set of Complications
Hi Katje- Here are some things to try… You could turn down the heat of your griddle a little bit. You could try covering them with a lid as they cook. You could try using a bit more of a wet dough the next time. I also find that letting them cool completely before eating gives them a chance to finish up on the inside. If you cut into them shortly after cooking, they may seem a bit doughier on the inside. So, if I do that, I usually toast them first… even though they are already warm inside. Let me know how your next attempt goes. What kind of flour did you use by the way?
Just made my first batch, need to get the hang of flipping them carefully as one or two are a bit lopsided, but they are DELICIOUS! In fact there is still a batch finishing off in the oven as I type.
Aisling Beatha recently posted… Sourdough Waffles
Hi Aisling- So glad you are enjoying the english muffins! Thanks for letting me know.
My family loves the sourdough english muffins. So the last time I was making english muffins and crackers at the same time plus talking to a friend, I added the herbs for the crackers to the english muffins. What a great surprise! Herbed english muffins are great with morning eggs and make great open faced grilled cheese muffins.
Thanks for offering the sourdough course, Alice
I have these soaking right now using a mixture of whole spelt flour and whole wheat flour and using home-cultured kefir as the liquid. I have been wanting to try using my sourdough starter and my kefir together in a recipe but I wasn’t sure if the two different kinds of cultures would somehow react with eachother. But, since your recipe specifically said cultured milk, I thought I’d give it a whirl. I plan to cook them tomorrow morning after they’ve soaked all night
Thanks for the great recipe!
This was the first time I’ve made English muffins and I love the flavor of the sourdough I have right now…these were great! And, I was hoping for an enclosed breakfast or to-go sandwich. So I flattened these into oblong shapes and filled them with cooked sausage, spinach, crushed hard boiled egg, feta, and tomato sauce, folded them and pinched the edges to seal–calzones! But they would be perfect all the ways you use English muffins, Wardeh, and for egg, cheddar, ham, etc. etc. Thank you!
Hi Sandi- What a great idea! Glad you enjoyed the english muffins! I’m going to have to give the calzone idea a try.