Muffin trade secrets | The Fresh Loaf

Wonderful article in the New York Times about trouble over the secret processes for making Thomas' English Muffins. Great fun -- though perhaps not for the people involved.

Jeremy

Jeez. Now I don't feel so bad about my holes, or lack thereof.

Been baking a lot of english muffins lately.

All my muffins have come out like bricks, so far. I haven't tried the more liquidy dough/batter that you pour into those 'rings', yet.

Gonna have to give it a try next time.

Rick

Hey, the photograph looks like an English crumpet rather than an English muffin!. I thought the nooks and crannies were due to the yeast and baking soda raising agents!

Nope, it is definitely a muffin. Crumpets are more like pancakes, with one side that is sealed and one side that is holey, about 1 cm thick, and you don't split them.

Jeremy

I believe this lady has the answer. This is my next English Muffin recipe I'm gonna try. http://www.shesimmers.com/2009/03/homemade-english-muffins-complete-with.html

Rick

She does certainly seem to have found a fool-proof recipe, and adding the baking soda just before cooking is an interesting angle to getting even more nooks and crannies.

Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery devotes an entire chapter to the subject. Some of the methods she describes are downright scary.

Jeremy

Thank you Jeremy for your help re English muffin recipe. It looks very promising - have not had too much luck with EM's before and look forward to trying this recipe out (after I sort out what to use for rings here (NZ) Margaret

Leela suggests tuna cans with top and bottom removed, which is not a bad idea. Good luck.

Jeremy

The above accolade should have gone to you. Margaret

Thanks Jeremy for your help - actually we don't eat too much tinned tuna down here - although Antipodeans eat raw tuna when it is available (most of it is exported I think) - but I have sourced some rosti tubes from a NZ catering company which should do the trick.

My most humble apologies. It's sort of a habit and I should pay more attention to what I'm doing/reading.

Now, personally, I won't put tuna in my mouth but, I have found similar cans in the super market. Try the Asian department of your store. I have bamboo shoot cans I'm going to use. Also, try the pet food department for cat food.

Point is, next time you go shopping, spend a little time browsing around your store. There are quite a few cans that can be used.

Again, I'm sorry,

Rick

Yet more words mixed up by the Atlantic translation service....

Here in England (and the rest of the UK) these are crumpets:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crumpet

Made by pouring batter into a ring in a hot pan/griddle/plate, etc. So The recipe in the NYT article is for Crumpets, not muffins, English or otherwise.

Muffins are rounds cut from a bread dough and cooked in a pan. No ring needed. Often savoury - e.g. containing spinnach, etc.

e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_muffin

However the term 'muffin' in the UK is being challenged by cup-cake type mixes and shapes, and there is often confusion.

-Gordon