Buttermilk English Muffins Recipe on Food52 (2024)

Cast Iron

by: Christina Tosi

June11,2013

4.5

18 Ratings

  • Makes 2 dozen full size English muffins

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Author Notes

I used to make family meal dessert when I was a cook at wd~50. Over time, just making one dessert wasn't enough to satisfy my love of baking, so I started branching out and making morning or late-night baked goods on top of my family meal desserts. First up was English muffins (one of Wylie's favorites). I would make a batch nearly every day and we'd dissect the room for improvement in each batch from technique to overall flavor, etc. This recipe is tried and true, and easily one of my favorites. I spent every day for months getting it just right.

Since then, we've used the recipe in our kitchen at milk bar to make bite size English muffins for a bread course at Ko (served with bay leaf-infused whipped lardo schmeared on), as a loaf bread, as a cracker, or for family meal featuring eggs benedict or burgers! —Christina Tosi

  • Test Kitchen-Approved

What You'll Need

Watch This Recipe

Buttermilk EnglishMuffins

Ingredients
  • 2 1/3 tablespoonsactive dry yeast (a little less than the contents of two 1/4 oz packets)
  • 1/4 cuplukewarm water
  • 1 3/4 cupsbuttermilk
  • 4 cupsbread flour, plus more as needed
  • 1/4 cupsugar
  • 1 2/3 tablespoonskosher salt
  • 5 tablespoonsunsalted butter, at room temperature
  • Nonstick vegetable spray
  • Cornmeal as needed (or yellow grits, in a pinch)
Directions
  1. Combine the yeast and water in the bowl of a stand mixer outfitted with the dough hook and whisk together to dissolve the yeast.
  2. Nuke the buttermilk in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds, or warm it over low heat in a small pan on the stovetop just until it loses the refrigerator chill; you’re not really heating the buttermilk, but ensuring that chilly milk won’t retard the dough’s rise. Stir the no-longer-cold buttermilk into the yeast and water.
  3. Add the flour, sugar, and kosher salt to the bowl, turn the mixer on to low/medium-low speed, and process just until it comes together as a shaggy, droopy dough 3 to 4 minutes.
  4. With the mixer still running, add the butter to the dough a tablespoon at a time. (Make sure it’s at room temperature—you’ll overwork the dough trying to incorporate cold butter into it.) The dough will look as if it is separating, and from this point on it will hang out at the bottom of the bowl, reaching up the dough hook like an appendage of the sandman but never fully coalescing into a ball again. Knead it for 7 to 8 minutes, by which time it should be tacky but no longer sticky and hold its shape.
  5. Lightly spray a large mixing bowl with oil. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the dough from the mixer bowl into the greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave the dough to rest, relax, and rise (though it doesn’t rise so much as it expands in the bowl) for 1 hour.
  6. After the dough has risen, put it into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour to chill, to make it easier to handle.
  7. While the dough’s resting, line a couple of rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and cover them each with a ¼-inch-deep layer of cornmeal, into which you will nestle your muffins. (That’s way more cornmeal than will stick to the muffins, but whatever’s left over will be fine to use in another recipe.)
  8. Scatter your work surface with a very, very fine dusting of flour, and very lightly flour your hands. Turn the dough out onto the work surface and knead it a few times to deflate it. Shape it into a fat, smoothish log. For traditional-size English muffins, pinch off pieces about the size of a handball (which should weigh about 60 grams). With lightly floured palms, roll the pieces of dough into neat balls, applying as little pressure as possible. The dough should be pillowy and tender and delicate and have the tiniest bit of spring to it. As you shape them, transfer the balls of dough, one by one, to the baking sheet: Nestle each ball of dough into the cornmeal, then pat it down gently so some of the cornmeal adheres to the bottom of the future muffin, grab the ball very gently by its sides (the parts you don’t want cornmeal on), and flip it over, gently patting the cornmealed top so the bottom picks up some of the cornmeal. Leave about an inch between the muffins, giving them enough space to stretch and rise as they may need. You can proceed with the recipe directly, or you can wrap the baking sheets of proofing dough in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes, after which time the muffins will be easier to handle. You can also take a longer break: wrapped and refrigerated, the muffins will keep (and improve) for up to 3 days.
  9. Turn the oven on to 250°F. Warm a cast-iron skillet or griddle over the lowest heat setting possible for 5 or so minutes. You should be able to comfortably hold your hand very close to the pan and just feel some radiant heat—nothing that would make you want to pull your hand back. Scatter the pan with a thin, even layer of cornmeal and warm for a minute more.
  10. Grab the proofed muffins one by one by their uncornmealed sides, dust off any excess cornmeal clinging to their tops and bottoms (you want a thin even coating, not a thick jacket), and transfer them to the pan, working in batches. This is the all-important nook-and-crannies-forming stage of English muffin cookery: you want the muffins to rise and griddle-bake slowly. You almost can’t take enough time with this stage. (And if any point before the final couple of minutes of cooking you smell cornmeal toasting or browning, instead of just warming, turn the heat down.) After about 4 minutes, their tops will begin to puff and dome: that’s your cue to flip them. Use a small offset spatula to flip them if you have one (and buy one to do so the next time if you don’t—your fingers will leave prints). After 4 or 5 minutes on the second side, the bottoms of the muffins should still feel airy and light. Once they’re at that point (you may have to gently cook and gently flip them one more time before they get to the handleably delicate stage), you can nudge up the heat slightly, and turning them every 2 to 3 minutes, toast their tops and bottoms. (Here the smell of toasting cornmeal is okay.)
  11. When the muffins are toasted—tops and bottoms mottled with brown, but mainly golden—transfer them to a baking sheet, and put them in the oven for 10 minutes—transfer them to a baking sheet, and put them in the oven for 10 minutes to finish baking. Remove from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet until they reach room temperature.
  12. Use the tines of a fork to puncture an equator of tiny holes around the middle of each muffin, and then pry them apart into two halves. The muffins are ready to be seared (with a light spread of butter) and spread with pickled strawberry jam!

Tags:

  • Bread
  • Muffin
  • American
  • British
  • Buttermilk
  • Cornmeal
  • Cast Iron
  • Breakfast
  • Brunch

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Cassie Swan

  • chowter

  • Valerie Gutchen Arnade

  • Ellenw

  • Smaug

Recipe by: Christina Tosi

I'm a homey cook meets a formally trained pastry chef. I love to smile, I love to work hard, I love to eat! I opened Milk Bar nearly 5 years ago and have never looked back...

Popular on Food52

47 Reviews

Linda Y. January 24, 2024

Before I try this recipe, I would like for it to be shown in decimal (grams) form - especially the yeast! Most baking is exacting and you can only duplicate results by scaling the ingredients. I’m sure Ms. Tosi as well as the editors know this. Not all cups of flour weigh the same- so please quote both cups, tsp etc and grams (scale).

Smaug January 24, 2024

There are any number of conversion tables available if you don't want to use volume or standard weights, but little to be gained- most of the ingredients are as easily measured by volume; people seem to have trouble with flour, though there's really no trick to measuring it accurately, and at any rate the recipe includes "more as needed"- add until you reach the desired consistency, as bread makers have always done. Yeast in particular is a highly variable ingredient, so the same weight
isn't necessarily going to have the same effect; once again, bread makers have always judged rise by observing the dough, not the volume of yeast. Exactly duplicating results is generally not possible; your ingredients are different, your equipment is different, the temperature and humidity of your kitchen are different,
and cooking on a griddle doesn't lend itself to exactitude (an electric griddle is much the best for muffins- I use 310 deg. for 10 min. per side, though I wouldn't swear to the accuracy of my griddle)- it's best to move them around a bit while they cook; cast iton especially is prone to hot spots. Sixty grams dough is a bit light for standard (3 1/2 inch) muffins; I use 75 to 80. And, as always, you really need rings to make proper muffins- they're not expensive.
The author clearly wrote the recipe the way she makes it, which is entirely proper.

Jul January 24, 2024

Totally agree. Sorry I commented mistakenly to Smaug. When I bake I always weigh out flour. Sometimes for kicks, I measure by volume and then by grams and it's crazy how far off the volume is compared to the grams. Much more exact to weigh out by grams.

Pat44113 November 12, 2022

First time making English Muffins. I chose this recipe because it used lots of buttermilk and I had a lot of buttermilk to use up. I don't have a stand mixer so I used a hand-mixer with two dough hook extensions. It was a bit of a workout because the tough was quite stiff. I was unclear as to whether to finish the last eight minutes kneading by hand or by using the mixer. I chose the latter.

I got a good rise on the dough and was able to shape my log pretty well. I had trouble slicing off even amounts of dough, especially at the beginning, so some of my muffins turned out to be larger or smaller than the average, Next time, I'll figure out how thick each slice should be based on the length of the log divided by 24.

It seemed to take a while to brown them so I ended up cranking up the heat a little more. Oddly, despite using a heavy cast iron pan, some browned faster than others.

I convection baked at 250°F for 10 minutes. They came out still a bit doughy in the center so I doubled the time to 20 minutes, I often find I have to add time with my new oven so I tested with a toothpick.

The muffins came out great but it took most of the afternoon to get done. Four batches at 20 minutes baking and ten minutes toasting adds up. Since there are only the two of us, I might try halving the recipe next time. Would that work?

Smaug January 24, 2024

This review may be of a different recipe- this dough is around 90% hydration (buttermilk doesn't count as 100% liquid) and should be very damp, almost a batter- no way it could be formed into a log and sliced, or hand kneaded. A skillet is, as you've noticed, a pretty inefficient way to griddle muffins; an electric griddle is far the best, but a 2 burner cast iron griddle can work; cast iron does have hot spots, though, so they should be moved around some. I make muffins in batches of 7, 6 on the electric griddle and one on cast iron (for the practice, mostly); the cast iron is a lot trickier and almost inevitably comes out darker.

Benjamin October 9, 2022

I LOVE THESE AND HOW CONSISTANT THE MUFFINS TASTE AND ARE MADE. THE FLAVOR IS AMAZING, AS IS THE TEXTURE. PACKED WITH NOOKS AND CRANNIES. I MAKE THEM ALL DIFFERENT SIZES AND THEY ARE JUST DEVOURED BY MY GRANDCHILDREN

teresemilligan November 2, 2021

how long in the oven? You say to transfer to a pan and bake for 10 minutes but you say this twice.

Smaug November 2, 2021

The doubling seems to be a misprint, but the timing isn't awfully critical; in summer I usually just leave them out on the cooling racks for a few hours; it's just to dry them out a little.

chilesincarne March 6, 2021

A total shame that in 2021 you still publish recipes as when the USA was an island in the planet - 2001 or 1921....
In baking and in a global world, weight is really useful if you really want to share a recipe

Smaug March 6, 2021

And knowing how to bake by volume measurements is very important if you want to be able to use recipes.

Cassie S. January 11, 2021

Wondering what the actual measurement for yeast is supposed to be? The amount in two packets is less than the listed measurement in the ingredients. Can you clarify if it’s 2 1/3 tbsp OR two packets and fix the description?

Mary E. January 13, 2023

2 1/3 Tbs was a lot of yeast! I ended up with a paste when i added the water. Also I tried the raw dough right before I began the baking process and oddly enough ever since then my tongue feels like its been burned.

chowter January 10, 2021

These were fun to make! And so much tastier than grocery store English muffins!! Thank you for the detailed instructions, I found the remark on the slow griddle baking time especially helpful. Everyone's cast iron pieces and stoves have their idiosyncrasies- I wound up flipping them twice, for a total of about 8 minutes per side. They were well toasted after that. I baked them in the oven for 15 minutes at 250. I reduced the salt to 1 tablespoon and found that to be sufficient for my tastes. Thank you for the recipe, I will be making these again!!

Amy April 26, 2020

I'm in the process (step 4) and my dough hasn't become a ball at all. It's crawled up the dough hook a bit, but is sticking to the edges at the bottom. I'm tempted to add more flour, but wonder if that will make them tough. Weight measurements for the flour would be helpful in this recipe.

Smaug April 26, 2020

It won't clean the bowl or make a ball the way a bread dough would; It should be somewhere in the middle ground between a dough and a batter- not quite pourable but very wet and sticky- it's kind of weird stuff to work with. These proportions are pretty average; you could use 150g./c. for flour if you're more comfortable with that.

Valerie G. April 14, 2020

Instructions for hand mixing would be great, and/or with a food processor, for those of us who don't have stand mixers.

Smaug April 14, 2020

No reason you can't mix it by hand with a spoon or silicone scraper. You might want to melt the butter. It will be a little damp for hand kneading; you could try working it with the spoon, or treat it as no-knead by giving it a longer-4+ hours initial rise time. Or look up the Stella Parks recipe ("Old Fashioned English Muffins" best I remember, on seriouseats.com; I don't agree with everything on that recipe, but I can vouch for it as simple and producing good results.

J April 24, 2020

I had just finished reading another F52 recipe & had this same thought. Not EVERYone owns a stand mixer.

Ellenw April 7, 2020

Making these for the second time. They are delicious. A question for bakers out there however: 2 packets of yeast is 1.5 Tbsp. Should recipe say 1 1/3 tbsp? I have been guesstimating a little less than two packets.

Smaug April 7, 2020

I wouldn't really worry about it, yeast measurements are always something of a guess anyway. Dried yeast always is partially dead- when it is manufactured the live yeast is coated with dead yeast, and more will slowly die off, depending on time, storage conditions etc. The actual action of the yeast is highly dependent on a plethora of environmental conditions, with temperature leading the way- you really just need to recognize when your dough or batter is ready, with any bread or yeasted dough; recipes can't be more than a general guideline.

Shine April 2, 2020

Since I’m home following physical distancing during this COVID-19 pandemic, this was a great time to try to the recipe. I followed it exactly, except for mixing by hand because my kitchenaid mixer bowl has a become a collecting bowl and I couldn’t be bothered emptying and cleaning it. Lots of time to babysit the low heat/cast iron pan method. I was going to refrigerate some of the dough for next day but I was on a roll and as I say, I had lots of time and patience. These turned out wonderfully, if a bit misshapen. Maybe next time I’ll pat the dough out gently and use a biscuit cutter for uniformity. Nevertheless, they were tasty and awesome with butter and jam, made my hubby very happy! Oh, and I used reconstituted buttermilk powder and the same measurement of instant yeast

Shine April 2, 2020

Since I’m home following physical distancing during this COVID-19 pandemic, this was a great time to try to the recipe. I followed it exactly, except for mixing by hand because my kitchenaid mixer bowl has a become a collecting bowl and I couldn’t be bothered emptying and cleaning it. Lots of time to babysit the low heat/cast iron pan method. I was going to refrigerate some of the dough for next day but I was on a roll and as I say, I had lots of time and patience. These turned out wonderfully, if a bit misshapen. Maybe next time I’ll pat the dough out gently and use a biscuit cutter for uniformity. Nevertheless, they were tasty and awesome with butter and jam, made my hubby very happy!

Smaug April 26, 2019

For muffin fans out there, I recently came across a recipe by Stella Parks on Serious Eats that is definitely worth trying- I had some quibbles with the percentage of milk in the liquid, and she does them freeform (they really come out much better in muffin rings),, but much the best recipe I've come across on the internet.

ArielJoy June 5, 2018

Thank you so much for explaining the eccentricities of the recipe so thoroughly. Especially your description of the "dough reaching up the dough hook" (#4). I would have been sure I had done something wrong and added waaay to much flour in order to "fix" it.
Question: You suggest using a cast iron skillet or a griddle. I have neither. Is there another type of pan you would suggest?
Thank you.

Smaug November 2, 2021

I would suggest using the paddle rather than the dough hook (if you have that type of mixer, which is far from necessary). If it doesn't gather together and pull off the bowl after about 2 min. on high, add flour- it takes very little, add about 1-2 tsp. at a time). Haven't tested that with this recipe, but with some others with similar ratios. Cooking muffins on the stove is tricky; it can probably be done in any heavy skillet, but it would take some practice to get it right. A skillet is an awfully slow way to do it- electric griddle is much the easiest, but a two burner cast iron griddle will serve well with practice.

elyze January 12, 2018

this recipe is perfect and amazing :o !

Lydia September 24, 2017

Easy to make but too, too salty!!!! I would half the amount of salt.

Änneken August 9, 2016

These are heavenly! However, if you don't happen to have three large cast-iron pans at home it will be incredibly time-intensive. After they were done proofing it took me 2.5 hours to finish them - most of which included babysitting them while they were cooking in the pan. As previous commentators have pointed out: Regulating heat of a cast-iron does not happen fast. I lost patience after I had cooked the first batch and increased the heat after I had flipped them for the first time.

Also, I kneaded the dough by hand for as long as the instructions said to do so in the food processor. Worked out fine!

Helen S. June 12, 2016

If you go to http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/english-muffins-recipe you will find almost the exact recipe. She just changed a few things, usually increasing them to make it hers. Sure wish people would credit the original source. The instructions are easy and if you search English Muffins there is a wide variety on this site.

Smaug April 28, 2020

Do they use buttermilk? Never heard of that in English muffins.

Smaug January 11, 2021

OK, looked it up- I don't see that much resemblance between the recipes- they are, after all, making essentially the same thing. The proportions and cooking instructions are both different; the big difference is that King Arthur uses regular milk, but the flour/liquid ratio is different and KA uses instant yeast. Both cook them without rings, which I consider a mistake.

btglenn June 10, 2016

The overly complex instructions makes it seem like this is hard to do. And, 1 1/2 cups of butter is far more than the traditional English Muffin uses, according to Elizabeth David, in her English Bread and Yeast Cookery, a compendium of recipes and their history, along with comments on flour and other ingredients used in many diverse versions of breads and muffins. While Tosi is exceedingly detailed in her instructions, they are all based on use of an electric mixer -- no separate instructions for those of us who depend on our hands for bread bakery. Bernard Clayton's books on bread baking also include recipes for English muffins, using far less butter. He gives instructions for both manual and electric mixer versions.
This may be a delicious version of the muffin, but far more complicated than it needs to be.

Smaug April 26, 2019

It's only 5 Tb. (2 1/2 oz.)butter.

Smaug August 7, 2015

I may try this, though not crazy about the idea of buttermilk. I make muffins from a batter- type recipe- I've learned over time to get them to come out on a cast iron griddle, but an electric griddle is much easier to control and heats more evenly, and they're frequently available very cheap- I paid $20 for a pretty good one.

Devon G. August 9, 2015

I would agree with this! The cast iron pan holds heat for a long time and makes it difficult to go from the super-low heat required of the first step to the higher heat required for toasting.

Smaug April 26, 2019

These cooking instructions are kind of weird- I cook them at 350 on the elec. griddle (and try for that on cast iron) without changing the temperature, but I give them some rise time on the griddle (and in their rings- really works much better in rings) before turning on the heat. They will then be fully cooked (about 8 min. per side), but I do like to give them 20 min. or so in a 250 oven to dry them out some- I haven't tried this recipe, but with a batter they will come out pretty wet in the middle.

Smaug January 10, 2021

I've since gone to a sourdough recipe, which seems to cook better at 300 on the electric griddle for 10min./side (though I can't swear to the accuracy of the temperature) or a lowish flame under cast iron- the flame may take some adjusting- hard to duplicate that exactly- but the electric griddle never does. I dry them (they're already cooked)by simply leaving them out in warm weather; in winter I use a 200 deg. oven for 20 min. I use 75g. batter/ring; they will generally rise out of the ring and end up about 1 1/4" high; in that case- or if you're making them freeform (not recommended) turning them early can result in a flatter muffin.

Buttermilk English Muffins Recipe on Food52 (2024)

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