Do you know what these delightful dough pillows are supposed to be? They are an early morning attempt at making my very own english muffins. I felt inspired after seeing Foodbeam’s beautiful muffins, but I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand to make her recipe. So, I found a random recipe from the web and I ended up with not so surprising random results.
I’m going to chalk this one up to a bad recipe. The reviews of it were spotty but I decided to give it a go anyway (arrogant to think that I wouldn’t have any problems using the recipe). The dough is easy enough to make, and I followed instructions carefully regarding the temperature of water and milk, assuming that previous bakers had somehow overlooked these delicate matters.
I did make them a wee bit smaller than normal sized muffins, but I used a glass as a cutter and that’s the size it happened to be. While they fried in the pan, I had high hopes but became increasingly concerned that they seemed to retain their pillowy shape and didn’t take on the expected flattish signature look of an english muffin.
As I put on the second batch to cook, I picked up a fork and cracked into one as though looking for a pearl in an oyster. My once happy face put on an immediate frown when I couldn’t find a single nook, not even a cranny!
The muffin center was a soft but bread-like consistency. I slapped on some butter and found it still tasty, but not the english muffin I had hoped to create. I have learned my lesson about being anxious to make something without first having the right ingredients to make the right recipe. As punishment I will eat my cranny-less muffins and reflect on my impatience.
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This is a tough one! Kudos to you for giving it a go. My mother used to make homemade bagels and english muffins and it is so much work. I think I’ll just stick with the Thomas brand and call it a day. If it’s any consolation, your muffins looked very pretty — even without the nooks and crannies.
English muffins are a bit of a bear to make; I haven’t tried it in awhile. It’s disappointing, though, to try something and get a less than stellar result. I’m sure your next result will be all that you hope for!
erin: I might give it one more shot, but I agree that Thomas brand is probably the best way to go :-)
michelle: thanks for the words of support! They’re tricky little guys — I’ll try again once we eat through all of these rejects.
Hi Allen, do you mean that there are no large air pockets? Was the taste acceptable at least? (They actually look good from where I am.. :) I wish I knew more details about what was wrong with the recipe :_
They look delicious, beautiful, and scrumptious! Sounds like a successful discovery via a surprising path, because they really do look incredible!
manggy: yep, no large air pockets — the inside was just like normal bread. They are chewy and not too bad, but don’t have the normal english muffin characteristics.
astra: thank you! they actually taste pretty good