English Muffins

I know it seems like I have fallen off the planet, but I'm here.  I promise.  It's just been an exceptionally busy couple of weeks.  I had the best intentions.  After all, English Muffins and Marmalade go together perfectly.  And then, one day turned into two twelve, and well, here we are.  But we don't have to worry too much.  After all, if you preserved your marmalade, then it is still perfectly good and you can enjoy it on a freshly toasted muffin.

Now I'm sure you're an English Muffin eater.  Of course you are.  After all, who could possible resist all of those delightful nooks and crannies?  But i'm guessing it has probably never occurred to you to make them.  If it has, well then you should probably stop reading this and go finish making your homemade cheeses or olive oil or whatever.  Otherwise, please follow me.  We have some English Muffins to make.

For me, this all started quite innocently.  In fact, I was simply checking out at the local Whole Foods and just happened to stumble across the Holiday Edition of Cook's Illustrated.  I have to admit: I have a very soft spot for these magazines.  I love the recipes, and I love the discussions about why they made changes.  On flipping through, I found it.  A recipe for English Muffins.  And I was thrilled.  And, oops, that magazine just wanted to come home with me so badly.  How can I possibly blame it for jumping into my basket?

As most of you know, I enjoy have an obsessive need to tweak recipes.  One idea tends to trigger another, and it becomes one big jumbled mess of flavors in my head.  In this recipe, though, I really didn't feel the need to tweak much of anything.  It is wonderful as is, and results in delightfully nooks-and-cranny filled muffins.

The only truly weird part about this recipe will be the fact that you cook the raw dough before baking it. Did any of you ever wonder how they get those muffins to be flat and perfectly browned on the outside?  Well, you are about to find out.  I do apologize though.  Because if you decide to try these, I would bet that you will have been ruined for store-bought English Muffins forever.

English Muffins
Recipe courtesy of Cook's Illustrated Holiday Baking 2011

Makes 12 muffins

1 cup milk (while they call for whole milk, 2%/low-fat milk works just fine), room temperature
1/3 cup water, room temperature
3 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
3 Tablespoons honey
3 1/2 cups (19 1/4 ounces) bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
2 teaspoons salt
cornmeal
vegetable oil or spray

If using a stand mixer:
Whisk milk, water, butter, and honey together in a large liquid measuring cup.  Combine flour, yeast, and salt in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  With mixer on low speed, add liquid mixture and mix for 2 minutes.  Increase mixer speed to medium-low and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.  If after 4 minutes more flour is needed, add flour one teaspoon at a time, until dough clears sides of bowl but sticks to the bottom.  Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand to form a smooth ball.  Transfer dough to a well oiled bowl and cover, allowing to rise until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

If mixing by hand:
Whisk liquid ingredients together in a bowl.  In a large bowl, whisk dry ingredients together.  Stir liquid mixture into dry mixture with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until dough comes together in a shaggy ball.  Turn dough out onto a counter and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball, 15-25 minutes, adding more flour as needed to develop a smooth, supple dough.  Transfer to a well oiled bowl and cover, allowing to rise until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

To make muffins:
Sprinkle cornmeal over a large baking sheet.  Turn dough onto a clean counter, and, using hands, stretch into an even 12-inch log.  Divide into 12 even pieces and cover.  Shape each piece into a smooth, taught roll and place onto the prepared baking sheet, spaced about 1 1/2 inches apart.  Mist rolls with spray oil and cover loosely, allowing to rise until nearly doubled in size, 45 to 75 minutes.

Adjust an oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Gently press rolls flat, 3/4 inch thick with a metal spatula.  Dust muffin tops with cornmeal and cover.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat for two minutes.  Carefully lay four muffins in pan and cook until bottoms are darkly browned, 3-5 minutes, occasionally pressing gently on muffins to prevent doming.  Flip muffins, reduce heat to medium-low, and continue to cook 2-4 minutes, until both sides are browned.  Transfer muffins immediately to a baking sheet in the oven and bake 10 minutes.  Repeat with remaining muffins.  Let cool on wire rack.  Split muffins with a fork and toast before serving.

Four Fruit Marmalade

So today, I'm here to talk to you about canning.  If you ask most anyone the one thing they are scared to make, the answer is often something like "pie crust" or "pizza dough" or perhaps even "a souffle".  If someone were to ask me that question, my answer would have emphatically been "canning".  It's not that I don't like the idea of canning.  In fact, the thought of canning is right up there with making wild-yeasted breads and handmade soap.  It's something I have always wanted to do.  It's one of those awesome home projects that's just shy of setting up bee hives and producing your own honey.  In a word?  Wonderful.

But with canning, I have always been afraid of, well, killing people.  You know, all that improper preserving and bacteria stuff.  I always felt like the kid staring in the window of the secret club I wasn't a part of.  And then, my Mom bought a home canning kit and it was all over for me.  I had to at least try...didn't I?  Living in California where citrus trees abound, and never knowing what to do with all of that fruit, this seemed like the perfect excuse to open the kit.

So, several days and many of hours of research later, it seemed like canning wasn't that difficult.  And that marmalade, with its high acid content, was actually a pretty food to begin with.  This was the moment -- the one where the little kid faces the monsters in the closet, ladle in hand.    

I have never been very good at staying afraid when it comes to food.  If I get an idea to make something, it's very likely that I will do so within a few days or risk thinking about making it until I do.  So there I was with jars, canning pot, rack, and fruit.  All that was left was to begin.  

So two days and one too many British women canning marmalade on YouTube later, I was done.  And I must say, even though there were a few moments of doubt (mostly surrounding when I had reached the gelling point), it was a lot of fun.  I had officially been let into the secret club.  

There is something very freeing about being on the other side of that window.  I know I still have a lot to learn about preserving, especially when Summer comes around, but it's nice to know that I now have the tools to do it.  So...beekeeping anyone?

Four Fruit Marmalade
Adapted from Joy of Cooking
Makes 6 half-pint jars (Note: the original recipe claims to make 8 half-pint jars, however, I got only 6)

1 1/2 pounds grapefruit
1 pound sweet oranges
8 ounces limes
8 ounces Meyer lemons
5 1/2 cups of sugar
6 cups of water

Day 1:

Remove peel with 1/8 inch of pith and thinly slice.  If you are handy with a knife, you can slice the peel off the fruit, however, a vegetable peeler works very well.  Combine the sliced peel with two cups of water and simmer for 10 minutes until the peel is softened.

In the meantime, juice half of the fruit and add it to a large pot.  Set aside any seeds.  With the remaining fruit, cut off the pith, cut fruit in half, and remove the center and seeds.  Chop pulp into 1/4 inch pieces and add to the pot with juice.  Place seeds and pith on cheesecloth and tie together to form a bag.  Put the cheesecloth back, peels and water mixture, and four additional cups of in pot.  Cover and place in refrigerator for 24 hours.

Day 2:

Add sugar to fruit mixture and boil rapidly, stirring often, until it reaches the gelling point, about one hour (around 220 degrees F).  At the same time, Heat water in a 21-quart canning pot (or other large stock pot) and sterilize jars, screw bands, and lids.

When the marmalade is ready skim off any foam and remove the cheesecloth bag containing the seeds and the pith.  Fill sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.  For more detailed canning directions, click here.