Love the smell of homemade bread? This whole wheat english muffin recipe is a fabulous breakfast or lunch option, one that’s surprisingly easy to prepare. Homemade english muffins have much more flavor than anything you’ll buy at the store, as well as a satisfying, crunchy exterior.
I don’t typically use a lot of bread products. I’m not exactly a low carb gal, but bread has always been a slippery slope for me.
Regardless of whether it’s a fresh artisan loaf from the local bakery or pre-sliced potato bread from the grocery store, if there’s bread around, I find myself eating more of it than I should.
There are two exceptions to this: sprouted ezekiel bread and english muffins. For whatever reason, I don’t feel compelled to binge on either of these.
When I have some extra time, I especially love making english muffins from scratch.
I enjoy making both regular and whole wheat english muffins. The whole wheat version has an added earthiness that I find irresistible with egg sandwiches, for some reason.
There’s just more flavor happening. I don’t use all whole wheat here, and I don’t recommend it. The results are too dense and dry.
Using a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flour gives me exactly the results I’m seeking.
Cooking these english muffins in a skillet before baking them creates the traditional nook and cranny appearance we’re all used to, but their texture is slightly more dense than supermarket counterparts.
Feel free to play around with the ratio of whole wheat to all-purpose flour. At some point soon I plan to try creating a version of these that uses my sourdough starter instead of yeast. I think that will add even more flavor and lightness.
Baking With Yeast
This recipe uses active dry yeast. Yeast is an ingredient many novice bakers fear, and I’d like to change that! So what is yeast, and how does it work? Can you substitute one variety for another? Check out my article What is Yeast to learn more!
More Bread Recipes
If you’re looking for some other homemade bread ideas, you should check out my cheddar brioche buns and my buttery sourdough buns! I also love this Soft Whole Wheat Bread from Baking a Moment.
Whole Wheat English Muffins
Ingredients
- 10 1/4 ounces whole wheat flour (2 1/4 cups)
- 11 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour (2 1/4 cups)
- 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 3/4 cups whole milk
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 large egg, beaten
- semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting
Instructions
- Whisk together the flours, salt, sugar, baking soda and yeast.
- In a small saucepan, warm the milk and butter over medium heat until the butter has just melted. Let the milk cool for several minutes until it's lukewarm.
- In a stand mixer with the dough attachment, combine the milk and butter with the egg and dry ingredients and mix until the dough comes together. Allow it to mix on medium speed for an additional minute. This can also be accomplished without a stand mixer, by combining the ingredients in a bowl and then kneading the dough briefly.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out to approximately 3/4-inch thickness (they will puff up while cooking). Use a round cutter (approximately 3 3/4 inches) to cut the english muffins, re-rolling the dough as needed. Place the cut dough on a baking sheet dusted with semolina flour or cornmeal. Cover the baking sheet with a towel and allow the dough to rest for a minimum of 20 minutes, up to 90 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Use a nonstick skillet on low heat to cook the muffins for 4-5 minutes per side, until crispy and brown. Finish cooking the muffins in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Before serving, fork split and toast the english muffins. These will keep for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container at room temperature, or for several months in the freezer.
Video
Notes
Please read my full post for additional recipe notes, tips, and serving suggestions!
Nutrition
Recipe Troubleshooting
For immediate help troubleshooting a recipe, please email me using the form on my contact page. I’ll try to respond to urgent questions as quickly as possible! For all general questions, please leave a comment here :)
Kari@Loaves n Dishes says
Jen these look AMAZING! I love warm toasty English muffins!
Kari@Loaves n Dishes says
I haven’t had my coffee yet…I just noticed that I reiterated what Erika said! They still look amazing though!
Jackie {Domestic Fits} says
I’m the same way. I spend WAY too much on groceries and a lot of it goes bad. I’m trying to be more conscious of using up ingredients rather than getting a grand idea for a new recipe and running out to buy a bunch more food. It’s hard when you REALLY want to make something that you don’t have the ingredients for.
I LOVE english muffins, and as far as bread goes, less calories than you’d expect. Beautiful job.
Kirsten@FarmFreshFeasts says
Jen,
Your English muffins look gorgeous. Very nice photographs!
My spouse loves egg, cheese, and English muffin sandwiches for weekend breakfasts, so I keep my eye out for day old store brand English muffins marked down, and throw them in the freezer whenever I see them in order to have on hand. That was rambling, hope it made sense. However, the store brands don’t taste particularly good (since it’s more about what’s on them, not them). I’m glad to know that I could give this a try and have good tasting, wholesome, muffins for him when he returns.
I hate to throw away food, which is why I’m stumped with what to do with all this whey leftover from the mozzarella/ricotta making. I picked up marked down gallons of whole milk, got my organic mozzarella and ricotta out of it, but I’ve still got quarts of whey! Luckily the internet is an excellent source for ideas.
Thanks for yet another idea!
Jennifer Farley says
I’m hearing that leftover whey is becoming a huge problem for the greek yogurt industry.
Lindsay @ Life, Love and Sugar says
These look fantastic! I love the whole wheat and the pictures are beautiful!
Christina @ The Beautiful Balance says
These look absolutely incredible! So fluffy and delicious. I always try to make as many baked goods from scratch as well.
Amy @ What Jew Wanna Eat says
I’ve always wanted to make my own English muffins- I’ll have to try these for sure!
Marta @ What Should I eat for breakfast today says
It looks great, thank you for this article, I’ll read it and you should know that todey you are the one who inspired me to bake english muffins.
Laura @SuperGlueMom says
Marta, I think I will faint if you peek through my blog. You’ve made us breakfast addicts! we have an official breakfast night: Thursdays. Thank you for being my breakfast inspiration!
Jess says
Jen – I saw that striking photo on Foodgawker, and have been thinking about these all day! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Vijay @ NoshOnIt says
These look so much better than my english muffin experiment! FYI, I used almond milk in mine and I found that it turned out dense without nooks and crannies. Perhaps because it has less fat?
Jennifer Farley says
I will keep that in mind! I’m very curious to see what happens because I plan to make these regularly and I don’t want to buy the milk if I don’t have to. Hrm.
Laura @SuperGlueMom says
awwww Jen!!! I cannot believe I inspired you to do these!! they look amazing. even if they had come out like hockey pucks I would eat them they look so stinking good!! You’ve encouraged me to make them from scratch. they were in my bucket list! Yeah, I cannot believe i haven’t made them -yet-… but soon. and i will try your recipe and will give you a ratio report. :)
Jennifer Farley says
Yay! I can’t wait to hear what you think. I did find them more dense than grocery store brands but I assume that’s just from the whole wheat.
Laura @SuperGlueMom says
oh man… and IF you grind your own wheat… it’s even denser -because hard white wheat is most common (what i have) and i’m always wishing i had soft white wheat (what whole wheat cake flour is made from…). will try them soon!
Faith @ Pixie Dust Kitchen says
I’ve been searching for a recipe to make my own english muffins so I’m really glad you posted this recipe! I will definitely be giving these a trie soon. Pinning!
Jennifer Farley says
Let me know what you think!
Tracy | Peanutbutter and Onion says
You changed your site, love it. I can’t wait to make these.
Jennifer Farley says
Thanks, Tracy!
Deb says
I applaud your honesty in food budgeting! The impressive Whole Wheat English Muffins are a scrumptious way to beat high grocery costs! I also find food waste troubling. And being a “food blogger” doesn’t seem to help. I often throw away food from failed recipe testing or because I have made more food than we can eat. Although I often give away food, all this cooking leads to waste. I keep trying to be a better planner and think about what I am buying and if it will be used in a timely fashion.
Jennifer Farley says
Food waste is a huge problem with recipe development and testing. Luckily my husband is willing to eat my mistakes but we can’t possibly eat all of the desserts I make so a lot of food is given away.
Nicole@HeatOvenTo350 says
We’re on a tighter food budget than ever before because we needed to get a new car and started my daughter in day care in the same month. I’ve been doing the same thing with store brand stuff and putting back some of my precious favorite fruit. Luckily, it CAN be done, and if you can cook it is even easier. These English muffins are a great example. Thanks for being so honest about a food budget (I think a lot of people assume food bloggers are rich for some reason) and for sharing a great, healthy recipe.
Carla @ Carlas Confections says
Those look awesome! I have been really wanting to try and make some at home. This is really inspiring me too :)