Sourdough English Muffins

Immer wieder Sonntag is the host for Zorra's Bread Baking Day 75. She likes us to bake our favourite weekend bread for the 75^th Bread Baking Day.

Every Tuesday we visit our friend Gerard who lives in a small Karen village 25 km from our house. First we visit the local market and then we all have breakfast. Many local hill tribes come to this Tuesday market; like Longneck Karen, different kind of Lahu, Lisu, Thai and us foreigners. They come to sell their home grown vegetables and fruits. 

At our breakfast we eat a lot of local food (fruit, noodles, sweets, soy products) and most of the time I bring some freshly baked bread. This morning I brought English Muffins. I'd seen them at Susan's blog Wild Yeast a long time ago and this was the perfect moment to make them. 

I fermented the dough in the refrigerator during the night and the next morning I shaped the muffins and let them proof in the car. It was the first time I proofed bread in our car! I baked the muffins at our friend's house and we ate them warm. 

Our friend had made a delicious jam with mango, apples, banana and wild honey.

This was our favourite weekend bread. It's delicious: soft crumb with a nice crust, the taste and smell are really nice. It's fun to make!

Yield: 8 – 10 muffins

This is what I used:

Sponge Ingredients:
160 g flour
100 g spelt flour
276 g milk 
110 g ripe 100% hydration sourdough starter


I mixed all the sponge ingredients until just combined, covered it and let it rest for 8 hours or overnight. I placed the bowl in the refrigerator for the night.


75 g flour
3/4 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1.5 t. honey
all of the sponge

I added the final dough ingredients and mixed to roughly combine. I turned the dough out onto the counter and hand mixed for about 7 or 8 minutes. If the surface becomes quite smooth it's ready. The dough will be very soft and sticky at first. Resist the urge to add more flour; it will become less sticky with mixing. 

I placed the covered bowl with dough in the refrigerator for the night to ferment. 

The next morning: 

I floured the counter and my hands well. I divided the dough into 8 portions. I shaped each portion into a disk of about 8 cm wide and 1 cm thick and placed them on semolina-dusted parchment paper. I covered it and proofed it for 45 – 60 minutes. It depends on the temperature in your kitchen.

I baked them at a friend's house and used butter instead of oil. This gives them more colour than using only oil.  I used a pan instead of a griddle. I cooked them over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes on each side. The "pan spring" worked perfectly, the muffins rose from pancake like disks to thick fluffy muffins. 

When the muffins were browned and the sides were firm I took them out. I flipped the muffins them every couple of minutes for the first few minutes.

I let them cool on a wire rack. I opened them with a fork for best nooks and crannies.

I send these to Immer wieder Sonntag for BBD75 and to Susan’s YeastSpotting