These easy sourdough English muffins cook up light and fluffy, with a delicious sourdough flavor!
Mix everything the night before and wake up to a beautiful dough that's ready to be cut out and cooked to "nook and cranny" perfection!
Do you know what I love about this sourdough English muffin recipe? Everything!
The taste. The texture. The ease!
Enjoy them slathered with homemade butter and a little cinnamon sugar for a quick breakfast or an afternoon snack.
They are very filling when turned into little breakfast sandwiches with eggs, ham, and cheese.
We even serve them as a side at dinner instead of rolls.
Cook a batch to eat right away or freeze it for later!
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Step-by-step instructions
These sourdough English muffins are simple to make, so let's dive straight into the details!
1. Feed your sourdough starter 12 hours prior to mixing dough so that it's active and bubbly.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix all of the ingredients together with your hands until they are fully combined. Cover the bowl and let rest for 30-60 minutes.
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes with your hands. (This step can also be done in a stand mixer, using a dough hook, on low speed for 5 minutes.)
4. Place the dough back into the bowl, cover, and let rise at room temperature for 8-12 hours at 65-70 degrees. (It will double in size.)
5. Turn the dough onto a floured surface, flour the top of it, and press it out to a 1" thickness, using your fingertips.
6. Cut out 3" rounds and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet that's been sprinkled with cornmeal.
7. Sprinkle the tops with cornmeal. Cover with a tea towel and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
8. Preheat a non-stick skillet over LOW heat. Place 4 muffins into the skillet, making sure there is 2" of space in between each one. Cover and cook for 4 minutes per side. (No need to add oil to the pan before cooking.)
9. Place the muffins back onto the parchment paper to cool before slicing them in half.
Tips for success
The sourdough English muffins should be cooked over a very low heat, and covered, for best results. This will allow the inside to cook evenly while the outside does not burn.
A good quality all-purpose flour works best in this recipe. I always test my recipes with King Arthur brand for consistent results.
Don't have a kitchen scale to measure flour?
Use the scoop and level technique to measure your flour if you do not have a kitchen scale. To do this, use a spoon to fluff up the flour in the bag. Use a spoon to scoop the flour into a measuring cup until it is heaped on top. Take a butterknife and level off the top. This should give you the most accurate measurement for flour.
Because flour is measured by weight in these recipes, if the flour is scooped straight out of the bag with the measuring cup, there will be more flour than is called for in the recipe.
If you do not want to knead the dough by hand, use a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. Mix at the lowest speed for 5 minutes.
If you live in a very warm or humid environment, you may need to adjust the recipe. I recommend reducing the milk by 30g and using granulated sugar instead of honey to help the dough from being too sticky to work with. Add more liquid if the dough is too stiff.
How to store and freeze
- These sourdough English muffins can be frozen after they have been cooked for up to 3 months.
- Store them in a container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Make sure you try these sourdough English muffins toasted with a slab of honey butter melted on top!
Other recipes you may like:
- sourdough berry sweet rolls
- sourdough coffee cake
- sourdough biscuits
- sourdough bagels
- sourdough cinnamon rolls
Did you make this recipe? I'd love to know how it turned out!
Leave us a message in the comment section below. And don't forget to rate the recipe!
Sourdough English Muffins Recipe
EQUIPMENT
- Mixing Bowl
- Stand Mixer (optional)
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Tea towel
- Non-stick skillet with cover
INGREDIENTS
Ingredients to make ½ cup (100 g) of Active Sourdough Starter
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) sourdough starter
- â…“ cup + 1 tablespoon (50 g) all-purpose flour
- 3 ½ tablespoons (50) water
Dough Ingredients
- ½ cup (100 g) active sourdough starter
- 1 tablespoon (20 g) honey (sugar or maple syrup)
- 1 cup (240 g) milk
- 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) fine sea salt
- ¼ cup (40 g) cornmeal (for sprinkling)
INSTRUCTIONS
Feed Your Sourdough Starter
- 12 hours before you plan to mix the dough, add the ingredients to make ½ cup (100 g) of active sourdough starter to a clean jar. Stir until combined, loosely cover the jar and let the starter rise at room temperature. (The ingredients will create a total of 115 g active starter but, because some of it will stick to the sides of the jar during the transfer, we are making a little more than needed.) The sourdough starter is ready to use when it has doubled in size and there are plenty of bubbles on the surface and sides of the jar.
Make the Dough
- Add 100g of the active starter and the rest of the ingredients (except corn meal) to a large bowl and use your hands to mix until well combined. Cover and let rest 30-60 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough by hand for 5 minutes. (A stand mixer with a dough hook attachment can be used on the lowest speed.)
- Place the dough back into the bowl, cover and let ferment on the counter at room temperature 8-12 hours. (Room temperature is 65-70°F)
Cut and Cook
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, flour the top of the dough and press it out using your fingertips until it is 1" in thickness.
- Use a 3" biscuit cutter to cut rounds and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet that's been sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle the tops with cornmeal, cover with a tea towel and allow to rise for 1 hour at room temperature.
- Preheat your non-stick skillet over LOW heat. Place 4 muffins into the skillet spaced 2" apart, cover and cook the first side for 4 minutes. Turn the muffins over and cook for an additional 4 minutes. (When done, the center of a muffin should register about 200°F on an instant-read thermometer.)
NOTES
- Use the scoop and level technique to measure your flour if you do not have a kitchen scale. To do this, use a spoon to fluff up the flour in the bag. Use a spoon to scoop the flour into a measuring cup until it is heaped on top. Take a butterknife and level off the top. This should give you the most accurate measurement for flour.
- If you live in a very warm or humid environment, you may need to make adjustments in the recipe. I recommend reducing the milk by 30g and using granulated sugar instead of honey to help the dough from being too sticky to work with. Add more liquid if the dough is too stiff.
- Store at room temperature for up to 5 days in a container or freeze for up to 3 months.
Georgina says
I’ve made this recipe twice now. The flavor of excellent. It is notably sour, which is what I was going for. It’s a beautiful contrast with some honey and butter slathered on top. Where I’ve been running into trouble is on the cook temperature and time. Low heat on my stove just doesn’t cut it. I need to be on the low side of medium on my gas stove.
Mayer says
Gorgeous English muffins. Really easy recipe too! I didn’t have a skillet or non-stick pan with a lid so I decided to adapt with a non-stick grill pan and a makeshift lid of sorts. Worked beautifully! Good recommendation to use really low heat while cooking these off. I took 10min per side to achieve the desired golden brown colour.
Thank you for the recipe, Amy! Will definitely make more!
Chay says
Another winner! Thanks Amy. Have made these quite a few times now. My most recent batch, I accidentally added 50% more starter than needed. Decided to just go with it, rather than try and calculate adjustments to all the other ingredients. The muffins cooked up just perfectly! Admittedly, a little more sour, but that's fine with me. These muffins are ridiculously good toasted and filled with crispy bacon, a fried egg, a slice of swiss cheese and rocket (arugula) from our garden.
Sheri says
These are my new favorite English Muffins. I took them on a family camping trip and made breakfast sandwiches. It was voted best camping breakfast recipe ever.
Thank you for a great recipe.
Tori says
Still a newbie to sourdough, I made this recipe yesterday/last night, and it was so easy! Everything came together well, and the inside was light and airy, and the outside achieved a perfect, light crisp in the toaster.
One thing I learned while cooking was on my second round in the pan… I had turned the heat up a little higher (it was late and I was getting sleepy! Lol) but it created more of a puffy muffin than the first and third batches. Next time I will try to be more patient and keep the temp on the lower side. 🙂
I also hate throwing anything away so I tried rolling my scraps from cuttings into small balls to make little donut holes. I put them in the fridge overnight and threw them in the (same) pan this morning with some oil and fried them up! They came out a little crispier than true donuts, but I rolled them in cinnamon sugar and they were delish. *chefs kiss*
Great recipe and easy to make for a newbie like me!
Jill Leahy says
My friends line up for these when I make them. We have been using this recipe for about 1.5 years and the muffins come out amazing. We will never go back to boring store bought English muffins. These are so full of flavor.
Heena says
I've made these a few times now and come out perfect every time.
Thank you so much for sharing Amy!
I like to make a few dinky ones to eat like doughballs hot out the pan with garlic butter! Yum!!
Marian says
Thank you for this recipe. It is truly the best tasting sourdough english muffin recipe that I've tried. I love that it has more of the active starter, it really makes the flavor of the sourdough come out. I will definetly be making these quite often.
Patricia says
Delish! Thanks so much! My family goes through a lot of English muffins and these are by far the best we’ve ever tasted! This will now be a staple in our kitchen and it allows me to use up all my starter instead of having a bunch of discard in the fridge. 😀
Doreen Gallant says
They come out perfect every time I make them, the only thing different I use is unbleached flour.
Angel Phillips Permaloff says
I followed this recipe to a "T", but my muffins don't have the nooks/crannies I was hoping for. Good flavor, but bit more biscuit-like. What can I do differently? Just ferment longer??