English Muffins

So you may remember me calling my husband "Duke Frugal," in love of course, because of our continued attempts to save money. Of course I don't like to throw money out the window by any means, but sometimes it feels like it goes out that way...anyway since I started making my own bread instead of buying store bought, we have obviously saved a lot of money. I always used to go to the bread store, which (I was surprised that some people at work didn't know this so I shall explain briefly) is where they have day-old bread that didn't sell at grocery stores or just that they have an excess of. Besides bread, you can get bagels, english muffins, donuts, chips, milk, etc. So clearly you can buy many things there that are BAD for you. I love bagels, especially everything bagels. Also I love donuts. And Doritos. So not going to the bread store has not only saved me money, it has also saved me calories. But I have been missing english muffins and bagels lately. I was going to buy some last night at the store, but then I thought, why not just try making them? So I found this recipe at allrecipes.com...

English Muffins
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp if you don't have it in packets)
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1/4 cup melted shortening (I wonder if melted butter would work)
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt


Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast mixture, shortening and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt and rest of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise.
Punch down. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or empty tuna can. Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on this to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 1/2 hour.
Heat greased griddle. Cook muffins on griddle about 10 minutes on each side on medium heat. Keep baked muffins in a warm oven until all have been cooked. Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage. To use, split and toast. Great with orange butter, or cream cheese and jam.

Now, when I have purchased english muffins in the past, I have definitely preferred the "fork split" version. Because then you don't end up with 7/8 of the muffin on one side and 1/8 on the other. Obviously I do not have a fork-split machine. I know you can buy an english muffin splitter (would Duke Frugal think that overrode the point of making them at home? Hmmmm). Anyway, 10 minutes was too long, at least on my griddle on my stove. Half of mine ended up burnt, which means Steve won't eat them, but Sam and I still will. They also don't have the "nooks and crannies" that Thomas english muffins pride themselves on having...these remind me more of these things we had as kids, Friehofer's puts them out, called "Australian toaster biscuits." I am eating one right now, just after it's been cooked, and it is good, just not a typical english muffin. I am not sold on these yet, but I think I will make them again just to try them a couple of times before I make my final decision. They might taste differently, too, toasted.