Sourdough English Muffins (Light and Airy with All the Nooks and Crannies)

On my website, I have written more on the “why” behind the technique and ingredients used in this recipe, detailing the secrets behind achieving those beautiful nooks and crannies. Find my article and written recipe here: https://thesourdoughbaker.com/english... Ingredients: 500 g bread flour (4 cups) 300 g water (1 1/4 cup) 100 g active starter (1/2 cup) 50 g milk (1/4 cup) 30 g oil (2 1/2 tbsp) 10 g salt (1 1/2 tsp) Directions: 1) Mix all the ingredients together. Cover the dough with a lid, damp towel, or plastic cling wrap and let it rest for thirty minutes. 2) Thirty minutes after mixing, begin four sets of folds, spaced thirty minutes apart. I like to perform two sets of stretch-and-folds followed by two sets of coil folds, but you can do all stretch-and-folds or all coil folds if you prefer. -To stretch-and-fold the dough: Pull the dough up as far as it will go without tearing and then fold it completely over to the other side. Perform one fold in each cardinal direction before covering the dough and allowing it to rest once more. -To coil fold the dough: Pull the dough up from the middle, stretching up as far as it will go. Then, fold the dough under itself in each cardinal direction before covering the dough and allowing it to rest once more. 3) After folds are complete, allow the dough to rest until it has increased in volume by 50-75% and is showing nice bubbles on top. Refrigerate the dough 12-24 hours to set the classic “sour” English muffin flavor. Alternatively, shape right away. 4) Prepare one or two 9X13 baking sheets with a heavy dusting of cornmeal. Coarse cornmeal is preferred, but any kind of cornmeal will work. I like to use two baking sheets to spread the English muffins out more (this prevents them from sticking to one another and makes it easier to transfer to the griddle for frying), but only one is necessary. 5) Divide the dough into twelve equal sections, about 80 g each. Shape each section into a round (3:18). To do this, pull the dough toward you, using your pinkies to tuck the dough under itself and tighten the surface. Repeat until a nice, tight round is formed. 6) Lather the top and bottom sections of each round in cornmeal from the baking sheet. Allow the muffins to rest, covered, 4-8 hours, until they are noticeably larger and more relaxed than they were when they were first shaped. I let them rest for a total of 7 hours at 70 F. (Note - If you did not use the refrigerator, you do not have to let the muffins proof quite as long due to the dough already being warm.) 7) Preheat an oven to 350 F with a baking stone inside. If you do not have a baking stone, it is fine to use a baking sheet (but don’t preheat it!). In addition, go ahead and preheat a cast iron skillet or a griddle to a medium-high heat. 8) Once the griddle/skillet and oven are preheated, spray the griddle/skillet with a high-heat oil (like avocado oil). Cook the muffins 2-3 minutes per side (until nicely browned). If they are not nicely brown in 2-3 minutes when you flip, your griddle is not hot enough. If they are burnt in 2-3 minutes, your griddle is too hot. I cooked mine for 2 minutes per side on my gas griddle set to heat 7. 9) Immediately transfer the muffins to the hot, 350 F oven for 15 minutes to continue cooking. I like to keep heat on the muffins at all times until they are completely finished, so I use multiple timers (my phone allows me to do this) and work in batches. The internal temperature should be 190 F when they are done baking. 10) Cool for 15-20 minutes before diving in! 11) Enjoy! Cooking Modification: If you prefer to fry your English muffins the whole time, rather than splitting the cooking process between the stovetop and the oven, you may do so, but I cannot guarantee the same nooks and crannies as the cooking method above. To fry the English muffins completely, lower the heat to medium-low and cook the muffins 6-8 minutes per side, until the internal temperature reaches 190 F. If they are well-coated in cornmeal and your heat is low enough, they should not burn. However, due to the lower heat, they will not have the same reaction with the hot griddle that gets those nooks and crannies going.