March 08, 2009

Alton Brown's English Muffins

I would have never thought for one second about making English muffins until Alton Brown did, then I had to make some too. My desire to make the muffins started back when I first saw the "Muffin Method Man" episode. But I hesitated in making them right off. I had to find tuna cans to use for the pastry rings. After all, AB said not to buy pastry rings instead use tuna cans. Well all of the tuna cans I found had solid bottoms and could not be opened at the other end. Bummer.


Fast forward a few years... finally I broke down and went against Alton's suggestion, purchasing pastry rings from King Arthur Flour's catalog. I figured if the muffins were good it would be a great investment.

Pretty good thinking on my part. While they are a little on the short side, the rings work great for this recipe. I figure tuna cans would work too, if you find ones that can have their bottoms easily removed without severing a finger.

After making the English muffins I was shocked. Shocked that they actually tasted like something. They were soft, tender and just wonderful. The English muffins I've purchased from the mega-mart were dry, tough and tasteless. These were completely different! I had a few hot from the griddle with just butter. Ones a little cooler with blackberry jam.

Wow!

I did turn some into mini pizzas. As much as I like AB's pizza dough, these may beat it out by a smidgen. I wonder if AB would approve of making them into little tasty pizzas?

Oh well, if he doesn't. I do! These are by far the best application for them in my book. ;)

AB's English Muffins

5 comments:

EB said...

Wow! Those pizza's look amazing! Great idea!

Can't wait to try them out!

MysteryWriter said...

I've even made these and they're delicious!! I highly recommend them.

THE Holly said...

Lisa, do you have the electric griddle? Is that a worthwhile purchase?

Pluff Mudder said...

Oooo... those mini pizzas look good. And YES! Alton would approve.

I don't have the electric griddle by itself, but I do have Cuisinart's Griddler which works very well and since it's not only a open griddle, but a open grill, a contact grill and a panini press... it's a multi-tasker!

I have a very small kitchen and have to make wise use of my space, so I can't load up on too many kitchen toys that only preform one function.

Mise En Place said...

I do not have an electric griddle. I use my cast iron griddle. It fits on two burners and works great!

I have a small kitchen too, and no room for something like an electric griddle. The cast iron griddle hangs on the wall when not in use! :)