If you love English Muffins, you’re going to go crazy for this easy-to-make, easy to slice and serve English Muffin Bread.
Like an English muffin, this English muffin bread has crunchy cornmeal on the outside and a soft inside with lots of nooks and crannies on the inside to soak up butter and your favorite jam.
Today’s recipe is from a fun new cookbook, Ready, Set, Dough!: Beginner Breads for All Occasions, written by my friend and fellow blogger Rebecca Lindamood. Rebecca blogs at Foodie With Family.
The book is filled with easy to make recipes that won’t intimidate beginners, but will appeal to advanced bakers as well.
There’s a nice bread-baking 101 intro at the front of the book that will answer all the questions you may have about making these easy recipes.
This easy English muffin bread recipe jumped out at me not only because it looked and sounded delicious, but because Rebecca said her family eats massive amounts of this bread. And I can see why, it’s so easy to make.
How to Make Toasted English Muffin Bread
I used my digital scale to measure the flour because it’s so much easier than measuring cups of flour, but the recipe gives you both measurements so you can do it either way.
I used a dough whisk to quickly mix the dough. A sturdy spoon will work as well.
Getting the cornmeal on the outside of the bread is super easy too.
You just spray the loaf pans with non-stick spray and coat them with cornmeal before dividing the dough equally between two pans. The cornmeal will adhere to the dough while it’s rising.
Once the dough has risen so it’s just peaking over the top of the loaf pan, it’s time to bake them.
After the bread has baked for 30 minutes, you’ll brush butter on the top and bake it for another 10 minutes until it’s golden brown.
Then, you’ll remove the bread from the loaf pans and brush additional butter on the bottom and the sides of the bread.
Not only does the butter give the bread a delicious buttery taste, it helps the crust crisp up when you’re toasting the bread.
Freezing English Muffin Bread
The recipe makes two loaves, so you can eat one now and freezer the other loaf for later.
This bread freezes very well. (The cookbook has a good section on freezing breads.)
You can freeze the bread whole, but I sliced the bread before freezing it in a Ziploc bag so it was ready to toast and I could use a little at a time.
If you know you won’t be eating the bread right away, wrap it in plastic wrap and aluminum foil before freezing.
Toasting English Muffin Bread
I toasted a couple of slices for breakfast throughout the week in my toaster oven without thawing it.
You want to toast it a little longer than you would normal bread. You want the edges dark brown and crispy.
Rebecca suggests toasting it in a buttered cast iron pan for an even more crispy delicious treat.
If you want to make a double batch of this recipe, a larger version of the recipes is also on Foodie with Family.
This bread is great with just butter, but it’s a sweet treat when you load it up with your favorite jam. I even had a slice for dessert a couple of evenings.
More bread recipes you might like:
- Easy To Make Naan – If you’ve eaten at an Indian restaurant, you were probably served naan with your meal. It’s easy to make at home.
- One Hour Sandwich Bread, Foodie With Family – another easy bread recipe you’ll want to try.
Toasted English Muffin Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 ¾ cups 709 grams all-purpose or bread flour
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 ½ teaspoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast or about 1 ½ packages
- 2 ¾ cups warm water not hot
Additional Ingredients
- non-stick cooking spray
- cornmeal
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, sugar, and yeast. Add water and mix with a sturdy spoon or dough whisk until dough is evenly moist with no dry pockets. The dough will be shaggy and very sticky.
- Spray a piece of plastic wrap with non-stick cooking spray and lay it loosely over the mixing bowl. Let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place for about an hour or until it looks bubbly and puffy and has risen to about double its original size, about an hour.
- While the dough rises, spray 2 standard loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray and sprinkle in a fistful of cornmeal. Tilt the pans, tapping gently, until the cornmeal coats the side and bottoms of the pans. Tap out any excess cornmeal.
- Spray your hands with non-stick cooking spray and use them to divide the dough evenly between the pans. (Or use a plastic bench scraper to divide the dough.) The pans should be no more than halfway full. If you need to, spray and cornmeal an additional loaf pan for any excess.
- Cover the pans loosely with plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Let rise in a warm, draft-free place until the dough looks bubbly and puffy again, and has risen with the top of the dough dome just peeking above the edge of the pan about 30 minutes.
- While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place the pans on the center rack in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, brush the tops of the loaves with about half of the melted butter. Bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Immediately turn the loaves out onto a cooling rack and brush all of the surfaces generously with remaining melted butter. Cool completely before slicing.
Diane Hawkey
This is absolutely the best for breakfast. Simply toast a slice in your toaster or toaster oven, slather on some butter and your favorite jam, and you’re in for a treat.
Beth
I made this over the weekend and it couldnt be easier! It was ready to proof in like 5 minutes and boy does it grow! It really tastes just like an english muffin, but better. Thank you.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Beth – so nice to hear you love it as much as we do.
Carol
Do you think this would work in bread machine?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Carol – yes – I haven’t tried it but it should work well. Here’s a bread machine English muffin recipe you could use to help adapt it https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/english-muffin-bread-for-the-bread-machine-recipe
Wendy
Can I cut this recipe in half? I have a small kitchen and only one bread pan. 🙁
Barbara Schieving
Hi Wendy – yes, you can cut it in half without any other changes. Enjoy!