A Modern English Muffin -- Easier, Faster, Simpler, No-knead and No-oven!

Hey, there, when you are tired of the sandwich bread, why not try my version of homemade English Muffin. The good thing about homemade is that you know and you control what's in it for you.

Remember, good flavor in food takes time and it is certainly very true in bread-making. Luckily, when I say it takes time, I don't mean that you have to hang over it with lots of attention. Just be patient and let the nature take its course to work its miracle. This recipe is basically mix, wait, shape and pan-fry, so it's perfect for busy people with one-pot! However, it is a difficult wet dough with high water to flour ratio to challenge your dough making IQ.

In order to develop the right texture and taste, you need a two-step sponge-dough bread-making process. I'll explain more about this another time, if you are interested.

Ingredients (yield 4 servings):

For sponge or starter (step.1):

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour or spelt flour
• 1/2 cup warm water or milk (about 110°F)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast or 1 1/4 teaspoons of instant yeast (about half a package of yeast) 
• 1/8 teaspoon sugar, optional

For the rest of dough (step.2):

• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg white
• 1 1/2 cups bread flour (or Italian 00 flour or French T55 flour)
• 1/4 cup warm water or milk (about 110°F)
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder, optional
• 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil for cooking or use clarified butter (Homemade clarified butter and why)

Directions: 

Sponge

1. To make a sponge in step #1, dissolve the yeast, sugar in 1/4 cup of warm water and wait 15-20 minutes to see if it bubbles. This is to proof and test the yeast so we know it is activated and alive. 
2. Add 1/2 cup of flour, another 1/4 cup of water to the bubbly yeast water and stir with a spatula to make a thick, pudding-like mixture.
3. You can proceed to the rest of the steps. However, for better flavor and texture, cover the bowl and let the sponge sit on the counter for 2 hours at room temperature.  
4. Mix the rest of the dough ingredients into the bubbly sponge mixture. Mix it into a sticky ball.
5. Cover and put it at a draft-free, warm spot (ideally 70°F-80°F) for about 2 hours to double in size. It should be very bubbly after 2 hours. Use a rubber spatula to scrape everything down. It is an extremely sticky and wet dough. 
6. Put the dough in a greased plastic bag and knead it for 1 to 2 minutes to shape it into a ball. Transfer the dough to a greased cutting board and cut it into 4-6 portions with a greased knife or bench scraper.

7. Roll each portion with your palm in circular motions and form each portion into a seamless ball of dough. Curl the fingers to keep the dough under your palm like holding a computer mouse, and keep rolling the greased dough between the thumb and the other fingers, while moving your hand in circles, until the dough is smooth and seamless. 
8. Line a baking sheet and sprinkle coarse cornmeal generously.
9. Press the dough gently to flatten it and place each dough on the lined baking sheet. Coat each dough evenly with the cornmeal. 
10. Cover with a towel and let it rise 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours to double in size. This is the second proof and also final proof after shaping. 
11. Heat up oil in heavy bottom pan on medium heat and carefully transfer the dough to the pan without deflating it too much. Cook each side for about 6 to 8 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. (Or cook 5 minutes on each side and finish by baking them in 350°F preheated oven for 6 to 7 minutes.)

12. Let them cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing them open. 
13. Tear it open with a fork, toast it and enjoy your homemade, airy, bubbly muffins. 

Note: 

About Yeast:

One package of yeast is 0.25 ounce (7 grams) and is about 2 1/4 teaspoon.
Yeast is happiest at around 75°F to 80°F.
To activate the yeast, use 110°F warm water. It should feel like lukewarm bath water to the touch. If it is too cold, the yeast won't wake up. If it is too hot, the yeast will be killed. Dip your finger in the water and the finger should feel comfortable in it for as long as you please. If it feels hot to you, it is too hot for the yeast to survive.
If you use instant yeast, use 1 1/4 tsp instant yeast to replace 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast. The conversion ratio between active dry yeast vs instant dry yeast is around 4:3 to 5:4. That is, reduce the amount of instant yeast by 20% to 25% to replace active dry yeast and you can expect the dough to rise at about the same rate.
If you don't use the yeasts very often, keep them in air-tight bags or containers in the freezer. They can last for years (about one year for instant yeast).
The common types of yeast you can buy in most grocery stores are active dry yeast and instant yeast. Bread machine yeast is the same as instant yeast. Rapid Rise or Quick Rise yeast is instant yeast milled finer with additional enzymes to make the dough rise faster.
Active dry yeast is a living organism that is dried at higher temperature, which kills more of the exterior yeast cells and creates a thicker out layer for water to get through. It is dormant with a larger granular consistency and it requires an initial activation in warm water (about 110°F), whereas instant yeast is dried at more gentle temperatures and milled finer so it can be added directly to the dry ingredient and become activated as soon as it's in contact with liquid.
The upside of having a thick skin? Active dry yeast has the longest shelf life. They can last for years in sealed container in the freezer.

About Proofing Dough:

The longer you allow a bread dough to rise, the more flavor and chewy texture (because of gluten) the bread can develop. 
The warmer it is, the quicker the dough will rise.
In general the more yeast you use, the quicker it will rise. However, if you put too much yeast, the dough could rise too fast.
If you are rising and developing the dough slowly, say, from overnight up to days, you need to reduce the amount of yeast and keep it cool in the refrigerator. There is a peak time when the dough rise to a point where it has to be baked. If it passes the point, the bread will become too dry (too much CO2), have a heavy yeasty off-flavor (like a bad beer due to too much alcohol) and can even taste sour in a bad way (no, not like sourdough). In the worst case scenario, the bread simply collapses during baking because the over-stretched bubbles break down the gluten in the bread that can't support them. 

About Texture:

• I use bread/strong flour with high protein content to yield the structure and texture I like. If you cannot find bread/strong flour, feel free to use all-purpose (AP) flour. The whole wheat flour or spelt flour is there to add a touch of nutty flavor. If you like, replace up to half amount of flour with whole wheat flour. 
• Bread flour is 高筋麵粉 in Chinese, 強力粉 in Japanese.
• The dough has a high ratio of water to flour in order to have big bubbles or holes in the crumb (the inside of a bread). It is supposed to be tacky and sticky so don't be annoyed and keep adding flour. Keep a small bowl of oil when you handle the soft ball of dough. 
• You can also flour your hand and the working surface when working the dough but people tend to end up adding too much flour and ruin the ratio, yielding a tough dough and a bread crumb that is way too dense. Do the most mixing with spatula and shape at the last stage for 1 to 2 minutes.
• The texture should be light, with big bubbles all across while with a toothy bite, just like pizza crusts.