11. 15. 2020
GLUTEN-FREE ENGLISH MUFFINS
Gluten and Lactose-Free
Makes 8
Yes, I know, they don’t look pretty.
I have been making English Muffins for a while. They have been tasty, but the recipe needed tweaking in rising time and cooking time, and the flour blend. Finally, I have the rising time, and cooking temp nailed, and created a new flour blend, (I made a flour blend that is half grain and half starch which is good for these muffins) but not the cooking time nor how to make them look pretty. Peter loves these English Muffins!
Lately I have been cooking the muffins on my Induction Cooker so my times are not the same you might get on your gas or electric cooker. (275F medium).
If Induction cooking interests, you look in ‘Tips’ where I will tell you more.
After the English Muffins are cooked and cooled, I split them with a fork or a knife point and toast all 8 in the broiler, cool and freeze. We now have English Muffins that takes 20/30 seconds to warm in the microwave that tastes fresh anytime we want. I do this so Peter can help himself to an English Muffin whenever he wants.
I keep telling you to prep your ingredients, well the last batch of English Muffins I made, I didn’t prep, and I forgot to add the xanthan gum and the salt. I realized when I was just about to place the dough in the refrigerator!
What did I do? I flattened the ball of dough sprinkled the xanthan and salt and kneaded the dough into a ball again. The English Muffins didn’t rise as much as previously as I had kneaded all the air out of the dough :(
Prep your ingredients so you don’t leave anything out. Clear the decks and follow the recipe!
Yeast mixture:
Water – 300g at 110-115F or lactose-free whey
Sugar – 14 g
Yeast – 10 g, dry instant or active
Wet mix:
Oil – 30 g flavorless
Apple cider vinegar – 10 g (I use Bragg’s)
Flour mix:
Mrs. Gabby’s Flour Blend* - 380g (more for sprinkling)
Kosher salt – 6 g
Baking soda – 3 g
Xanthan gum – 6 g
For the rising tray:
Cornmeal – 2 T, small or medium grit
To cook:
Flavorless oil – 1 t
Let's get cooking:
In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in the water.
Once the sugar is dissolved, sprinkle the yeast on the water, cover with a kitchen cloth and leave on a warm counter for 10 minutes.
(If you have marble or granite counter, you should place a wooden cutting board or a folded towel under the bowl to keep the bowl touching the cool counter.)
Whisk the oil and apple cider vinegar and add to the yeast mixture and whisk to combine.
Whisk the flour blend, baking soda, salt and the xanthan gum together.
Spoon 1/3 of the flour mix into the yeast mixture and stir well, then add the next 1/3 and stir well, finally adding the rest of the flour mix and stir well and keep stirring to form a loose ball. About 5 minutes. The dough should be soft and fluffy and slightly sticky to the touch.
At this point if you feel the dough is too wet, add flour 1 T at a time and stir in to achieve that soft and fluffy state. If you feel the dough is too dry, add warm water 1 t at a time to achieve the soft and fluffy state.
Sprinkle a little flour on the counter. (I use a square Ikea tray that is smooth and slick, the surface texture means I use less flour when kneading and shaping, plus I have only a tray to wash off rather than a counter.
Place the dough on it and sprinkle a little flour on top and knead the dough gently using a flexible plastic bench scraper for about 3 minutes to get the dough into a smoothish ball.
Brush/spray a little oil in the bowl you used and place the dough in the bowl and turn it to get the oil all over, place the bowl into a large plastic bag and let rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle cornmeal on a sheet pan and set aside. You need this to place the formed English Muffins to rise.
Flour the kneading surface, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it slide off the bowl on to the prepped surface. Sprinkle a little flour on top and roll the dough to form a snake, divide the snake into 8, gently shape into balls and place on the cornmeal covered sheet pan.
Press the balls into 1" high rounds and sprinkle a little cornmeal on top of the balls. Place the sheet pan back in the plastic bag and let rise for 30 minutes in a warm draught free place.
When the dough has risen for 30 minutes, place a cast-iron or heavy bottomed skillet on your stove top, brush lightly (½ t) with flavorless oil and let preheat on low for 30 minutes.
Once the skillet is ready, lift the dough rounds gently with a spatula and place on the preheated skillet (275F), cover and cook for 10 – 15 minutes or till golden on the bottom. Flip, cover and cook until the second side too is golden for 10 - 15 minutes.
Place the cooked muffins on a cooling rack and let them cool completely.
When cooled, using a sharp pointed knife or a fork, tear the muffins apart by digging into the muffins about ¼ to ½ inch all around. Tearing helps to create the nooks and crannies you want on an English Muffins to catch the butter or ghee melting all over it!
Then, I turn on the broiler on high, set a timer for 3 minutes, when 3 minutes are up, turn off the broiler, place a sheet pan with the muffins under the broiler, till they are just toasty, 2 minutes, remove from the broiler and let them come to room temperature on the top of the stove. When cooled place them in a freezer bag and freeze.
This way, we can heat a frozen muffin in the microwave in about 20 seconds, ready to melt down the ghee or butter!
Or you can freeze after splitting and use your toaster to revive and crisp them ready for ghee or butter.
*Mrs. Gabby’s Flour Blend Recipe: (enough for 8 muffins)
White Rice Flour – 170 g (options: mixture of white rice flour and brown rice flour)
Arrowroot flour – 150 g (options: cornstarch or tapioca flour)
Millet flour – 116 g (options: white sorghum or quinoa flour)
Xanthan gum 9 g
Baking soda – 3 g
Kosher salt – 2 g
Whisk together and store in an airtight jar in a cool dry place to use as needed. I mix up 10 to 12 cups worth at a time as I use this blend often.
Now I am off to make us Eggs Benedict. Will post pictures and recipe next week.
For now, eat up the English Muffins anyway you want!
Enjoy!