English muffin loaf bread (it's so easy!)

This post does not involve chocolate or almonds for a change and I am still thoroughly excited about it!  Do you watch a lot of cooking shows?  I DVR a bunch and watch them at nights and on weekends, and a couple of weeks ago, I watched a terrific episode of Cook's Country on PBS that started all this excitement.

Let me start by saying I have a "thing" for English muffins.  I'm big on routine and my breakfast routine of choice is a toasted English muffin with fried egg & ham or slathered with peanut butter. English muffins are always on my grocery list and I'm hooked on them so you can imagine my excitement when they started talking about a recipe for English muffin bread - loaf style - on this show!  And the biggest draw of all was how easy this recipe is to make!  I am dead serious - this bread is as E-A-S-Y to make as putting together a batch of brownies.

First of all, you don't even need the mixer, this is a no-knead bread.  No kneading, no shaping, no pinching, nothing!  It's a yeasted batter dough (who knew there was such a thing as that!) so we're literally talking about just dumping in the ingredients and stirring it all together.  There's hardly any more work than that.  Total rising time is just one hour.  I thought: "now, that's a recipe for me!"  So hearing it all and watching this bread come together on this show, I knew I had to try it.  I grabbed a notebook, wrote down the recipe, and headed into the kitchen (admittedly, a few days later...)!

Plenty of pockets and holes like typical English muffins

And it worked!  This bread is unbelievably easy to make and the result is a loaf of bread that's very reminiscent of English muffins, with that signature holey, airy, honeycomb type of texture and bit of chewiness.  I will be making this bread often!  I am so serious about this, I went straight out and bought a second sturdy loaf pan so I can make two loaves at a time from now on.

A good piece of toast is a beautiful thing

A little whole wheat twist...
There was only one thing I wished to change about this recipe and that's to incorporate some whole wheat flour into it.  I actually prefer whole wheat English muffins and that's the kind I buy and eat regularly.  The original recipe uses all bread flour (for the chew) but I decided to experiment and made a second loaf substituting half the bread flour with white whole wheat flour (my whole wheat flour of choice since it's milder but still provides all the whole wheat benefits)!  

The version I made with half white whole wheat flour and bread flour - I loved it!

I absolutely loved the whole wheat version!  Maybe I just feel better knowing I'm eating something a bit more wholesome but If I closed my eyes, I would think I was eating my usual whole wheat English muffin, which is a very good thing.  It is almost exactly alike!  As you can see, this version with the whole wheat flour is a bit darker and it baked up much the same way in terms of height and texture. I thought it was slightly more flavorful.  

As far as the rest of my family, our 8-year old likes the regular version of this bread better; no surprise there since he's not a fan of whole wheat English muffins in general.  My husband, likewise, prefers the one with all bread flour as well.  I suppose I'm in the whole wheat minority in my house because my vote definitely goes for the whole wheat!

Lots of crunch in every bite thanks to the honeycomb texture of the bread

This whole exercise had me thinking about why I adore English muffins so much.  And it dawned on me that it's all about the texture.  I like my toast really toasted - as in this side of burnt - because I love the crunch.  English muffins, with their "nooks and crannies" give me that when toasted.  And as you can hopefully tell from the picture above, this bread also provides just that - it is airy, crunchy, with a bit of chew.  

That's a whole lot of talk about English muffins!!  Even if you're not crazy for them like I am, I hope you'll give this bread a try for the simplicity alone.  This is probably the bread I should have started off making but I really enjoyed the whole wheat bread too and that experience helped slay the fears I had about working with yeast.  I can hardly believe I'm making actual edible bread in my own kitchen and I'm thrilled to discover this particular recipe!

An early Saturday morning breakfast

I learned so much watching this show and making this bread!  This is how it comes together when making one loaf (half the recipe)...

It really is as simple as placing all the dry ingredients (flour, instant yeast, sugar, salt, and baking soda) into a bowl.  Whisk it together really well, making sure the baking soda is evenly dispersed throughout.  The baking soda is a second leavening agent and helps brown the bread.

Warm milk heated to 120 degrees is key.  The warmer temperature allows for a shorter rise/resting time for this dough.  Pour in and stir together.

That's it, my friends!  The dough can now be covered with plastic wrap that's been coated with some cooking spray.

In just half an hour of resting, it has risen and the dough can be turned out into a loaf pan.  Dust the pan with cornmeal to mimic that outer crust of the English muffin.  You could also use semolina if you happen to have that on hand instead.

Stir the dough around a couple of turns with a rubber spatula, then scrape it into the prepared pan, edging the batter into the corners.  This is a yeasted batter dough, or "batter bread" and is quite wet.  The higher amount of liquid in the recipe creates more holes, a signature of my favorite English muffins.

Another half an hour of rest until the batter rises nearly to the top of the pan. (The batter looks essentially the same when I made the bread with half white whole wheat flour.)  Bake the loaf in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.  The bread should have a browned crust and the internal temperature of the finished loaf should be 200 degrees.

Turn the bread out and let cool on a wire rack for a couple of hours before slicing and eating.  

I enjoyed this bread with all kinds of toppings and even used it to make grilled cheese sandwiches in the oven.  Turns out, it might not be the ideal vehicle for cheese sandwiches because it's so airy that bits break apart when I sliced the hot sandwiches...but happily, my fellas loved it and it didn't bother them one bit!

Recipe:

English Muffin Loaf Bread
From the Cook's Country show on PBS, aired on October 19, 2013 (recipe is published in The Best of America's Test Kitchen, 2013 but I noticed it called for 2 1/2 cups of milk instead of 3; use 3 cups because it works!)

- For two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 loaves (you can divide the recipe in half to make one loaf) - 

5 cups unbleached bread flour* 
4 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups whole milk, heated to 120 degrees
Cornmeal, for pans

* For a whole wheat version, I substitute half the bread flour with white whole wheat flour.  

Place flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and baking soda into a large mixing bowl. Whisk well to combine. Make a slight well in the center and add the warm milk into it.  Stir with a wooden spoon until combined and dough starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap that's been lightly sprayed with vegetable oil.  Let sit in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes.  

Spray two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pans with cooking spray and dust with cornmeal. Give dough a stir with a rubber spatula to knock it down a bit.  Divide the dough as evenly as possible between the two loaf pans.  The batter will be sticky and should fill the pans about 2/3 of the way.  Use a rubber spatula to gently coax the batter into the corners.  Cover the pans with greased plastic wrap.  Let sit to rise for 30 minutes. The dough should rise near to the top of the pan.

Bake in a 375 degree oven, in the middle rack for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through.  The internal temperature of the finished loaf should be 200 degrees when done.