Zinglish Muffins at the Bakehouse

Warm English muffins with butter melted in the nooks and crannies are deeply comforting and nourishing to many of us. So it’s not surprising that during the early days of the pandemic, when our baking load was light, we decided to make our own version, putting our fun and unique stamp on them by calling them “Zinglish Muffins.” They were an immediate hit and we’ve been griddling muffins three times a week ever since. They’re made with what bakers call a “preferment.” This gives them a slightly sweet and buttery flavor (just because of the fermentation process!). And the nooks and crannies we’ve all come to expect without any odd ingredients or preservatives. They’re a go-to item that deserves a permanent spot in your freezer so that you never run out.

The Story Behind the Traditional “English” muffin

Hailing from the British Isles, what Americans know as “English” muffins can be traced back to ancient Welsh cakes called bara maen, which were small rounds of yeasted dough baked on hot stones. Fast forward to 18th-century England and there you’ll find the first printed reference to them as “muffins,” spelled moofins, in 1703, followed by recipes for them appearing in popular 18th-century British cookbooks that were among the most important references for culinary practice in England and the American colonies during the later 18th and early 19th centuries. 

The earliest recipe to closely approximate what we know as “English” muffins, dates to the mid 18th century, appearing in the first published edition (and subsequent ones thereafter) of Hannah Glasse’s immensely influential, best-selling British cookbook, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (London: 1747). Titled “To make Muffins and Oat-Cakes,” her recipe called for “a bushel of Hertfordshire white flour” and some “good Ale Yeast,” “pale malt,” and a bit of salt combined with “water just milk warm,” after soaking the yeast in water overnight. Once mixed and left to rise for an hour, the dough was then pulled off in pieces, rolled into disks, and griddled on both sides on an iron over the fire. The recipe also included some now rather familiar instructions for how best to serve them, noting the muffins’  “honey-comb” texture (or “nooks and crannies” in our modern parlance): 

…When you eat them, toast them crisp on both sides [in a hearth], then with your hand pull them open, and they will be like a honey-comb, lay in as much butter as you intend to use, then clap them together again and set it by the fire. When you think the butter is melted turn them, that both sides may be buttered alike, but do not touch them with a knife, either to spread or cut them open, if you do they will be as heavy as lead…

Freshly made muffins like Hannah Glasse’s were also most likely the ones bakers and street peddlers sold door-to-door to the less fortunate in cities and towns throughout 18th- and 19th-century England; and, in turn, was probably the inspiration for the now-familiar early 19th-century nursery rhyme and singing game:

Do you know the muffin man? The muffin man, the muffin man.

Do you know the muffin man who lives on Drury Lane?

To a quart of flour put two table spoons full of yeast. Mix … the flour up with water so thin that the dough will stick to the table. Our cook takes it up and throws it down until it will no longer stick she puts it to rise until morning. In the morning she works the dough over … and makes it into little cakes like biscuit and sets them aside until it is time to back them. You know muffins are backed in a gridle in the hearth of the stove not inside. They bake very quickly. The second plate full is put on the fire when breakfast is sent in and they are ready by the time the first are eaten.

Simple recipe variations for griddled “muffins” continued to proliferate, landing in the most popular, best-selling, and influential 19th-century American cookbooks. These included Mary Randolph’s The Virginia House-wife (1824), republished at least nineteen times before the Civil War, and Miss Leslie’s Directions for Cookery, by Eliza Leslie, which passed through sixty editions from its first appearance in 1837 until 1870, a dozen years after the author’s death. 

“English” muffins became an American breakfast staple after 1880, when Samuel Bath Thomas, who had immigrated to New York City from his native England some five years prior, opened up a bakery and began making and selling his family recipe for griddle-baked “toaster crumpets” to grocery stores and hotels. Small, round, and flat, Thomas’ “crumpets” were more akin to the “muffin” recipes of the 18th century, in that they too were griddle-baked, and when fork split and toasted, bore a crunchy exterior and a similar tracery of air pockets on the inside, giving them their signature “nooks and crannies.”

Marketed as a fancy alternative to toast, they became a big hit in New York and Thomas’ baking business thrived. In 1894, Thomas rebranded his “toaster crumpets” as Thomas’ English Muffins, and eventually, they were sold throughout the United States. In 1926, the Thomas family trademarked “English Muffin” and today the Thomas’ brand of English Muffins, with their now trademarked “nooks and crannies” enjoy annual nation-wide sales of $500 million.

Zinglish Muffins at the Bakehouse

Come and try ours. Zingerman’s co-founder, Ari Weinzweig, loves them and was quick to sing their praises in the Zingerman’s Roadhouse blog, shortly after their Bakehouse debut, thus:

I can tell you that they’re at their best when you open them with your fingers or a fork. (Slicing them with a knife leaves the surface too straight and takes away the full flavor experience.) They’re terrific toasted and topped with butter or cream cheese. Or better still, with butter and cream cheese both. Or jam. Honey has been a big hit too. While not English at all, they’re terrific toasted and topped with olive oil. They’re very good eaten just as they are, the morning they’re baked—held in one hand and eaten bite by bite without even being sliced. I’ve come to think of them as an old English version of a bialy. I’ve also realized that most of the country has never, ever, eaten a freshly baked English Muffin! They’re marvelous. 

Or, make them yourself with this shared recipe from our second cookbook, Celebrate Every Day!

Bakehouse Zinglish Muffins

Be prepared, this dough is sticky–a sign of a high moisture content. Although a little challenging to work with, it’s this quality that gives the muffins lots of nooks and crannies and a light airy texture. Use these muffins, fork-split and toasted to a golden brown, as the foundation for Eggs Benedict, or a mouth-watering breakfast sandwich of eggs and sausage or vegetables.

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Ingredients

  

• 435 grams all-purpose flour 3 cups plus 1.5 tablespoons
• 1.5 cups water room temp
• 1.25 tsp instant yeast
• 1.25 tsp granulated sugar
• 1.5 tsp fine sea salt
• cornmeal for dusting
• clarified butter or ghee for griddling

Instructions

 

Make the dough

• In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and water, and mix with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a shaggy mass.
• Scrape the dough onto a clean, unfloured work surface and knead for 6 to 8 minutes. This is a very sticky dough because it has a lot of water in it relative to the flour. Professional bakers refer to this as having a high hydration. Don’t add flour! This high hydration will help to create those nooks and crannies, which are the trademark of an English Muffin. Initially you can knead it in the bowl if you like. As it comes together, you can move to kneading it on the work surface.
• Place the kneaded dough into a medium mixing bowl or container, lightly coated in oil or non-stick cooking spray, and cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Turn out the fermented dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide the dough into 10 equal pieces (Each one will weigh about 2.25 oz [75g])
• Shape each piece into a small round, as if you were making a dinner roll, and place on a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal, several inches apart. Let the rounds rest for 10 minutes. 
• Lightly dust the tops of the dough rounds with flour. Use the palm of your hand or a flat tool, like a spatula, and press each dough round down into a disc 3 in (7.5cm) in diameter. Dust the tops with cornmeal for a nice garnish at the end of the baking and enough to stop the plastic from skipping in the next step.
• Cover all the disks loosely with plastic and let them proof for 45 minutes to 1 hour. To assess if the dough is optimally proofed, flour a finger and poke it gently into a dough disk; if the indentation holds its shape, the dough is ready for the next step.

Griddle the English Muffins

• Traditionally, English muffins are cooked on a griddle or in a skillet.We recommend a large skillet that has a lid. If you are using a cast-iron skillet , preheat it over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes. If you are using a skillet other than cast iron, preheat it over medium-low heat for 2 to 4 minutes, depending on its thickness.
• Rub the skillet with the clarified butter or ghee just like you would prepare a pan to make pancakes.
• Use your hands or a flat spatula to transfer the dough disks to the skillet, leaving 1 to 2  in (2.5 to 5 cm) between each muffin; cook in batches if you run out of room. Cover the griddle or skillet with a lid to ensure that the muffins are cooked through and achieve good loft and airiness. Bake the muffins, covered, for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Check the bottoms of the muffins as they are baking and adjust the heat if necessary.  The muffins are fully baked when their internal temperature registers 190°F (88°C) on an instant read thermometer. (Griddling these muffins is a bit like making pancakes. It takes a bit to get the pan at the perfect temperature and timing down. Try griddling just a couple to start with to get everything set and then do the remaining ones.)
• Place the baked muffins on a wire rack to cool.
• Split cooled muffins with a fork and toast to your taste and enjoy! 

Notes

Storage: Store in an airtight plastic bag for up to 3-5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Tip! Butter that is clarified can be cooked at higher temperatures without browning or burning because the milk solids and water have been removed. It is great to use when cooking at high temperatures or when griddling something for several minutes and you don’t want the item to brown. Ghee is an Indian version of clarified butter and is readily available in many grocery stores. It’s easy to clarify your own butter though. Take a stick of butter, or more, and melt it in a small pot very gently. Do not stir. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Skim off the residue that will rise to the top of the butterfat. Slowly pour the clear fat into a container, carefully keeping the watery milk solids in the bottom in the pot, which can then be discarded. The clear, clarified butter is now ready for you to use and can be kept at room temperature or in the refrigerator for months.

Hungry for More?

• Order Zinglish Muffins for local pickup from the Bakehouse (734-761-2095). We make them fresh on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, available in the Bakeshop after 7:00am! 
• Need further instruction to make them yourself? Join us at BAKE! for the hands-on baking class Cheers for British Baked Goods. (Redfin and Midwest Living recently included BAKE! in their lists of must-do activities in the region!)
• Pick up our latest cookbook, Celebrate Every Day, for the recipe and so much more!

Lee Vedder

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After a long, established career as a Ph.D. art history scholar and art museum curator, Lee, a Michigan native, came to the Bakehouse in 2017 eager to pursue her passion for artisanal baking and to apply her love of history, research, writing, and editing in a new exciting arena. Her first turn at the Bakehouse was as a day pastry baker. She then moved on to retail sales in the Bakeshop, followed by joining the Marketing Team and becoming the Bakehouse’s designated culinary historian. In addition to her retail sales and marketing work, she’s a member of the Bakehouse’s Grain Commission, co-author and editor of the Bakehouse's series of cookbooklets, and a regular contributor to the BAKE! Blog and Zingerman’s Newsletter, where she explores the culinary, cultural, and social history and evolution of the Bakehouse’s artisan baked goods.

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