Homemade English Muffin Bread is a winner!
As one of my do-it-yourself projects for 2012, I planned to make English Muffins.
However, after some blog commenters suggested I try English Muffin Bread instead, I decided it looked much, much easier to make.
I’m so glad I tried this recipe. It’s a winner. So easy to make, so frugal, and so good!
What is English Muffin bread?
English Muffin bread is a coarse-textured bread with a crisp crust that is ideal for toasting.
It tastes exactly like the English Muffins you’ve come to love (with those little nooks and crannies) but it’s way faster and easier to make!
English Muffin Bread Recipe Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups warm water
- 3 1/2 teaspoons yeast
- 1 Tablespoons salt
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
- 5 1/2 cups flour (I used unbleached all-purpose flour.)
How to make Homemade English Muffin Bread
1. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients (a KitchenAid works well — or you can do it by hand with a wooden spoon).
2. Cover bowl with a cloth and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled (skip this step if using rapid rise yeast).
3. Punch down the dough and “scoop” half of the dough into two well-greased loaf pans (dough will be extremely sticky).
4. Cover pans with a cloth an let dough rise again until it reaches the top of the pans.
5. While dough rises for the 2nd time, preheat your oven to 350º
6. When dough is fully risen, put pans in preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
7. Remove pans from oven and brush the tops of loaves with melted butter.
8. Cool completely before cutting.
To freeze:
Let the loaf cool completely. Slice and put in an airtight ziptop freezer bag in the freezer for up to six weeks.
To thaw:
Remove the desired number of slices and let thaw at room temperature for 30 minutes to one hour (or thaw in the microwave). Warm in the oven or microwave or toast.
Recipe for English Muffin Bread Tips
Don’t freak out if the dough is very sticky — it’s supposed to be that way! You don’t need to worry about shaping it into loves — just literally scoop the dough into 2 loaf pans and let it rise.
Also, it freezes wonderfully — so save yourself a bunch of time and slice the bread before you freeze it, then you can simply pull out one or two slices whenever you want toast.
If you want to increase the nutritional value, you could make it with half whole-wheat flour.
My husband isn’t a huge bread person, but he absolutely adores this bread. He has raved about it repeatedly and often asks if we can have it with dinner!
How to store this Recipe for English Muffin Bread
I slice the loaves after they cool, then packaged them in freezer bags. We take out however many slices we want at a time — so easy!
Best Ways to Eat This English Muffin Loaf
English Muffin Bread is best served warm or toasted with butter and jam/jelly or honey.
A loaf of English Muffin Bread would be such a lovely gift, paired with homemade jam or honey.
Recipe English Muffin Bread FAQs
English muffin bread uses store-bought yeast as its leavening agent while sourdough bread uses wild yeast from the air. Sourdough bread is “long-fermented” which helps to break down some of the carbohydrates and protein in the flour, releasing gas, which makes the bread rise (and makes it easier for many people to digest).
English Muffin dough is quite wet and cannot be shaped into loaves like traditional bread dough. The texture of the finished bread is also unlike traditional bread in that English Muffin bread has a smaller crumb, a tougher crust, is slightly denser, and has more nooks and crannies (especially after toasting).
Homemade bread is better for you than store-bought bread with all its added preservatives. However, bread made from white all-purpose flour doesn’t have much nutritional value (but it sure tastes good!) If you use freshly ground whole grain flour, then English muffin bread would be much more nutritious.
Homemade English Muffin Loaf
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups warm water
- 3 ½ tsp yeast (active dry)
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 ½ tbsp sugar
- 5 ½ cups flour (I used unbleached all-purpose)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients (a KitchenAid works well — or you can do it by hand with a wooden spoon).
- Cover bowl with a cloth and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled (skip this step if using rapid rise yeast).
- Punch down the dough and “scoop” half of the dough into two well-greased loaf pans (dough will be extremely sticky).
- Cover pans with a cloth an let dough rise again until it reaches the top of the pans.
- While dough rises for the 2nd time, preheat your oven to 350º
- When dough is fully risen, put pans in preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Remove pans from oven and brush the tops of loaves with melted butter.
- Cool completely before cutting.
Notes
Nutrition
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Reader Interactions
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V Van Dyke says
What size pans and does anyone have a time for both risings? I’m a dough idgit, lol.
Donna says
Just curious, do you bake breads in your bread machine? I noticed the English muffin bread recipe says to put it in loaf pans.
My father in law is a bread baker, he has the same brand machine and bakes all his in it.
Thanks
Sarah says
I just made this with whole-wheat flour, and it was so good!
I soaked the flour overnight and added a few heaping tablespoons of powdered milk–both seem to help make a fluffier finished product.
It was so good!! It really does taste like an English muffin! I will definitely be making it again.
Pam says
Have you tried making this in a bread machine?
robert peck says
Hi !!!
I just wanted to thank you for your English Muffin recipe..I have my sister’s recipe..Almost like yours..Don’t forget a bacon & egg sandwich in the a.m. b4 you go to work..Thank you again . &&&& your favourite beverage .
Jessica says
This was so easy and turned out well. I think next time I will add cinnamon and raisins just because that is my favorite type of english muffin.
Bree says
I made this delicious bread today. It was super easy to make and oh-so moist. A new favorite! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Amy says
Made this over the weekend! Love it!! Much easier than English Muffins, same taste! I will be making this often!
Shari says
Me and my kids are making this right now, its super easy, Im excited to see how it will turn out after reading these replies.
Lish says
I have made this with 100% white whole wheat flour, but if you do that you need to add some vital wheat gluten otherwise you get some really dense low rising loaves. They taste good, but don’t have the nice texture of English Muffin Bread. With a tablespoon or two of vital wheat gluten and 100% whole wheat it comes out GREAT!!!
JJsMommie says
It looks yummy! Is there a yeast alternative that can be used?
melissa says
great & easy! I made this with 2 cups of whole wheat flour and the rest white & it turned out perfect!
Joy says
This is good, warm from the oven, spread with butter, & served with a glass of milk!
Martina says
made this last night after reading this post, in little less than an hour my hubby and i sat on the couch eating the bread with homemade jelly, its really good and we didn’t care it was past midnight lol
N says
I just tried this today, ….and I’m not a good baker usually, but this was very easy! Clean up was easy too! I also tried your pizza crust and it’s great, a new staple for us, so I followed your freezer cooking and made several of those. Thanks for all the wonderful recipes!
Crystal says
You are so welcome! I’m glad it turned out well for you!
Roxanne says
My husband loves english muffin bread, so I’m excited to try this. I’m wondering if you used a 9×5 bread pan or an 8×4 bread pan as used in the original recipe. I was just wondering if using a 9×5 bread pan would change the baking time or anything else.
By the way Crystal, thanks to you I now make all of my family’s bread and we love your whole wheat bread recipe. It’s been wonderful!
Thanks!
alys says
I tried it with 100% whole wheat. I was a little too much. So, I bet 50% would be good.
Amie says
I like the King Arthur’s Flour recipe for english muffins. It does take a while, but I make them on my griddle so I cook several at once. I was so excited when they turned out just like the store bought kind! I’ve made them several times. I actually like to make an entire batch for breakfast sandwhiches and pop them in the freezer for busy mornings.
Jennifer says
Try Alton Browns English Muffin recipe off the food network site. My husband loves english muffins but they are so expensive. I make a bread machine dough recipe and freeze a couple dozen every few weeks but the Alton Brown recipe only takes 30 minutes start to finish – no double rise or shaping of dough. It makes the best english muffins ever.
Leah says
i actually make this bread with all whole wheat all the time..and it’s perfect. i use wheat montana’s hard white wheat (you can purchase it at walmart—it’s chemical free and absolutely delicious!)
Becca says
I made this a few days ago. I used 1/2 ww and 1/2 white flour. Turned out good. Maybe a little dense. I also used my bread machine for the dough. It is VERY sticky, so it made a bit of a mess, but if I can’t use the bread machine, I don’t make it 😉 hehe
Kathy says
Yum! I don’t eat much bread anymore but will make an exception for this one!
Danielle says
I can’t get enough of this bread. So darn delicious. I love having the 4 loaves. 1 for the fridge and 3 for the freezer (sliced). And honey and butter is how I love as Jillee suggests in her post/recipe. I did the rapid rise yeast for my impatient self 🙂
michelle says
I made this all whole wheat flour and while it was still good I think half and half would be better. This is the first bread I ever made and we love it! I am glad for you recipe, mine is twice this and I cant seem to halve recipes by myself.
Lisa says
I use the same recipe, but mine calls for rapid rise yeast, which can be mixed right in with the flour (doesn’t have to mix w water first). I put it straight in the pans after mixing and let it rise once, then cook it. Works perfectly and tastes delish.
Brenda Reed says
Crystal, there is a great recipe for English Muffins that I have used for years in the Bread Beckers cookbook. It’s very easy to follow. And, my husbands just LOVES them 🙂 As always, thank you for sharing.
Kim says
Yummm! I will be making this in my bread maker this evening after work. I have some peach preserves that will be delish on this.
Roslyn says
Anyone have bread machine recipe? This sounds yummy!
carla says
My friend at Mom on a mission for Christ has a similar recipe. It is called shoe box bread and uses whole wheat bread and wheat gluten. It is delicious. I made it last night.
MJ @ MD School Mrs. says
I made this yesterday, and used half whole wheat pastry flour. Taste is right on, but I should have added a little more water to it, as my dough was just a touch dry. Will be making again – SO simple!
Sarah T. says
I LOVE using pastry flour. It’s the secret to most of my recipes turning out the way they do- light and fluffy. I like to use about 1/3 pastry to 2/3 whole wheat.
jenna says
I’ve never been good with making my own bread, and somehow I seem to always ruin it in a breadmaker too… I am wondering – about how long should it take for the loaf to rise each time? I can deal with “-ish” minutes or hours, but I am just wondering a ballpark figure…?
Crystal says
Around 45 minutes or so.
Amy Noland says
My mom and I just made this last night and it is really good. We made the recipe that makes 4 loaves. This would be easier to handle:) I think our 2 year old is addicted!
charity crawford says
Your pictures turned out beautiful!
Shelly says
I made some english muffins last week. We really like fresh from the oven english muffins. I will have to add this recipe to my list to try. Thanks for sharing it.
lisa says
I can’t wait to try this with our homemade vanilla bean jam!
Crystal, your blog was the first one I read and I keep coming back as it is one of my favorites. Thank you for being such an inspiration!
Crystal says
Thank you so much for your kind encouragement!
Cathy says
Wait a minute… homemade vanilla bean jam? Sounds incredible! Do you mind sharing the recipe?
Aimee says
If you use Rapid Rise or instant yeast, you can just dump it straight into the pans and let it rise. Then pop in the oven. I made this on Sunday for the first time, and it was/is a HUGE hit!
Krissi says
I love, love, LOVE english muffin bread! But, I have yet to find a recipe that I like, so I’m excited to try this one out. So glad I saw this post!
Jillia Wiesert says
I noticed you only let it rise the one time in the pan. Did you use rapid rise yeast like she mentions in the original recipe? Or was that not necessary?
Crystal says
I used regular yeast. You could let it rise in the bowl first, then transfer to the pan and let it rise again.
Angie D says
Hmmmm…we love tuna melts on english muffins, but I often don’t want to buy them or make them (!)…what a great quick alternative. Thanks! =)
Lauri says
If I wanted to use my breadmaker, do you think the same recipe would suffice?
Caroline says
Looks delicious!
I’m kind of a bread making novice, so this is a very basic question, but maybe someone can help me out:
What is the best way to let dough rise? I never know if I should heat my oven a tiny bit and put it in there, leave it on the counter, cover it or not, etc. Would appreciate any help! 🙂 Looking forward to trying this recipe!
Susan says
I leave mine on my stovetop, which is also next to our wall oven (which is preheating), and it’s plenty warm. I’ve also known people to put it on top of their TV while they’re watching — it’s warm and they don’t forget about it!
Diana says
The warmer the environment, the faster the dough rises. And a long cool rise is supposed to develop the best flavor, but it takes forever, so most bread recipes don’t call for that 🙂 Somewhere in the middle is usually best. If it’s really warm in your house (like 85 or 90), you might do fine with it on the counter. But probably your best bet is like Susan said–somewhere a little warmer than room temp. I usually do the heat-the-oven-a-little method and put the dough inside. You can cover it to prevent dust/other food from getting in and to keep it from drying out. But covering’s not usually essential. Give it a try–if you have good yeast and follow the recipe, you probably won’t go wrong! 🙂
Dawna says
I’ve always covered my yeast doughs & placed them on top of the refrigerator… I watched my mother do it this way, and have always done the same. 🙂
Lana says
This time of year you can even put it outside in a safe place to rise. My screen porch is a place safe from our naughyty squirrels who would be sure to check what is in the bowl if I put it on my deck. 😀
Mary says
I have a 5 quart round container with a sealable top that I call my “dough bucket”. I’ve run the dryer with a load of towels and then nestled the dough bucket inside (dryer off of course) the warm dry towels for an hour or so. The dough rises incredibly (I make sure I only fill it about one third because it rises so much).
Emily says
I often have my bread rise in my cooler…I put a microwave hot pack in there with it (the kind that comes with a Pyrex carrier):
http://ourfrugalhappylife.blogspot.com/2011/10/rising-bread-in-cold-house.html
I’ve also done the same concept using the microwave…just don’t turn it on!
Jess says
I run the dryer for a few minutes and then put it in there (with the dryer off, of course!). Works great!
Cynthia says
I’ve made english muffins and this looks much easier. Thanks!
Mary Ellen says
Sounds delicious! I have had this on my list to try for a while now. It sounds like it would go great with the strawberry lemon marmalade that I canned last week!
http://whisktogether.wordpress.com/2011/08/13/strawberry-lemon-marmalade/
Crystal says
This looks awesome! I am going to can for the first time this weekend. I plan on trying this. Yummy!
Mary Ellen says
Congrats! I was a little intimidated at first about home canning. However, when I got the few things I needed like the jars, lids and basket to put the jars into the stockpot – it really didn’t seem hard! Homemade is so delicious and I can make things that you can’t find anywhere else like this marmalade. I love giving it away as hostess gifts or part of a gift basket, too.
Anna@The DIY Mom says
My mom had a recipe for English muffin bread that she always made in the bread machine. I think was really similar.
Kathleen says
That looks really good!! I am going to try this soon. Thanks for sharing Crystal.
Sally says
BTW: That’s a LOT of yeast for two loaves…
Michele says
I’m thinking it’s supposed to be 3 teaspoons. If you look at the original recipe which is doubled, she calls for 3 packages of yeast. Each package of yeast is about 2 1/4 teaspoons, which would be 6 3/4 teaspoons. Half of that would be about 3 to 3 1/2 teaspoons.
Crystal says
Whoops! Thanks so much for catching my mistake. I’ve fixed it.
Amber says
That looks SO delicious. Yum!
Sally says
When substituting whole wheat flour for some or all of the white flour amount, remember that whole wheat absorbs more liquid that white and be prepared to adjust for it.
I’ve done half wheat English muffins and they turned out beautifully.
grace says
um that explains why i always have extra flour at the end! thanks!
Kara says
We LOVE this bread in our house! I was bad one morning and put some Nutella on it and boy was that delicious 🙂
charity crawford says
Oh we LOVE Nutella at our house we go through jars fast.:)
Jenni Naselli says
I’ve tried it with whole wheat flour and it’s a little heavy, but not bad. 🙂
Chanda says
I m totally addicted to this recipe…it is so so good! My mother-in-law gave us homemade raspberry jam right when I made this…needless to say both were gone in about 48 hours and most was eaten by me! Oops! 🙂
Britni @ Our Eventual Homestead says
I wonder what would happen if you substituted half the flour with whole wheat? Looks delicious, I’m adding this recipe to my collection!
Susan says
everybody: check out the website: http://www.thefreshloaf.com. It’s a great website to answer all of your bread making questions.
They recommend substituting no more than 25% of the flour with whole wheat flour to start with. I just tried this with a honey white bread recipe. My husband loved the original recipe. When he tried the recipe with 25% whole wheat flour, my husband immediately asked me how I changed the recipe. He told me to go back to regular flour. He thought it was “too grainy” So, there will definitely be a texture difference.
grace says
I substitute the regular flour 100% for a mixture of either spelt or buckwheat flour and almond flour. It is substantially heavier but still comes out edible. Doing it this way gives it a low glycemic index and ok for diabetics because it doesnt cause a big glucose spike.
bridget says
have you tried this in the bread machine? would it work?
Crystal says
I found this http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/english-muffin-bread-recipe.
Kristen says
It looks like it might be a hard bread – what’s the texture like?
Chanda says
It is actually super moist and kind of chewy…exactly like English muffins.
J says
Looks very good. Does it taste like english muffin?
Karen says
I just tried this bread for the first time today. Super easy and turned out great. I had it for desert tonight with the strawberry jam that I also made this afternoon. It was a good day in the kitchen!
charity crawford says
Sounds yummy!