English Muffins

English Muffins

Have you ever had a real English muffin, not the ones you bye at the grocery store, but one made at a bakery? The light, crunchy, soft, delicate, lightly sour muffin is a little slice of heaven. We went to Napa for a weekend and ended up at Model Bakery for english muffins. This visit ruined it for me, now I'm craving these tasty treats, and will never be satisfied with the store bought kind ever again.

I really didn't know anything about english muffins. But reading up on the history the english muffins are based on the recipe for classic english crumpets. Both crumpets and english muffins are originally made in a cast-iron skillet on the stovetop, are generally the same size and are  eaten for breakfast or tea.

According to the nibble "The English muffin, first called a “toaster crumpet,” was invented in 1894 by a British immigrant to New York, Samuel Bath Thomas. Immediately embraced as a more elegant alternative to toast, it was served at fine hotels and ultimately became a mainstay of American breakfast cuisine."

When you talk about english muffin, you will always hear the term "nook and crannies." The nooks and crannies are the little holes made from the gluten structure in the bread, they help catch the spread you put on, wether it's butter, lemon curd or even peanut butter. The best way to keep the nooks and crannies is to spilt the english muffin with your fingers or using a fork. By not using a knife you'll get an uneven surface that will hold the butter better on the toasted muffin.

While I was researching for this post, I stumbled upon Sheryl's blogpost about english muffins. By the reviews and the directions, it looked like the right place to start. So I went with her recipe.

I really like the taste of the muffins, but I would love if they were a bit more fluffy. But I will make these again for sure. When you have the technique down, they are super easy.

Makes 6 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (240 ml) milk

• 1 tablespoon (14 g) butter

• 1 tablespoon sugar or honey

• 1 packet (2¼ teaspoon) dry yeast

• 2 cups (190 g) all-purpose flour

• ½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

At night:

Heat the milk to simmering, then drop in butter and sugar or honey. Stir until it melts and is combined, let the mixture cool. When it’s lukewarm, sprinkle in the yeast, stir, and let it sit for 10 minutes until bubbly. Don’t use an aluminium bowl, because that can interfere with the yeast. 

Mix flour and salt in another bowl. When the yeast mixture is bubbly, add the flour and beat vigorously for a couple minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter (not in the refrigerator) overnight. It will overproof – rise and collapse. This is what creates the English muffin’s characteristic sourdough taste and large bubbles.

Next morning:

Scrape the sides of the bowl with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula and remix a little. Then use a spatula and spoon to drop muffin-size dough globs into a small bowl of cornmeal. Don’t try to handle the dough, it’s too sticky. Lift each muffin glob from the cornmeal with a slotted spatula, shake off any excess cornmeal, and place muffin in a ungreased cast-iron skillet.

When the skillet is full, cover it (with a glass top or a bowl), and let the muffins rise for about 30 minutes. They won’t rise much at this point, because all the sugar has been eaten by the yeast, but they’ll puff up a little more when they start to cook. Remove the lid before cooking!

Set your stove’s burner to medium-low. If it’s electric, let the burner preheat. If you have an electric skillet, you’ll have to let the muffins rise somewhere else so you can preheat it. I used a cast iron pan and set the burner to medium-low.

Warning: Do not set the temperature too high. The muffins have to cook slowly, or the inside will be doughy while the outside is burned. Don’t crank up the heat because it’s not sizzling. It’s not supposed to sizzle. 

The muffins can take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes per side, depending on how high you set the skillet temperature. Turn them over when the first side is browned.

When the second side is browned, remove the muffins to a cooling rack and let them cool completely. If you don’t let them cool, they will be doughy inside. Also, they taste best if they are fully cooled and then toasted. Split them for toasting by pulling them apart with your fingers, rather than cutting with a knife. This maximises the nooks and crannies that are so great for holding butter and jam.

Granola a la Kona

Granola a la Kona

My vacation to Hawaii a couple of years ago, inspired me to make this granola. My husband had a granola with coconut, almonds and oats, served over yogurt in a papaya fruit, and it became one of his favourite breakfasts. So when we got home from vacation, I had to recreate the granola. I make the granola in a wok on the stove, but you can easily make it in the oven. 

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1½ tablespoon honey
• ½ cup coconut flakes
• 1½ cup quick oats
• ½ cup slivered almonds
• 1 sprinkle cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste

Directions:

Heat the oil in the wok, and add the honey. Let the honey foam for a moment, and then add the rest of the ingredients. Keep stirring and cook until the granola turns golden brown. Pour the granola into a large pan or baking sheet and spread the granola out in an even layer, and let it cool. The granola crisp up while cooling. The more you stir during the cooling period, the more separated the granola gets.

If you want to cook the granola in the oven:

Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃).

Combine oats, almonds, coconut and cinnamon in a  large bowl, and set aside. 

Melt the oil and honey in a small saucepan, remove from heat, and  add the vanilla paste. Pour over the oat mixture and mix until the oats are thoroughly coated. Spread the mixture in a thin, even layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the granola for 15 minutes, then stir and continue baking until the granola is very light golden brown, about 5 to 10 minutes more. 

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. The granola crisp up while cooling. The more you stir during the cooling period, the more separated the granola gets.

Store the granola in a large, airtight container. It will keep for up to one month.

Serve the granola on yogurt with fresh fruit, or in a papaya. 

Enjoy.

Danish Morning Buns - brusebadsboller

Danish Morning buns  with cheese and jam. Brusebadsboller med ost og marmelade.

Most danes love to eat fresh baked buns with butter and cheese in the morning.  In my home we would have bread or oats with milk as breakfast during the weekdays. In the weekends we would have homemade bread or freshly made bread or morning buns (rundstykker) from the local bakery. I loved my moms homemade bread, but I could never have it straight from the oven, because it had to rise twice and it had to be baked. But these morning buns, are perfect. You mix them up at night, set to rise overnight in the refrigerator  and baked in the morning. The easy way to warm fresh made morning buns for breakfast. In danish the morning rolls are called brusebadsboller, or shower buns, because you can bake them, while you take your morning shower.

Makes 18

Ingredients:

• 615 g all-purpose flour
• 85 g flax seeds
• 150 g quick oats
• 700 g water
• 7 g (1 pack fleischmann's) dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 tablespoons canola oil

topping:

• poppy seeds or
• sesame seeds

Directions:

At night:

Mix cold water, salt, honey, oats flax seeds and oil in a bowl. Add the dry yeast and add the flour a little at a time until you have a soft paste-like dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set to rise in the refrigerator overnight.

Next morning:

Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Using a ice cream scoop or two spoons shape 9 buns onto two parchment lined baking sheet. Let the dough rest while you preheat the oven to 430℉ (220℃).

Sprinkle with poppy seeds before baking.  

Bake the buns for about 18- 20 minutes or until they are golden brown. You can check whether your bread or buns are done, by gently tapping the bottom of them. If  they sound hollow - they are done.

Soft Pretzels - Kommenskringler

Soft Pretzels - Kommenskringler

I believe the soft pretzels originate from Germany. The danish version contains caraway seeds. Back in the days, you could get them at most bakeries in Denmark, but nowadays, you only see them at old traditional bakeries.

Growing up, we had them occasionally,  because my mom loved caraway seeds, but I hadn’t had them for years before I met my husband, and he reintroduced me to them again.  

I love the soft, sweet bread with the characteristic taste of caraway seeds.

Here is how I made them

Ingredients:

• 500 g all-pupose flour
• 100 g butter
• 50 g live yeast (or 12 g dry active yeast)
• 4 tablespoons caraway seeds
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 300 g milk 
• 1 egg (for egg wash)

Directions:

Warm the milk and melt the butter in it.  Mix together flour, sugar, salt and caraway seeds. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry  and knead the dough for about 10 minutes on medium. The dough should be soft and almost sticky.

Divide the dough into 12 pieces. Shape each piece into a pretzel, and let the pretzels rise until doubled in size in a warm place. 

Brush pretzels with egg and sprinkle with caraway seeds. 

Bake the pretzels for about 10 minutes at 485℉ (250℃). 

Let cool on a wire rack.

Øllebrød - Danish rye bread porridge

Øllebrød med meget flødeskum -  Danish rye bread porridge with a big scoop whipped cream.

I made øllebrød, another traditional danish dish. But when  I wanted to write this post I didn’t know how to translate "øllebrød" - So I tried Goggle Translate, which suggested "beer soup". But it didn’t sound right, especially when I don't use any beer in the recipe. So I ended up with the Danish rye bread porridge because its a porridge made from rye bread, right?

My mom loved øllebrød, she could eat it for every meal, while my dad hated it. So she had it mostly as breakfast, and as her daughter I learned to love it too.

In Denmark you give children øllebrød for breakfast when they are starting to eat solid foods. It's very filling and will keep you full for at long time, kinda like oatmeal. Øllebrød is sweet and that's why I add some lemon zest to it. But beware you can only eat a little portion, because it's so filling.

Serves 4 

Ingredients:

• 400 g seedless rye bread
• 900 g water (to get desired thickness)
• 120 g brown sugar
• 1 lemon, zest of 

Directions:

The bread can be leftover stale bread. Cut the bread into cubes, and put them into a pot. Add water just to cover. With stale bread you would let it sit overnight. With fresh bread you can start to cook it right away.

Boil the bread and water with the brown sugar, and stir occasionally. To get rid of the lumps you can either use an immersion blender or strain the porridge through a sift. 

Add more water to get the right consistency. Take the porridge of the heat and add the lemon zest.

Serve the hot Øllebrød with cold milk or whipped cream.