SOURDOUGH ENGLISH MUFFINS

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg, chipped or melted butter, honey, and warmed milk.
• Add the starter, salt, and flour, and mix thoroughly.
• Cover and let rise until puffy and about twice the original size. This was about 6 hours in the oven with the light on ~80-85F; and 8-10 hours at lower room temperatures.
• Flour your counter, scrape the dough out of the bowl onto the counter, gently press it into a rectangle, and roll the rectangle into a tube.
• Let the dough rest about 15 minutes while you:
• Dust a cookie sheet with cornmeal
• Put about 1/4 cup of cornmeal on a small plate
• Tare your scale with another small plate on it
• Grease your English muffin rings with oil spray or butter
• Make indents along your dough with a knife or bench scraper to mark ten pieces. If you want to weigh the pieces, they should be about 100g. Cut off a piece, and shape/roll it into a patty. Press the flat sides into the cornmeal. Place the muffin in a ring on the cookie sheet and flatten it with your fingertips until it touches the ring. Here is a video of this process.
• Cover the cookie sheet and proof at room temperature for 1-2 hours, or proof in the refrigerator 8-10 or more hours.
• When you are ready to bake, remove the cookie sheet from the refrigerator, uncover it, and preheat the oven to 425F (about 10 minutes).
• Bake 12 minutes.
• Remove from oven, flip muffins over, remove the rings, and return the sheet to the oven.
• Bake an additional 10-12 minutes.
• Muffins should be over 205F internal temperature, with very slight browning beginning on the sides. (You will have medium brown areas on the top and bottom of the muffins.)
• Remember to open the muffins with a fork, rather than slice with a knife, in order to maximize nooks and crannies. Poke all the way around and then gently pry apart the top and bottom.
• 8 Muffin Version
• Weigh the dough for each at 125g, and cook an additional 2-4 minutes.
• Skillet Batter Version
• Below the Oven Baked Photo Gallery is a Skillet Batter Version Gallery
• Add 1/4 cup of water or milk to the dough when mixing to make it scoopable.
• At the end of the bulk fermentation, press the dough from the sides of the bowl downward with a spatula.
• Proof with the same guidelines as the oven version, but unshaped in the bowl.
• At the end of the proofing stage, heat a skillet with butter or oil, grease your metal rings and place them on the skillet. Sprinkle cornmeal inside the rings.
• Scoop about 1/2 cup of the batter into each ring, sprinkle cornmeal on the top of the batter and gently smooth down the batter with a spoon.
• Cook on medium heat for about 16 minutes each side, removing the rings when you flip. Cook time is highly variable depending on your skillet temperature. Covering your skillet and lowering the heat can help if you get too much browning with a cold interior.