A long time family favourite, this English muffin bread is perfect toasting bread, with lots of nooks and crannies to hold the melted butter. It’s no-knead easy, too!
This easy and delicious English muffin bread is a batter bread, so there is absolutely no kneading required. It’s a great loaf for beginner bread bakers!
The characteristic nooks and crannies are great for holding onto the melted butter. This bread makes great toast with jam or for a breakfast sandwich or grilled cheese.
Ingredients and Substitutions
A few notes about the key ingredients …
Milk – use 2% or whole (3%) milk, for best results. I haven’t tested this recipe with non-dairy milk. I suspect it will work, but I can’t be sure how the texture of the loaf might be altered.
Yeast – you can use Active Dry yeast or regular Instant yeast (such as SAF Brand yeast). Rapid rise or quick-rising yeast hasn’t been tested with this recipe.
Baking Soda – baking soda is responsible for the nooks and crannies, so you don’t want to skip it!
Cornmeal – dusting the loaf pan with cornmeal both stops the loaf from sticking, but also adds a real “English muffin” feel to the bread.
How to make English muffin bread
This is a visual summary of the steps to make this bread. Always refer to the complete instructions in the Recipe Card below when making this recipe.
- Mix together the dough in a mixer or a large bowl with a spoon.
- Cover the bowl and let rise for 1 hour.
- Stir in the baking soda and water thoroughly.
- Prepare a loaf pan by spraying with cooking spray and then dusting with cornmeal.
- Use a bowl scraper or a spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl.
- Scrape the dough into the prepared loaf pan. Allow to rise in the pan and bake.
Recipe tips!
- If you notice brownish spots in bread, it’s just a chemical reaction from the baking soda and nothing to worry about. Be sure to mix the baking soda mixture in well with the dough to minimize this.
- This is a very moist bread, so it takes a longer time to toast. Be patient :)
Making ahead, storing and freezing
The extra moisture in this bread means it doesn’t last as long on the counter. You can refrigerate the loaf to lengthen the time it lasts or freeze for longer storage, up to 3 months.
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Get the Recipe: English Muffin Bread
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons dry active or instant yeast, not quick or rapid rise yeast
- Pinch white sugar
- 1/2 cup water, warmed to 105-115° F.
- 1 3/4 cups milk, warmed to 100° F.
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt, use a bit less for table salt
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and levelled
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda , dissolved in 1 Tablespoon water
- Cornmeal for dusting pans
Instructions
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the warm water. Stir and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Add the warm milk to the water and yeast mixture. Add the salt and mix in. With a large wooden spoon or the paddle attachment of a stand mixer running at low speed, add the flour 1 cup at a time, stirring the flour in after each addition. Stir until smooth and well-blended, about 30 strokes by hand or about a minute on low with a stand mixer.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft-free place for about 1 hour. (I make this in a stand mixer. After mixing, I simply remove the paddle attachment and place plastic wrap over the top of the stand mixer bowl. Wash off the paddle attachment to use again later.)
- Prepare a 9×5 loaf pan by spraying well with non-stick spray (or grease well). (Alternately, you can use a 4×12, 4×13 or two 8×4 loaf pans. The 8×4 will make two small/short loaves). Sprinkle liberally with cornmeal on the bottom and sides of the pans. (Sprinkle the cornmeal into the bottom, then tip the pan so the cornmeal coats the sides, as well). Place loaf pan onto a baking sheet and set aside.
- At the end of the hour rise, the dough should have doubled in size and be quite bubbly.
- If making by hand, stir down the batter-like dough and add the dissolved baking soda/water mixture. (This is responsible for the lovely bubble texture of the finished bread.) Be sure to stir the baking soda in well. If using a stand mixer, remove the plastic wrap from the bowl and return the paddle attachment to the mixer, then add in the dissolved baking soda and mix into the dough on low speed for about 30-45 seconds or until well combined.
- Preheat oven to 375F (regular bake/not fan assisted), with the rack in the centre of the oven.
- Pour or spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pans, dividing the batter evenly between the two pans. A silicone bowl scraper works really well for this job. If necessary, use a spatula to push the batter into the corners of the pan. The pan will be about 1/2 to 2/3 full.
- Allow dough to rest in the pan until the dough rises to 1/2-inch from the top edge of the pan on the sides. **This can happen quickly, especially if using the 4×12 pan (10-15 minutes), so don't wander too far. As soon as the dough reaches that point, immediately put in the oven. (A 9×5 loaf generally takes about 30-35 minutes. If using a 4×13 with tall sides or two 8×4 pans, let rise no longer than 30 minutes).
- Place loaf into preheated oven, on the baking sheet and bake for 40-60 minutes or until at least 200F on an instant read thermometer or when the loaf is deep golden and the loaf pulls away from the side of the pan. (If at any point the loaf looks at risk of over-browning, place a sheet of aluminum foil loosely over the top of the loaves. My 4×12 dark-coloured loaf pan takes about 50 minutes. A 9×5 pan is generally done around 40 minutes.
- When done, remove from the oven, then immediately remove the loaf from the pan. Set to cool by laying them on their side on a wire rack (cooling on their sides prevents the centre of the loaf from sinking in). Allow to cool completely before slicing.
Notes
More bread recipes to love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Tried this bread yesterday evening for breakfasts this weekend and it’s really lovely. Mine had a hole in the middle and I should probably have baked it a few more minutes but you live and you learn :) I’ll definitely do this one again as it works well both with butter and ham and with bacon and eggs- and I bet it will be amazing as French toast tomorrow. Thanks for sharing!
So glad you enjoyed it, Anne-Sophie. Thanks!
This is Kyadi, you have the most amazing looking pics of homemade bread posted!!! Can you pretty plz create the English muffin bread and Buttermilk bread recipe for one loaf for a breadmaker, would appreciate it sooo much🙂
Hi Kyadi and thanks so much :) For the English Muffin bread, it is a batter bread, so it doesn’t need a breadmaker at all. Simply mix it up and pour it into the loaf pans. As for the Buttermilk bread, I wish I could help you, but I don’t own a breadmaker, so I have no way of testing a recipe. The buttermilk bread is a pretty straight forward yeast bread though, so I think it’s worth trying in the breadmaker.