English Whole wheat Boat Muffins

Making Whole Wheat English Muffins on the Boat

I really enjoy cooking on the boat, but I practice at home first. That practice includes using utensils that I have on the boat and avoiding those that are not.

Here's the recipe, it's a version of the King Arthur Baking English muffins but modified to cook aboard.

Makes 8 English Muffins. (Just double for 16, but that might be 4 separate bakes of 4 )

Time to bake:-

• 1st Rising Time - Two hours
• 2nd Rising Time 20 to 30 minutes
• Baking time 21-25 minutes
• Total time: about 2 1/2 Hours - but most of that is just watching, plenty of time to do something other busy on the boat.

Ingredients:

• 7/8ths Cups of warm milk (warm enough to melt butter)
• 1&1/2 Tablespoons of  butter
• 3/4 Teaspoon of Salt
• 1 Tablespoon of Granulated sugar (or cane sugar)
• 1/2 of a large egg or 1 small egg -  lightly beaten
• 1 Cup of KABC Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1//4 Cup of KABC Bread Flour
• 1 Teaspoon  of yeast

Also need a tablespoon of Ground Cornmeal for the baking tray.

Kitchen Tools:

• Mixing Bowl I use a 7 Quart Mixing bowl with Lid and a Spatula to mix the ingredients.
• Spatula
• 4 Cup measuring Cup
• Hand whisk or Fork.
• Cookie sheet that fits the oven.
• Parchment Paper.
• Kitchen slice (to flip the half baked muffins)
• Oven that can get up to 350ºF

Making the Dough:

Add the egg to the measuring cup and lightly beat the eggs maybe 30 seconds.

Add the butter to the egg mix.

Add the warm milk to the mix and give it a good stir.

In the mixing bowl, add the Flours, Salt and Yeast.

Whisk to mix for about 30 seconds.

Pour the Egg, Milk, Butter mixture into the bowl containing the Flour, Salt and Yeast.

Now the difficult bit: Stir it up with the Spatula, this should take about 3 or 4 minutes, it'll be a sticky and about as stiff than peanut butter (creamy). Mixing it is just to ensure the flours are all combined and the yeast is generally distributed. 

 Once mixed, put a lid on the mixing bowl ( I really detest using plastic film, but if you have to !)

Let the dough rise for about 2 hours, it won't rise much, probably not double.

Preparing the Muffins:

Line the baking tray with Parchment Paper ( I don't have a small tray at home so I'm using a standard tray here, on the boat I would cook two batches on the small tray that fits the oven.)

Sprinkle some cornmeal on the paper.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface.

Divide into 8 pieces

Roll each piece into a ball, then turn the outsides up into the bottom to form a smooth top to the ball.

Press the dough piece to form about a 3" diameter disk, it'll be about 1/4" or so thick.

Place the dough onto the paper with the cornmeal. Repeat for as many of the muffins as will fit your tray.

Cover the tray with either another piece of parchment paper or with a second tray inverted.

Let the dough rest for about 20 to 30 minutes, they won't rise up very much but they'll rest easy :)

While the doughs are resting on the tray, preheat the oven to 350ºF (My boat's oven can get up to 475º)

When the oven is up to temp and the 20 to 30 minutes rest time is over, Pop the tray in the oven.

Let them bake for about 7 to 8 minutes, then flip each muffin.

Let the 2nd side bake for 7 to 8 minutes, then flip again. This time one side (now the top) should be browned, Let them bake again for another 5 minutes. Time to pull them out.

The inside of the muffins should reach close to 200ºF if not leave them for another couple of minutes.

If using a small baking tray, then let the oven get back to temperature and bake the 2nd batch.

Let the muffins cool if you can, but no harm if you fork one or two apart while still hot and smother the nooks and crannies with butter or spread.

Keep them in the bread bin and toast them in the morning for breakfast, oh so good!

This batch turned out great, the whole wheat flavour is really nice and the nooks and crannies are not like crumpets, but they are just waiting for a tablespoon of butter or spread with, perhaps, some Peanut Butter and Plum jam.

I'll be baking these often, so easy and so delicious. 

See you on the water, I may have a few on board to share.