English Muffins hydration question

Richard Hollenbeck 19 years ago

Here's the formula I have been using:

English Muffins

method: muffin method

Bread flour 900 g 100.00% Salt 12 g 1.33% Baking soda 2 g 0.22%

Water 702 g 78.00% Sugar 16 g 1.78% Instant yeast 12 g 1.33% Milk powder 20 g 2.22%

Corn meal (as needed)

TOTAL: 1663.92 g 184.88%

But, it is too firm a dough. I'm think I might need more of a batter consistency and pour them into molds on the stove, rather than form them into muffins. Should I simply increase the water? The formula produced the correct taste but the air bubbles in the crumb were too small to look like Thomas' English Muffins. I'm thinking the batter should be a little thicker than pancake batter. What the above formula produces is a very sticky dough that loses its shape when transfering it from the proofing bench to the griddle. With a thinner dough (batter), the holes have a chance to form on the stove. BUT I DON'T WANT TO MESS UP ALL THE OTHER RATIOS. Will simply adding a little water as needed do the trick or will it totally change the amount of other ingredients needed?

By the way, I think a little spray oil in the mold will help release the muffins from the mold but I place the corn meal on the griddle before pouring the batter into the mold.

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Bob (this one) 19 years ago

That's not an English muffin, then. They aren't batter breads.

That shouldn't be your standard. That's factory-made bread. Home made will look different.

You're handling it too roughly.

It will become a different product.

Look into different recipes.

Pastorio

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Bob Eld 19 years ago

English Muffins require high gluten flour, 12.5% to 13.5% protein. Such flours should develop the bubble hole pattern you are looking for. Just adding more water will probably not do it. Regular bread flours have a protein range of 11% to 12% and all purpose flour has a range of 10% to 11%. These won't do for proper English Muffins, Bagels, Kaiser Rolls and other goods requiring high gluten flour.

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Richard Hollenbeck 19 years ago

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. Maybe I could just substitute a portion of the bread flour with some vital wheat gluten to raise the protein level. I shop at Winco Foods and I didn't see "high gluten flour" there but I DID see bins full of "vital wheat gluten" which I suppose is even higher in protein. Some combination of regular bread flour and vital wheat gluten could get my flour up to the correct protein level. Is this not correct?

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