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These overnight English muffins are a delicious way to indulge in English muffins at home! Prep the dough in advance, then cook the English muffins in a skillet until golden and finish baking through in the oven for breakfast bliss. Recipe makes 12 English muffins.
This English muffin recipe is practically foolproof! Made with bread flour, the slightly firm dough holds its shape nicely for almost perfectly round muffins, no rings required!
Make a batch and you’ll find that these homemade English muffins are just as good (if not better) than any store-bought ones.
How to make the best English muffins
The secret to a great English muffin is time – a nice slow rise creates the best flavor and that signature craggy interior that just begs for a slather of butter and your favorite jam.
Prep the dough ahead and let it rise in the refrigerator overnight (or up to three days), then pull it out whenever you’re ready for a leisurely breakfast.
More breakfast ideas you’ll love:
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Foolproof Overnight English Muffins
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 24 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 24 minutes
- Yield: 12 English muffins
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
Overnight English muffins are a delicious way to indulge in English muffins at home! Prep the dough in advance and cook in the morning for breakfast bliss! Recipe yields 12 English muffins.
Ingredients
Starter
- 3/4 cup (105 g) bread flour
- 1/2 cup (118 g) lukewarm water
- 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
Dough
- 1 cup (240 g) lukewarm low-fat milk
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 2 Tbsp (28 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 Tbsp (24 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 cups (420 g) bread flour
- Semolina flour for dusting
- Butter for the skillet
Instructions
- Make starter: Combine bread flour, water, and yeast in a small bowl and whisk together until smooth and glossy. Cover and let starter stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours (a longer ferment gives the finished English muffins better flavor and structure).
- Make dough: Combine milk and yeast in a large mixer bowl and mix on low speed until incorporated; add starter and mix on low until well combined. Add butter, sugar, and salt and mix on low to combine. Add bread flour and mix on low just until dough forms. Switch out the flat beater for a dough hook and knead dough for 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic. The dough is ready when it feels tacky but doesn’t stick to your fingers.
- Rest dough: Place dough in a large bowl coated with nonstick spray; cover and refrigerate overnight, or up to 3 days.
- Divide and shape muffins: Sprinkle a rimmed baking sheet with semolina flour. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and use a floured bench scraper to cut dough into four sections. Cut each section into three equal pieces and use lightly floured hands to roll each piece into a smooth round ball, gently stretching the dough over itself and pinching together at the bottom. Flatten each ball slightly and space slightly apart on prepared baking sheet; sprinkle with more semolina. Let muffins rise in a warm place until puffy, about 90 minutes.
- Cook English muffins: Preheat oven to 350°F and warm a large skillet over medium heat. Melt a pat of butter in the skillet, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Cook muffins in batches in skillet until golden on each side, about 4 minutes per side. Press muffins gently with a spatula while cooking to prevent them from rising too much. If muffins are browning too quickly, reduce heat slightly.
- Finish baking through: When muffins are golden on both sides, place on a baking sheet in the oven to cook through, about 15 minutes. Let muffins cool for 10 minutes before splitting with a fork and serving.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature, or wrap English muffins well and freeze up to 3 months.
Notes
Quick English muffin alternative: Let the dough rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 90 minutes, and then make the muffins immediately.
Recipe adapted from The Kitchn
Wow, these came out perfectly. Easy recipe. Browned beautifully. I used a non-stick electric griddle so I didn’t use the butter…dry-fried and they didn’t stick at all. 15 minutes at 350° in the oven was perfect to get them to an internal temp of 205° and they were done.
All the nooks and crannies were there when we fork-split and toasted them. The flavor is just incredible. I’m going to be making these a LOT. Thank you!
They look perfect! 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing, Julie!
These are delicious! I will never purchase them again. I have made them two times and they turned out beautifully. Both times I skipped the oil and cooked them 4 minutes per side on dry cast iron pans (just didn’t want the added oil). The second time I replaced 40 grams of the dry and liquid ingredients with leftover sourdough starter and they were amazing! Thank you for sharing the recipe
Thank you so much for sharing this feedback, Angie! 🙂 Great to hear your results with the sourdough starter too.
These turned out perfectly and were pretty straightforward to make. I appreciated the overnight rise, it just leaves you with the shaping, last rise and (very quick) bake for the next day– the muffins were ready just in time for brunch. I subbed in all-purpose flour with a bit of vital wheat gluten for the bread flour, and they were great. The flavor and texture beats out the store bought muffins hands down, and since these came together really easily, we’ll definitely be making these on a regular basis and keeping some in the fridge between batches.
So happy to hear that, thank you Christina! 🙂