Homemade English Muffin Bread

Hello and Happy New Year from the Barbershop! I hope your 2011 is off to a great start so far. You know what would make an even better start to 2011? If you try this English muffin bread! ;-)

This is a delicious recipe I got from my boyfriend Mike's mother, Linda. Mike wanted to make this bread to give to my parents over the holidays, and I happily joined him to make it. What can I say? I can't resist time in the kitchen that's devoted to baking! :)

Here's the super simple recipe for you:

-5 and 1/2 to 6 cups of flour (all-purpose or a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat)

-2 packages active dry yeast (equal to 4 and 1/2 tsp.)

-1 Tbsp. sugar

-2 tsp. salt

-1/4 tsp. baking soda

-2 cups milk (probably any kind will do! we used skim)

-1/2 cup water

-cornmeal

Combine 3 cups of flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Heat the liquids (milk and water) until warm (about 120 to 130 degrees). Add liquids to the dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in enough more flour to make the dough stiff (you may mix by hand with a spoon or spatula, or you can use a food processor; if you use the food processor, there's no need to knead the dough - haha, need to knead - but if you mix by hand you should knead the dough too). Prepare two loaf pans (9 x 5 or 8.5 x 4.5) by greasing with cooking spray and sprinkling with cornmeal. Put the dough in the prepared pans, and cover and let rise in a warm place for at least 45 minutes. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and let cool. Slice, toast, and enjoy!!

A few points of note from when Mike and I made this recipe... Total, we probably only used about 5 cups of flour, and we used a combination of all-purpose and wheat flours. We mixed the dough with a spoon by hand and it wasn't difficult at all! Finally, our bread was done after just 20 minutes, so I'd recommend setting your oven timer to 20 minutes and checking it then even though the recipe calls for baking it for 25 minutes.

Picture time!

Chef, er... Baker, er... Santa Mike!

The "risen" dough, ready for the oven!

Nice golden brown color!

Oh my gosh, sooo good.

You have to toast this bread...it's a must! I like that it has all the nooks and crannies of actual English muffins too. :) I enjoyed this bread toasted with margarine, jam, and peanut butter (not all at once though!). It was yummy with each one of those toppings!! It's such an easy yeast bread that takes no time at all. Ya gotta go try it. ;-)