The stress baking continues

My first attempt at homemade English muffins.
Nooks and crannies, toasted and buttered.

I’ll be brief. Here’s the recipe for no-knead English muffins. Special stress baking edition. They were really easy and absolutely delicious. I simply followed the instructions, and they came out great!

You’ll need bread flour. The dough rises about five hours at room temperature. Then you’ll dollop out muffin-sized bits of dough onto a sheet tray, and your little treasures will spend the night in the refrigerator before you cook them, so plan accordingly.

We picked up an order from a different grocery store today. We couldn’t find the pick-up point, but one of the guys dragging carts around in the parking lot told us it was by the rear entrance to the store. Once we got there, everything went smoothly.

Among the goodies today were romaine lettuce and fresh spinach. My eyes got misty at the sight of romaine. Oh, how I long for the days when romaine was the most dangerous thing that came out of a grocery store.

As we speak, Dale is doing an online order from the liquor store. In my professional expertise, an early afternoon pick-up time is ideal. Late enough to linger around in the morning but not so late as to interfere with happy hour.

Still hanging tough. It’s pouring rain today. An absolute deluge. We need it, but really? It seems like pretty soon we’ll be boarding in twos.

20 thoughts on “The stress baking continues”

      1. They are beautiful! I’ve never heard of anyone making their own Engish muffins!

        1. Thank you! We had them again this morning, and they really are yummy. Not the same as store-bought, but I like them better.

  1. They look good!
    I’ve got sour dough ready to go too.
    BTW how are you doing the alcohol pick up??
    I know bel air has it but liquor store??
    Like Bev Mo??

    1. He did BevMo. We like Total Wines & More, but they were out of Dale’s preferred brand of gin. It’s all paid for, and we have a pick-up time, but I’m not sure they bring it to the car. Dale gets annoyed if I micromanage, so I had to back off and not ask too many questions. I’ll shoot you an email tomorrow to let you know how it went.

  2. Those look wonderful! As the British say on all their baking shows, “Well done!” I made biscotti today, which I’ve never made before. Not a great success, but they taste good, and I’m looking forward to having one tomorrow with my afternoon coffee. My husband is making my birthday cake tomorrow, something he’s never done before. I requested lemon with lemon curd filling and lemon buttercream frosting. The curd he made today was pretty good so I have high hopes for the rest of it.

    1. Dale used to make biscotti. I may have to force him back into servitude. Happy birthday! The cake sounds absolutely scrumptious. Lemon. Buttercream. What’s not to like?

  3. I think your rain is coming our way. Tuesday and Wednesday down here in S. California. I’ve had two good days in a row, primarily because I stopped reading the news I’m guessing. The stress! I simply can’t take it anymore.

    So instead we’ve gone hiking and walking all over our local hills, Zoom’d like maniacs with friends and family, worked on the yard, cooked, baked, read, organized, and just tried to keep our minds occupied so they don’t go looking for the latest Covid counts(!).

    If baking works for you, I say bake and bake till you can’t bake no more!

    1. It was quite a downpour. I think the Sierras are getting hammered, which is good.

      I agree with you about the news. I have to distance myself. “Bake til I can’t bake no more” might be my new mantra. Thank you!

  4. This is so timely – if only I had bread flour on hand. I never eat bread. My toaster lives out of the way in a high cupboard. But the last time I was at a store, I bought three packages of Thomas English muffins because English muffins is what I’ve been craving during this whole mess. But bread flour is definitely going on my list.

    1. Timely, indeed! Bread has a magic appeal. Years ago, I accused Dale of eating too much bread. He looked at me in horror and said in complete seriousness, “Bread is the staff of life.”

  5. Oh my. I may have to add English muffins to my baking list. Those look wonderful and I love English muffins!!

    1. We had them again this morning. With the whole wheat, they have a nutty chewiness commercial muffins don’t have, but it makes them all that much better.

  6. Are you aware that there is “alive” bread and “dead” bread?
    A French friend now living in Spain says any bread that is ever frozen is dead. You can eat it if you must, but it’s missing the aliveness bread should have!
    Since I buy a loaf and stick it in the freezer so I can have a slice a day with my almond butter — I’m stuck eating dead bread for the rest of my life!

    1. I was not aware of that. We eat a lot of dead bread as well. Some bread we store in the refrigerator because it keeps longer. I’m not sure what we would call refrigerated bread. Terminal? Undead? Interesting information!

    2. Marlene, France is like the US, it’s a big country with many ideas and belief. I am French from Paris now moving from Atlanta to Nashville. In GA I go to a great French bakery, whose owners are from La Rochelle, and make the best baguettes. They sell them to me frozen so that I can take them to Nashville. They told me they would be just as fresh once de-frozen and reheated briefly– and they are in the business. I did and they are great, so don’t worry about frozen bread.

  7. The muffins look so good. I’ll try making them next. I am out of bread and tried to bake some in my old bread-maker (unused for 19 years.) It came out as a brick – same size, same weight and look as a brick. I almost broke my electric knife trying to slice it so am afraid for my teeth! My daughter does not want me to go out at all because of my newly found heard condition but I did get some groceries delivered on March 24 – running out of fresh things now though.

    1. Hello! Thank you for visiting and sharing your story. It sounds like you’re doing all the right things to keep safe. Bread helps.

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