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Рецепт Buckwheat English Muffins and Punky's Dilemma
by A Plym by Any Other Name

Buckwheat English Muffins and Punky's Dilemma

Wish I was an English muffin

‘Bout to make the most out of a toaster.

I prefer boysenberry more than any ordinary jam.

I’m a “citizens for boysenberry jam” fan.

-“Punky’s Dilemma,” Simon and Garfunkel

Last winter, I covered one of the walls of my

kitchen with chalkboard paint. The

first thing I wrote was "I'm a 'citizens for boysenberry jam' fan." And though most of the wall serves as a rotating menu board

of savories and sweets to make (and eat), the line stays. As a constant.

But I recently crossed English Muffins off. English Muffins. There. That’s better.

I like English muffins lightly toasted, the

crannies hotly bothered with butter.

No jam necessary. Treated

simply. Smelling of yeast and

toast.

Which brings me to buckwheat. Its slight nutty grittiness butters

splendidly. Though you could

easily convert the buckwheat into a white or whole wheat translation and achieve grand

results, I’m sure.

The recipe itself is not too terribly difficult,

though it does require some attention. If you have a griddle, you’ll be done in under an hour. If you

have a skillet, you’ll be batch-baking muffins in a cast iron from 11:00 AM

until 2:00 PM. No matter. It’s really no different than spending

a Saturday with a pot of soup bubbling away on the stovetop.

I should be very, very clear here: the

muffins are worth it. You’ll need to cook them low and slow. But

they’ll rise, get billowy, and then shrug and slump a bit when you flip

them. They’re soft and easily split with a fork, with all the nooks and crannies

you’d expect a proper English muffin to have.

And so the recipe stays.

As a new constant. Ready to

make the most out of a toaster.

Citizens, take note.

attachment (not dough hook).

Slowly pour in the milk and then the egg; mix on medium speed for about

5 minutes. If the dough sticks to

the bowl as it is mixing, scrape down the sides occasionally. (Throwing in a pinch of bread flour while

it is mixing may help too.) The dough is done when it pulls away from

the sides of the bowl and is smooth and elastic.

Form the dough into a ball, place it in a

bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place for 2

hours.

Gently deflate the dough and turn it out

onto a surface dusted with flour.

Cut the dough into 12 equal-sized pieces by dividing it in half and then

splitting each half in half and then dividing each of your four pieces of dough

into thirds.

Form each piece of dough into a ball,

stretching the ends of the dough and gathering them together underneath, so

that the tops of each piece are smooth.

Flatten each ball into a 3½ inch diameter round; dust the tops and

bottoms with cornmeal. Cover with

plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rest for 20 minutes. (They will puff up a bit.)

Heat a cast iron pan on low heat (or set a

griddle to 300 degrees). Very

lightly grease the pan with canola oil for the first round of baking (after

this initial greasing I did not re-grease). Working in batches of 3 or 4, place the muffin rounds on the

pan. (This will be done all at once if using a griddle.) Cook each muffin 15 to 20 minutes and

then flip and cook the other side for 15 to 20 minutes more. If you notice the muffins are browning

too quickly, turn down the heat.

The muffins can be checked for doneness by inserting a thermometer into

one of their centers; it should read 180 to 200 degrees. Between batches, sweep off any leftover

cornmeal bits so they do not burn.

Let cool and then split by working your way

around the muffin with a fork.

-I questioned the recipe the entire way

through. No dough hook? No blooming of the yeast? No use of

an oven? But it yielded great results.

-If your kitchen is incredible dry, you may

want to cover the English muffins with plastic wrap, instead of a towel, which

can help prevent a skin from forming on the muffins (which may inhibit their

rising). I didn’t have any issues

with the towel, but just a word of caution.

-As so often the case with me, they freeze

well. (No need to split them prior to freezing.)