Homemade English Muffins

 About a year and a half ago I got asked to teach a class on Stove-top recipes. Until that time I never realized that English muffins were cooked on a griddle or in a frying pan.
It took me three tries with the recipes I found, working out the kinks before I got it to work, but it was worth it! Now they are one of my favorite things to make. The nice thing is that the muffins take a while to cook so you can do other things while you're cooking them. Usually I double the batch and then make them at night while my kids are sleeping and then spend the interim cooking time shopping on Taobao or blogging or something else. Just make sure you set a timer if you do that though!
They are amazing! My husband says he has been spoiled and can't go back to store-bought after this. I love them with honey and butter or some fresh strawberry freezer jam.
Make sure you store them in the fridge or the freezer. As they don't have any preservatives, they will get moldy after a few days if you leave them out.

*One note- you will need metal rings to make these. I got mine at my favorite kitchen supply store at the Hongqiao Flower and Bird Market.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup non-fat powdered milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon shortening or butter
1 cup hot water
1 envelope dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1/8 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
Non-stick vegetable spray

Directions
In a bowl combine the powdered milk, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, shortening or butter, and hot water, stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Let cool.

In a separate bowl combine the yeast and 1/8 teaspoon of sugar in 1/3 cup of warm water and rest until yeast has dissolved. When the milk mixture has cooled and the yeast mixture turns foamy, add the yeast mixture.

Add the sifted flour and beat thoroughly with wooden spoon.  Don't over add flour. This is a very wet dough. The dough should be the consistency of thick pancake batter. Cover the bowl and let it rest in a warm spot for 30 minutes.

After the dough had risen for 1/2 hour, add remaining 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp baking soda ad mix well.

Put rings on your griddle or pan. (I use my stockpot because it heats up more evenly than my frying pan and gives better uniformity to my muffins)

Spray the bottom of the pan and the rings heavily with cooking spray and sprinkle cornmeal inside the rings.

Set your flame on the lowest it will go without going out (My last apartment you could turn the flame down lower than this -this apartment I had to turn the flame off and on to keep the pan from getting too hot)

Add 1/4 cup of dough to the bottom of each ring.

Sprinkle cornmeal over the top of each muffin.

Let cook for 4-5 minutes. You will know when they are ready to flip because the top of the muffins will no longer appear shiny.

Flip and cook on the other side 2-3 minutes.

Let cool.

Split with a fork and enjoy!

Pumpkin Bagels

Back in the days when I worked as a dental assistant, one of the offices I worked at happened to be right across the street from an Einstein Brothers Bagel Shop. My favorite time of the year was right around Halloween because they always had pumpkin bagels and gingerbread cream cheese at that time. Well, I have yet to attempt gingerbread cream cheese(someday I promise I will) but here is the recipe I created for pumpkin bagels in Shanghai. (I used fresh pumpkin-available at any Shanghai wet market. See my previous entry on baking pumpkin if you've never done it- it is so easy, healthier and way cheaper than the stuff in a can)

Pumpkin Bagels

Ingredients:
3/4 cup pumpkin (mine was a pretty soft puree)

1 cup luke warm water

1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger (you could easily sub fresh grated ginger)

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp yeast

5-6 cups flour

Directions.

In a large bowl add pumpkin.

Dissolve sugar in lukewarm water and add to bowl.


Add sugar water mixture, salt, spices, and yeast.

Stir well.

Add 3-4 cups of flour and stir to combine ingredients. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time until dough is too stiff to stir.

Knead in bowl or on counter for 8-10 minutes (I like to put on a show on the portable dvd player and get in my upper arm workout while I'm listening to something :) Keep adding a little flour at a time if dough is sticky.

Cover and let rise until doubled in size. 1 1/2 -2 hours.

Deflate by turning over in bowl a few times. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. This will make shaping easier.

Divide into 16-24 balls depending on size preference.

Let rise 1/2 hour (Don't let them rise too much- it will seriously affect the texture of the top of your bagel if you do)

Using your floured finger, make a hole in the center of each bagel.

Pick it up and give it a little spin around your finger.

Meanwhile in a saucepan or wok (I actually like my wok best) heat 2-3 inches of water. Dissolve 2 tbsp brown sugar and 1 tbsp white sugar in the water. Heat until boiling.

Working in batches boil 6-8 bagels at time. Two minutes on the first side, then flip. Then one minute on the next side.

I use a bamboo chopstick to flip the bagels and to take them out of the water.

After the bagels have boiled transfer them to a parchment lined baking sheet. Parchment paper is not essential, but it makes it so much easier to get them off the pan. Cooking spray just doesn't work that well. The bagels have a tendency to become glued to the pan. Parchment paper solves this problem.

Bake at 215°C or 450°F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

Enjoy toasted with cream cheese!