These gluten free English muffins are light and fluffy, toast up with crisp edges, and have tons of nooks and crannies.
Once these muffins are cooled and fork-split, they freeze perfectly. And you can even finish them in a toaster oven instead of a traditional oven so your kitchen stays cool. Clearly, they’re a breakfast home run.
I started out thinking I was making gluten free English crumpets—those cousins of gluten free English muffins that remind me of sturdier pancakes that are cooked on one side only, until bubbles break through the surface.
I started with the recipe for gluten free English Muffins from page 118 of Gluten Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread (which is adapted from the recipe for English Muffin Bread from page 74), and went from there.
The difference between the dough for crumpets and the dough for English muffins is mostly one of hydration percentages. Crumpet dough is more like pancake batter than any bread dough.
English muffin dough seems kind of like how pre-gluten-free-bread-revolution gluten free bread dough—very, very wet (although not quite freely pourable).
So what’s the difference between the English muffins from GFOAS Bakes Bread and these super fluffy English muffins? A few things, but it’s also mostly a matter of hydration.
I won’t bore you with more of the details. I hear the devil is in there anyway.
How to make these English muffins
They’re ridiculously easy. Just mix up the dough (with a whisk!), set it to rise for about 30 minutes.
You’ll need English muffin rings to pour the dough into. One-inch rings cut from empty aluminum cans work just fine, if you don’t have a set of actual made-for-English-muffins rings.
Mix in the salt and baking powder right before filling English muffin rings () and letting them cook. Finish them in the oven or the toaster oven (or even in the skillet!) and let them cool.
For some extra tips on successful gluten free yeast bread baking, come see my 10 secrets. But really? You can ruin these.
I do have to insist that you split them properly, with a fork, though. Otherwise? No nooks, not to mention crannies. And that’s the whole point here, isn’t it? Stay tuned for traditional English crumpets, but for now I think these will do. :)
Super Fluffy Gluten Free English Muffins
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups (350 g) Gluten Free Bread Flour*
1 tablespoon (12 g) sugar
1 2/3 teaspoon (5 g) instant yeast
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (9 fluid ounces) warm milk (about 95°F)
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces/10 fluid ounces) warm water (about 95°F)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon (4 g) kosher salt
*BREAD FLOUR NOTES
- 1 cup (140 g) Gluten Free Bread Flour, as discussed more fully on pages 8 to 10 of GFOAS Bakes Bread, contains 100 grams Mock Better Batter all purpose gluten free flour (or Better Batter itself) + 25 grams whey protein isolate (I use NOW Foods brand) + 15 grams Expandex modified tapioca starch.
- For a calculator that helps you build the flour using my Mock Better Batter, but without doing any math, please see my Gluten Free Flour page.
- If you would like to use Ultratex 3 in place of Expandex, please see #6 on my Resources page for instructions.
Instructions
Place the flour, sugar and yeast in a large bowl and whisk to combine well. Add the milk and water, whisking to combine well after each addition. The dough will be very wet, and should have a consistency that is slightly thicker than pancake batter. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft-free location to rise for about 30 minutes, or until nearly doubled in size. Line two small, rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper and set them aside. Preheat your oven to 325°F.**
**To avoid turning on your oven, you can either finish baking the English muffins in a toaster oven preheated to the same temperature, or try covering your skillet once the muffins are on the second side, reducing the heat to low and cooking until the internal temperature of the muffins reaches 195°F.
Place a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, or heat a griddle to medium. While the pan or griddle is heating, grease four metal English muffin rings (1-inch rings cut from empty aluminum cans also work well) and place them in the hot pan or griddle. In a separate, small bowl, whisk together the baking powder and salt. Uncover the bowl of dough and mix in the baking powder and salt. Using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop (or two spoons), fill the English muffin rings about three-quarters of the way full with the dough. Allow the muffins to cook for about 5 minutes before using tongs or a spatula to flip the rings with the muffins inside and cooking for another 3 to 5 minutes or until the underside of the muffins is lightly golden brown. Transfer the muffins in the rings to a prepared baking sheet, carefully remove the rings using the tongs, and place in the preheated oven (or toaster oven) to bake until the internal temperature reaches 195°F (about 7 minutes). Alternatively, cover the skillet or griddle until cooked through completely. Repeat with the remaining dough, using more greased muffin rings.
As soon as the muffins are finished baking or cooking, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Split each muffin with a fork by inserting the tines in the center of the muffin along the middle, parallel to the muffin itself, and gently pry open the muffin with your fingers. Serve warm. With butter. Lots of butter.
Adapted from the recipe for English Muffins on page 118 of Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread.
christine says
Could I sub with rice milk?
Melissa says
O.k Nicole I answered my own question. These can be cooked in a shallow cast iron muffin pan, it takes a bit longer and they still need to be flipped. I also cooked some in aluminum foil rings but they fell out when flipping them. One of the twins stated that if he had to eat these everyday for the rest of his life he’d be happy. High praise from a teenager!
Melissa says
Nicole, can I just put these in a cast iron English muffin pan, instead of the rings? Thanks.
molly yeh says
amazing!!!! i made these this morning, and did some desperate substitutions in my pre-second-coffee haze… used plain yogurt because i didn’t have milk, and basic gluten free all-purpose flour because i didn’t have bread flour. also i was too impatient to let them rise the whole way and i might have dumped in way too much baking powder and salt. BUT THEY WERE STILL SO FREAKING GOOD! topped them ham and an egg, all benedict style. YAY!
Michelle says
Made these today. They are simple to make, and came out great!
mena says
Hey Nicole,
these look great and i can’t wait to try them.I have a question about the icecream sandwiches.Do you think they would work in glass pans or would i have to buy metal? I would love to make them, because I personally, have missed them on hot summer days.I would really appreciate a response,thanks!
mary says
tried the ones from the 2nd cookbook,and they worked out pretty well. going to try these soon. thanks nicole!
Mel says
I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never made homemade English muffins (gluten-free or not) but all this talk about nooks and crannies has me planning it in very soon. Yours are the picture of perfection as always, Nicole!
Melissa Haserot says
Fail! I followed the directions to the letter, but ended up with thick , doughy little biscuits. I put them back in the oven to bake longer, but the outsides got tough, and the insides never fully cooked. No nooks, no crannies. :(
Anneke says
Did you measure your ingredients by weight? It makes a huge difference.
Michelle says
Seconded on the weighing of ingredients. Did you use Nicole’s flour blend? That’s really important, too.
Nicole Hunn says
Looks like you already got some great advice from fellow readers, Melissa! If you made substitutions, I’d always look there first.
Anneke says
Yeah, I’m gonna be making these guys! I wish my kids didn’t get up so early; I just can’t bring myself to get up early enough to have the extra 30 minutes required to make something like this fresh in the morning. Guess they’ll have to continuing suffering with fresh from the freezer breakfast. Poor babies.
Nicole Hunn says
How about those wonderful, competent, older children of yours get up 30 minutes early, Anneke?! These really are perfect “fresh from the freezer,” though! ;)
Anneke says
Even I’m not that mean, Nicole, they already get up at 5:30! Any earlier and I think they might punch me, actual cooking might be too much to ask for.
Carole says
THANK YOU these are probably going to be a weekly baking project. Where do you find English Muffin rings ?? Live in the mountains and nothing is nearby. Will have to buy a big package of Canadian bacon also.
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Carole, I bought some of my English muffin rings in a local kitchen supply store, and others online at amazon. I think the brand is Fox Run, but I also think King Arthur Flour sells their own, too.
Elizabeth @ ChampagneOnMondays says
Oh my god these look so good! I’m definitely going to make these, my favorite breakfast food is eggs benedict and I’ve been without a real english muffin for this dish since I was diagnosed with celiac in 2008!
Nicole Hunn says
Oh these are definitely perfect for eggs benedict, Elizabeth!
Lucy says
Wonderful Nicole!
I have also used aluminum foil to make muffin rings, folded over three or four times then joined by folding the ends together. I can’t wait to try these out!
I made two recipes of Apricot Crumble Bars yesterday, I had two pieces they were soooo good!
Nicole Hunn says
That aluminum foil method sounds great, Lucy. It would probably be really great with heavy-duty foil, if you have it.
Love that you’re all over that Apricot Crumble Bar recipe, Lucy!
Jennifer S. says
Holy Moly Macaroni!!!!! I think I’ve been waiting my whole life for these AND I just ran out of my other ones….. thank you!
Nicole Hunn says
You always make me laugh, Jennifer. :)