My brother in law came in on the ferry late last night and both he and Cam are leaving this afternoon for a trip to our property. The kids and I will be joining them in a few more days. We’re so excited to see him and decided to make a fabulous breakfast in his honour. Since he’s a meatatarian and I didn’t have smoked salmon on hand, I went and found some local bacon but that can be easily omitted to make it vegetarian. Maybe add more spinach and a sautéed slice of tomato.

Egg's Benny

It’s taken me a while to try making english muffins because I hadn’t found a recipe that purposely makes them overnight to save having the whole task for the morning. I finally found this recipe and made it work for me. Here’s what I did:

English Muffins

English Muffins

  • 1 1/4 cups lukewarm Water
  • 3 1/2- 4 cups Bread Flour
  • 2 1/2 tsp Yeast
  • pinch of Demerara Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 3 Egg Whites
  • fine Cornmeal
  1. Proof yeast in a warmed, small bowl by running it under hot water. Add to now empty and warm bowl, yeast, a pinch of demerara sugar and warm water. Cover and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups of the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  3. In another smaller bowl, beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
  4. Add proofed yeast to the large bowl with the flour mixture and start to make the dough.
  5. Add egg whites to dough and fold in to incorporate as best you can.
  6. Add the rest of the flour a 1/4 cup at a time. When it’s too hard to mix in the bowl with a wooden spoon or your hands, turn it out onto the counter to finish combining the flour.
  7. Knead for 5 or 6 minutes until the dough is smooth and silky.
  8. Place in a oiled bowl and oil the dough as well. Cover the dough loosely with wax paper or tea towel and let sit 1 hour so the dough will double in size.
  9. Carefully turn out of bowl onto counter. Flatten a bit to remove extra air bubbles.
  10. Roll out to 1/2 inch thickness and then let the dough sit for about 3 minutes to relax.
  11. Cut into rounds. The first time I used a 3 inch round cutter, being the largest cutter I had but I now use a wide mouth jar to cut rounds in the dough. Place cut rounds on a cookie sheet covered with cornmeal. When all are cut, you should have two cookie sheets and sprinkle the tops with more cornmeal. Cover the sheets in wax paper or foil and put in the fridge overnight.
  12. In the morning, take the sheets out and allow them to sit for 20-30 minutes before cooking them.
  13. I’ve baked them at 350′ on my pizza stone in the oven but despite being more labour intensive prefer cooking them on the stove in an oiled cast iron pan.

English MuffinsEnglish MuffinsEnglish Muffins

English MuffinsEnglish MuffinsEnglish Muffins

For the Hollandaise Sauce I used this lovely recipe and I’ll share below how I altered it.

  • 5 Egg Yolks
  • 1 tbsp Water
  • 1/8 – 1/4 cup of fresh Lemon Juice (1/4 cup makes the sauce on the lemon side. It’s not bad at all but I’d use a bit less next time)
  • pinch of Cayenne
  • 1 1/2 cups Salted Butter, melted
  1. Melt butter if it isn’t already.
  2. Whisk egg yolks and lemon juice together in a bowl until mixture is thoroughly mixed. Place the bowl over a saucepan containing simmering water. Be careful to not cook the eggs by having it too hot or have the hot water touch the bottom of the bowl.
  3. Very slowly add the melted butter and continue to whisk until the sauce is thick.
  4. Remove from heat and whisk in the cayenne.
  5. Cover and place in a warm spot until read to use. If the sauce is too thick, add a few drops of water before serving.

So the Eggs Benedict is english muffin with a touch of butter, local canadian bacon (optional), slightly sautéed spinach, poached egg and hollandaise sauce. This was an amazing breakfast!

Egg's Benny

7 Responses to Eggs Benny

  1. Vanessa says:

    I love your blog.
    now I need a good excuse to make these at home this weekend.
    mmmm

  2. I’ve never even thought of making English muffins before. Will have to try this.

    Lisa :)

  3. greenteacher says:

    I’m so frickin’ impressed you made your own english muffins…seriously.

  4. Sarah says:

    Wow what a lucky brother in law you have! This looks absolutely fabulous……

    I don’t know why they are called English muffins, I’ve only ever seen them as the dreaded McMuffin (and only ever on posters…I hasten to add!). They certainly look delicious. I might try them, I have been getting a little braver with yeasty things lately though my results are still very inconsistent. You’ve obviously got this baking lark cracked though!

  5. rita in mi says:

    wow, these look super yummy. Nice pictures!

  6. Debbie says:

    We love english muffins. I’ve been wanting to make em’s for a while…I’m making these THIS weekend. Thank you, thank you.

  7. Kathy says:

    I am so enjoying your recipes. I have been making my own bread for a couple of months now and I am so excited to learn how easy it is to make my own English muffins. (I like to know and pronounce what goes into what I eat and serve my family) I recently made the King Arthur recipe and I just mixed yours. I am confused by your steps. (3) says to fold whites into dough…but flour is not added till (4). (1) mentions to add the salt and so does (4). I thought I’d leave my comment since incorporating the egg whites is probably an important step and when I folded it with the liquid/yeast mixture it broke up. So I am not sure if something I did may negatively impact the results. (tip….if you don’t have a 3″ round cutter, an inverted plastic cup works just as well)

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