Sourdough English Muffins

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🟢 Beginner⏱ ~3 hrs (or overnight)🍞 8 muffins

Sourdough English muffins are one of my favourite ways to use a starter — or up some discard — and they're cooked on the hob, no oven required. Split one open with a fork and you get those craggy nooks and crannies that hold a ridiculous amount of melted butter. Soft, tangy and far better than anything shop-bought.

Ingredients

  • 350g Shipton Mill strong white flour
  • 100g active starter (or discard)
  • 200g whole milk, warmed
  • 5g fine salt
  • 5g sugar
  • Fine semolina or polenta, for dusting

Method

  1. Mix: Stir the starter into the milk, then add the flour, salt and sugar and mix to a soft, sticky dough. Cover and rest 15 minutes, then give it a quick round of folds in the bowl until smoother.
  2. Bulk ferment: Leave until risen and puffy — about 3–4 hours at room temperature, or refrigerate overnight and continue in the morning.
  3. Cut: Tip onto a well-floured surface, gently pat out to about 2cm thick, and cut out rounds with a cutter (or a glass). Dust both sides generously with semolina and lay on a tray.
  4. Proof: Cover and leave 45–60 minutes until slightly puffed.
  5. Cook on the hob: Heat a dry heavy frying pan or griddle over low-medium heat. Cook the muffins 6–8 minutes per side, turning once, until deep golden and cooked through — low and slow is key so the centres set before the outsides burn.
  6. Cool & split: Cool on a rack, then split them around the middle with a fork (not a knife) to keep all those nooks and crannies intact.
Tip: If the centres still feel doughy, finish them in a 180°C oven for 5 minutes. The semolina coating is what gives that classic gritty, golden base — don't skip it.

Don't waste your discard — and keep a lively starter going. Ours is live, organic and ready to bake in 2 hours.

Shop the Starter →
★ Tested in my kitchen

Recipe by Richard. I bake fresh sourdough every single day for the guests at the Airbnb we run, and I've baked and tweaked this one 50+ times before sharing it — so it's reliable enough to hand to someone making their first loaf.

My kitchen sits at around 22–23°C. I mix to a dough temperature of ~25°C (I check it with a probe thermometer), bulk ferment on the side, cold-proof overnight in the fridge, and bake in a cast-iron Dutch oven until the internal temperature hits ~98°C. The times in this recipe assume a similar setup — watch your dough, not the clock, and adjust to your own kitchen.

See how I bake — my kit, temperatures & hard-won tips →