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English Muffin Batter Bread

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English Muffin Batter Bread

English muffins are one of my favorite breads to toast. They not only have a great flavor, but they are full of nooks and crannies to fill with butter and jam. You can make them at home, but it’s much easier to make this English Muffin Batter Bread, instead! The yeast bread is called a batter bread because it is made from a batter and requires no kneading. The finished batter bread captures the flavor of an english muffin in a loaf form that anyone can bake.

When I say that this bread requires no kneading, I’m not kidding! It can be mixed up in one bowl and doesn’t require any special tools to make, although you will need active dry yeast for this recipe. Once the yeast has bloomed, all the ingredients are combined into a thick, smooth batter that is poured into a grease loaf pan to rise. After an hour or so, it goes directly into the oven to bake.

The finished bread has a fairly open texture that is similar to the holey-texture of an English muffin. The baking soda in the batter helps to create this texture. While it is added as leavening in many quick breads, baking soda is in this recipe to supplement the yeast. It begins to react as soon as it is stirred into the batter, creating all kinds of tiny air bubbles. As the bread rises and bakes, these bubbles expand even more and then set – leaving you with a bread that is a fantastic texture for toasting.

English Muffin Batter Bread

Don’t forget to lightly grease your loaf pan before pouring in the batter to ensure that your loaf comes out easily. Allow it to cool completely before slicing it into thick pieces with a serrated knife. The bread is good on its own, but it really shines after it has been toasted and that is my favorite way to serve it. The bread will keep for at least a day or two after baking, in the event that you can’t eat it all in one day.

(Note: This post originally appeared in September 2005. The post has been updated, but it’s amazing that this recipe is just as popular then as it is now!)

English Muffin Batter Bread
3/4 cup water, warm (approximately 100-110 F)
1/4 ounce active dry yeast (1 package/ 2 1/2 tsp)
2 tsp sugar
3 cups all purpose flour, divided
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup milk, warm (approximately 100-110 F)

Lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
In a small bowl, 1/4 cup of water with active dry yeast and sugar. Stir, then allow mixture to sit for 5 minutes until yeast is foamy.
Transfer yeast mixture to a large bowl, along 2 cups of flour, salt, baking soda, milk and remaining water. Mix until a smooth batter forms. Gradually stir in remaining flour until batter is thick and uniform. This can also be done in the stand mixer using a dough hook.
Pour batter into prepared pan and cover with plastic wrap.
Allow dough to rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until about doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Bake the loaf for about 30 minutes, until the top of the loaf is golden and it sounds hollow when tapped. An instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf should read 190-200F.
Turn bread out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf.

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20 Comments
  • M
    September 1, 2005

    Just discovered your site and I’m loving it! Such fantastic recipes, I have no idea what to try first! And I love how you’ve made baking healthier. It’s often difficult to find good lower-fat baked good recipes. Yay! Keep it up! I’d love to see some more recipes using pumpkin, as fall is fast approaching =)

  • Sara
    September 1, 2005

    I am crazy about english muffins! I think I’ll give this recipe a try this weekend.

  • Joe
    September 1, 2005

    I’ve made this before as well – this is very good bread! A great way for beginners to start into bread.

  • Melissa
    September 1, 2005

    Funny, that was the first bread I made when I got home from vacation.
    I must say, I didn’t use KA recipe and again, I must say….your results look BETTER! You know….the crumb..your has more holes! I’ll give your version a try!

  • Nic
    September 1, 2005

    M – I’m glad you’re enjoying some of the recipes. I love pumpkin, too, so I probably will be using it more as the days get cooler.

    Sara – It’s so easy; you’ll love it!

    Joe – I agree. You can’t get any simpler than this in a yeasted bread.

    Melissa – I have been so pleased with the KA recipes that I’ve tried. I really should get one of their books.

  • Mona
    September 1, 2005

    I love King Arthur everything. My parents recently took a trip to the “headquarters” and brought back all these cooking supplies/cookbooks. YAY!
    I was directed to your site from “banlieu blog” when I asked about Fried Green Tomatoes. I ‘ve bookmarked your post about it. Check out my NYC restaurant blog when you have a chance. And that English muffin bread looks great, any way to make it whole wheat?

  • Nic
    September 1, 2005

    Mona Li – To make this whole wheat, I would try using half white flour and half whole wheat, to ensure that you still got a good rise. You might need slightly less than the full amount of flour. I would also use 1-2 tbsp of honey instead of the sugar, just because I feel that honey adds a nice flavor to whole wheat breads.

  • Kelli
    September 1, 2005

    Mmm… I love english muffins! =) I should try this soon — maybe it will break me out of my bread failure rut.

  • Cathy
    September 1, 2005

    Hi Nic – I’ve always been tempted by these English Muffin Bread recipes, but never gotten around to trying one. I like the idea of using honey and some whole wheat flour. Hmmm… long weekend coming up, maybe time to make bread!

  • Ana
    September 1, 2005

    Nic, I love english muffins and the batter on this bread looks just like it. Will give it a try.

  • Nic
    September 1, 2005

    Kelli – You’re breads always look great. If you’re having problems, I’m sure it’s the weather!

    Cathy – Long weekends that don’t involve travel are made for baking.

    Ana – I hope you like it!

  • violet
    September 1, 2005

    oh man. saw your not-fried green tomatoes down the page. im making some fgt tomorrow, im craving them now.

    nic, whats going on with blogging by mail 2? i figured you would be the one to ask. my computer was broken for two weeks and i am out of the food blog loop. (not that i was ever in the loop to start)

  • Nic
    September 3, 2005

    Violet – Check out http://the_samantha_files.typepad.com/; Samantha is hosting this round of Blogging By Mail.

  • farmgirl
    September 3, 2005

    Hi Nic,
    I can’t wait to try this recipe. I’ve never heard of English Muffin Batter Bread (oops, should I be admitting that? : ) It looks and sounds fabulous–and so easy. I’m planning to make some chocolate brownie cookies later today, but maybe I should make this bread instead. Hmmm. Wait a minute, what am I saying? Chocolate first! Tomorrow then. : ) Thanks for sharing.

  • kitchenmage
    October 30, 2005

    Hmmm, I may have to try this. But I started looking for an english muffin recipe, remembered I’d seen Michelle post something relevant recently, and it was this. If had been some corporate recipe I might have blown it off, but no, it’s yours! shakes fist! I shake my floury fist at you, Nic!

    Now I am going to make one more thing today–I have wheatberries cooking for bread and FG’s Pita recipe prined on the counter. Buf I still want a real english muffin recipe!

  • Kay
    January 27, 2008

    I tried this bread today. Wow, it was fantastic!
    While I do enjoy kneading bread, this was easy and tasty. I’ll keep it around for those weekends when I want to bake bread but don’t have much time. Thanks again for this great recipe!

  • Angela
    June 9, 2009

    So I made this with 100% whole wheat flour, as it was all I had- and Nicole is right, you need less, and it definitely didn’t rise very well! I also added mulberries to mine; turned out pretty good if I do say so myself =) I’m in the process of uploading photos on flickr.com/limelicious right now if you’d like to have a look!

  • Lexi
    July 16, 2009

    Hi there Nicole!

    I too have been reading your blog for awhile and fallen in love with all the tempting treats you make 🙂

    I was wondering if the directions would be any different if I halved the recipe to make one loaf instead of two. Or if it can be halved at all?

    Thanks a million!

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