Move over, Thomas' English Muffins! We got tired of waiting for you to come up with a gluten free muffin, so we made one ourselves! These gluten free English muffins rival yours with all the nooks and crannies we've been missing 🙂
My husband grew up in Pennsylvania, which is a huge area for English muffins, specifically Thomas' English muffins. He couldn't stop oohing and ahhing when I made my own gluten free version and served them for breakfast one morning. He said they were "amazing!!"
Then he went on to state "you should contact Thomas' and tell them you have a gluten free version of their English muffins they should sell." Haha! I love how much he supports me in everything I do! (On a side note, he does not need to eat gluten free, just loves what I make gf so he eats it willingly)!
What Are English Muffins?
If you've been living under a rock or aren't in America, you don't know what an English muffin is. But where in the world did they come from? Samuel Thomas, an Englishman who emigrated to the US many years ago, opened a bakery. He invented "toaster crumpets," which were like regular English crumpets but pre-cut (fork split) so that they could pull apart easily.
The toaster crumpets were a huge hit and Thomas' English Muffins were born! Many people have made homemade versions of these, but the Thomas' recipe is closely guarded.
Big name commercial bakeries rarely devote time to making gluten free versions of their products (maybe one day they will-fingers crossed), so we've got to come up with our own plan. And these gluten free English muffins are just perfect, and technically could also be called Thomas' English Muffins (my last name is Thomas)!
My Favorite Tools for Making English Muffins
Neither of these are absolutely necessary in making gluten free English muffins. However, I do feel they make things a lot easier in creating the best muffins possible.
- An electric skillet. I've used an electric skillet for many years, just like my mom, mainly for braising meats. For the sake of English muffins, it works so well because it almost acts like an oven and skillet all in one. It's absolutely perfect for making English muffins. However, if you don't have an electric skillet, you can always use a skillet that has a tight-fitting lid. I personally like the fact that you can know the exact temperature of what you're cooking with an electric skillet.
- English muffin rings. These rings help make your homemade gluten free English muffins neat and tidy and perfectly round. Of course, it doesn't really matter as long as they taste great. If you want nice and round muffins, I'd suggest getting these, though. They're cheap, and they're great for other uses as well, such as perfect pancakes or as an egg mold.
How To Make Gluten Free English Muffins
You really won't believe how incredibly easy it is to make these English muffins! There's no kneading of the dough after initial mixing, and there's no second rise. Take the dough straight from the fridge and scoop it into your skillet (electric or otherwise). In less than 20 minutes you'll have freshly "baked" English muffins!
Mix the dough in a stand mixer OR with a handheld mixer. This is such a loose high-hydration dough that it can even be mixed with a spoon by hand (you'll get a workout for sure). Let the dough rise in a warm-draft free area for two hours or until doubled in size. It will be very puffy and filled with holes. Refrigerate the dough for at least 4 hours.
Heat an electric skillet to 250 degrees F (or a skillet on your stove top over medium low heat). Melt a couple tablespoons of butter in skillet and place pre-greased muffin rings in skillet. Sprinkle bottoms with gluten free cornmeal and spoon dough into molds. Sprinkle tops with cornmeal. Cover with lid of electric skillet or tight-fitting lid and "bake" for about 7-8 minutes.
Remove cover, carefully flip rings and muffins over and "bake" for another 7-8 minutes. You can divide and add the other 1 tablespoon of butter over the tops of the muffins before you flip them if you'd like, but it's not necessary.
Remove the cover and carefully remove the rings from the muffins using tongs. They should slide right out if you sprayed them with cooking spray before baking. Replace lid and continue to "bake" for another couple of minutes.
Make sure to fork split your gluten free English muffins so you'll get all those great nooks and crannies. That's the best part of an English muffin wouldn't you say? They're like little pockets for holding melted butter or anything else you wanna put on 'em 🙂
Gluten Free English Muffins
Ingredients
- 3¼ cups (455 g) Kim's gluten free bread flour blend
- 1 tbsp plus 1 teaspoon (16 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoon rapid rise (instant or bread machine) yeast
- 2½ cups (600 ml) whole milk
- 4 tablespoon butter, melted
- about ½ cup gluten free cornmeal for sprinkling
- 2 tablespoon butter, for frying/baking
Instructions
- In a large bowl, weigh bread flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Whisk to combine. Using a stand mixer with the beater blade or a handheld mixer, turn on low and slowly pour in milk and butter. Increase speed to medium and beat for 5 minutes. Â
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 2 hours. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 7 days.
- Spray insides of muffin rings(if using) with nonstick spray. Heat an electric skillet (or a skillet with a lid) to medium low (about 200-250) and add 1 tablespoon butter. Place muffin rings on top of melted butter and sprinkle each with cornmeal. Spoon dough into muffin rings (don't fill completely to the top as the muffins will expand to fill the rings). Sprinkle more cornmeal on top of dough in each ring. Cover the skillet and cook for about 7-8 minutes. When bottoms are browned, divide 1 tablespoon of butter over tops of muffins, if desired, and carefully flip over and, using tongs. Place lid back on skillet and continue to cook for another 7-8 minutes.Â
- Remove the lid and, using tongs, carefully remove the rings from each muffin. They should slide out easily if you greased the rings. Replace the lid and continue to cook for another 1-2 minutes, just to get the sides fully "baked."
- Remove the muffins from the skillet and allow to cool fully before fork splitting and toasting.
Charlotte Wheeler
Is it possible to replace the whey isolate protein powder with powdered coconut milk
Kim
No, I don't think it would work as there isn't really any protein in it.
Amy Lee
Hi! How are you?
I wanna ask about whether I should let the dough come to room temp after we take it out of the fridge? Or we just cook it right away.
It's gonna be the first time trying it out and I've been reading your posts. That's the only thing I wonder about.
Thanks
Kim
It's not necessary for it to come to room temp and can be baked right away 😋
Donna Eng
If you don't have an electric skillet, it took three tries and many hours in my toaster oven to get this right. Tip #1: use the bottom rack in your oven or toaster oven. Tip #2: I used a metal cake pan and a glass pot lid (made it easy to watch the cooking process!) Tip #3: I don't know about your ovens, but neither 200°, 225°, 250°, 275° nor 300° worked. The sweet spot for me was 325° for a minimum of 16 minutes before turning the muffins over. The muffins were still a little gummy in the middle, but tip #4: you have to let the muffins rest and cool down before trying to fork split them.
The flavor is great - thanks!
Kim
Hi, Donna! I'm so glad you liked the muffins and I appreciate all the tips!! Of note, I suggest in the recipe that if you don't have an electric skillet you use a regular skillet over a medium low flame (on the stovetop) with a tight fitting lid. It works just as well as using an electric skillet. I also state in my recipe that you need to allow the muffins to cool completely before splitting with a fork. This is actually true of any breads, or they will be gummy on the inside 🙂
donna
thanks for your reply Kim! For subsequent batches I did switch to using an iron skillet on my stovetop.
Nancy Vinci
What is the sodium in your English Muffins? I would like to try them but am limited to less that 375 mags of sodium.
Kim
I don't know, but there are apps on the internet that gives the nutritional information. It costs so much more money per month for me to get the nutritional information on my recipes so I'm not in the position to afford that at this moment.
HEIDI L COMARTIN
I really want to try and make these this weekend but I don't have "superfine" rice flour. I only have "stone ground" rice flour. Do you know if that will work?
Kim
Is that Bob's Red Mill? A few readers had problems with it and so did I, so I'm honestly not sure if it will work. You could try it and add a little more liquid (like 1/4 cup) because the grainier the rice flour, the more it will soak up liquid.
todd baker
I am just getting ready to make these. I scaled the recipe down to 4 from 8 to see how my wife likes them. I started by measuring out the milk. 600 ml is a whole lot more than 1.25 C. A closer look and comparison with the 8 muffin recipe showed that the scaler does not scale the metric measures! Thank heaven I found this out before proceeding. You might want to make a note of this.
Kim
Thank you for noticing this!! I need to talk to the creator of my recipe card plugin and see if they can fix this, but I'm guessing because the flour blend is something that is my own recipe it may not work.
Again, thanks for informing me of this problem and I will hopefully find a solution soon 🙂
todd baker
So I made the muffins. My wife is gluten intolerant and has pronounced all commercial English muffins except Glutino revolting. Glutino are pricey and often hard to find. Recently my 14 year old granddaughter, an avid baker, tried her hand at English muffins and that inspired me to see if I could find a gf version. I was very impressed by your site and the comments on your muffins, so I made the major investment in the whey protein (!) and the minor investment in the rings. Made the batter yesterday and and the muffins after the gym this morning. She was blown away-"they don't taste gluten free". She is excited to poach an egg tomorrow to be served on one of your muffins-. I got six from the recipe for four but could have made them a bit higher. Guess I will have to try some of your other breads.
Kim
Awesome, Todd!! I'm thrilled your wife liked them! Now you've got me craving eggs benedict 🙂
Teresa Marrone
Kim, I wanted to thank you SO much for this recipe... you really knocked it outta the park with this one. I made the dough yesterday, through the 2-hour rise, and refrigerated it overnight. This morning I used half of it to make English muffins for our breakfast; simply outstanding. My husband usually doesn't care for English muffins, but he tried one and just about fell over because it was so good. We are truly looking forward to the pan pizza tonight, using the other half of the dough! Also I wanted to pass along my compliments on your focaccia recipe, which I have made numerous times; another solid winner. Thanks for everything you do in developing these recipes, and double thanks for sharing them! You are the Gluten Free Queen, as far as I am concerned.
Kim
Oh my gosh, Teresa! You are too kind!! I am SO glad that you and your husband have been enjoying my recipes 🙂
Teresa Marrone
Just made another batch of these, and I figured out something which makes one step easier, so I wanted to pass it along. I put some cornmeal in a spice jar that has a shaker cap (clean, of course!). It was soooo easy to shake out an even layer of cornmeal, rather than digging in the bag with a spoon or my fingers. I will keep my little jar of cornmeal in the cupboard, next to my regular supply of cornmeal, so it is ready to go next time. Thanks again for your fabulous recipes!
Kim
That is a GENIUS idea, Teresa!! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Wanda Toth
Oh Kim!! Have I got an idea for you! Take the English muffin recipe and fry it the skillet and cook for just a few minutes on each side, then pop them into a 400° oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown and puffed up. You now have a delicious Pita! Yummy! Want a bigger pita? Take more dough than usual and make a ball and flatten the dough, either pan fry on both sides or put it in the oven. You can turn pita halfway through cooking if desired. There you have it.
Kim
Sounds wonderful, Wanda! I will try it next time I make the dough 🙂
Tracy Pendleton
Kim, I know I just recently commented on your Italian bread , which was soooo good,and told you that I had made these English muffins but I just have to tell you, I made them this morning after the dough had been in the fridge for a few days and they were incredibly amazing! My husband couldn’t get over how delicious they were and he doesn’t even have to eat gluten-free! He said it was the best English muffin he had ever had and of course I said the same! I know you know how I feel when I say I almost wanted to start crying! When you go without so many things after being gluten-free and you find something this tasty you seriously want to start crying! I wanted to make a comment on these because if your other readers are like me, I like to read all the comments before making something because ,as you know, eating gluten-free is not cheap so before I spend the money on the ingredients I want to make sure that we are going to like it. Well you just won’t like these, you’ll love these! I put some creamed honey on one for breakfast this morning and I was in true heaven! Thank you so much for all of your hard work, you are simply amazing! Thank you so much!
Kim
You are too kind, Tracy! I really and truly appreciate every word you wrote and I completely understand how it feels to go without so many things and to be able to find joy in baking again AND eating! I'm so happy that my recipes can help you navigate through being gluten free a little easier.
God bless you and happy holidays 🙂 🙂 🙂
Kim
Hi- I’m so excited to try this! But, I find that xantham gum doesn’t agree with me very well😕 Do you know if it’ll work without? Thx!
Kim
You could try to sub the xanthan gum with psyllium husk powder. In this recipe, I would use 2 tbsp.
Please let me know how they turn out 🙂
Christina
I just finished these this morning! They were amazing! I did use the King Arther gf blend from Costco, that was the only change to the ingredients I made. I cooked them on my cast iron skillet in rings at heat 2 and it was perfect!! The only thing I wondered about was the fridge length time, does it mater? I didn't know if longer would give them more of a sourdough taste? Either way I just refrigerated overnight.
Kim
Yes, the longer they sit in the fridge they will ferment and develop a more sourdough taste! I do it all the time with my pizza dough, sometimes leaving it in the fridge for 10 days!! I like it better when it's been in the fridge for a while.
Drina Boban
Hi Kim, This is the 2nd time I'm making these muffins, they're so amazing! But, I have a question about the sugar measurement. You say 1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon is 29 grams but my food scale shows it to be 16 grams. I went ahead and measured to 29 grams but just wanted to know which is correct? Or, perhaps my food scale needs to be recalibrated. I am using white granulated sugar. Can you please clarify?
Thanks!
Kim
Drina, thank you so much for catching this mistake!! You were right. The total grams should be 16 and not 29. I'm not sure where in the heck I got 29 (and it probably won't make much of a difference in the dough), but I'm going to correct it right now to 16 grams.
Again, thanks so much for catching this for me 🙂
Drina Boban
Thanks Kim. Nope, not much of a difference. They're still delicious. 🙂
Debi Lindke
Kim, I am so happy to have found your site but your baking blends are the best! My croissants turned out so good! Unfortunately I can't say the same with English Muffins and E.M. Bread. Regardless, after rising and looking terrific - the result is a product that deflates and/or has some degree of gummi-ness. Everything is measured by weight and things appear to go as planned. However the bread doesn't cook internally (shows 190) and the E.M. will rise and cook above the rings but cool to half their size. I have tried and thrown away countless times...any ideas what to try?
Kim
Hmmmm, I'm not sure other than maybe they're not being baked long enough? My electric skillet gets pretty hot and I can really control the temperature well (especially with the lid) so if you're baking them in the oven, you may need to add a few more minutes to the baking time.
Drina Boban
These are amazing! I used the 2nd half of the focaccia bread batter to make these English Muffins. They're fabulous! Thank you! I didn't have muffin rings so I used wide-mouth mason jar lids and they worked pretty well. And, glad to hear that these muffins are good after freezing. A million thanks for making my GF life so much tastier!
Kim
Thanks so much, Drina!! I'm so glad you liked them 🙂
Shari
Hi Kim, well you did it again. Thank you for a great recipe. Made your pan pizza for dinner last night, I will cook longer next time. 20 minutes with topping’s wasn’t long enough, so lessons learned. Mind you it was still delicious. Today used left overs and made English muffins. After I had cooked and cooled once split I acutually put back in the pan and cooked about 4 minutes longer and served with poached eggs, yummy. Left overs, froze and I’ll heat up in toaster. I have loved everyone of your recipes I have made so far. Need to remake my Sourdough starter and try the bread again, was good but not as good as I could’ve done. Practice makes perfect, can always tweak and know what to expect next time around. Thank you again and I look forward to new recipes, can’t wait to try your chocolate chip cookies.
Kim
Thank you so much, Shari!! I am absolutely thrilled you're having such great success with all my recipes!
You're gonna LOVE the chocolate chip cookies 🙂
Sala
Hey Kim, do you have a measurement amount of dough that is supposed to be spooned into the rings?
Kim
About a couple of tablespoons in each 🙂