Easy Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins
These whole wheat sourdough english muffins are surprisingly easy to make – and the taste is so much better than store bought! Perfect for breakfast, sandwiches, mini pizza, and more. Plus it‘s another great way to use your sourdough “discard.”
✩ What readers are saying…
“I have tried several different whole wheat English muffin recipes and these are the best!!! They are so delicious and so simple once you make them a couple times and get all of the little tricks down. I now make them weekly and freeze. I’ll never buy English muffins again!” – Michelle
English muffins are one of those things that, up until I started my real food journey, it would have never crossed my mind to make (like so many other pantry basics I discovered were almost easier to make than buy).
When you don’t grow up around bread making and homemade stuff, it’s easy to think it can’t be made at home. Which seems silly, because I knew it was possible to make bread, even if I didn’t know many people who did.
And sourdough? Well, that came only from San Francisco, right?
Now in addition to sourdough sandwich bread and artisan bread, among others, I have learned not only that English muffins can be made at home, but also that they taste incredible. AND they are really easy – I promise.
Plus, this is a great recipe for your sourdough discard.
I wish the term wasn’t discard, because you definitely don’t want to through this precious stuff away! But I understand that from the starter’s perspective, it is the amount you’re removing to keep the starter strong and viable as you feed it.
However, that “discard” is what we want to use in our baking. If it’s been fed in the last 6-12 hours, it’s active and can be used in bread making.
However, if it’s a discard from the first months of the starter’s life, or from waking up a sleepy starter, it’s better to use it for low-rise things like crackers, quick bread, and these English muffins.
If you’re keeping the starter on the counter for awhile to bake more regularly, you might find you have too much discard that you’ve stashed in the fridge. You can use this refrigerated starter in any recipe that calls for another type of leavener like baking soda or baking powder, without feeding, so none of it goes to waste.
New to sourdough and want to get started? Check out my easy guide to all things sourdough.
The #1 Thing to Remember For This Recipe
While this recipe really is easy, there is one thing that’s been hard for me:
To remember to start the night before.
I’ve been known to make a big note and leave it on my bed to remind me I can’t climb in until I’ve mixed up the initial dough! Do what you need to do to make it happen – you won’t be sorry.
Ingredients
Overnight Sponge:
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter, fed or unfed
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 cup milk (you can use water, but milk makes them more tender)
- 2 cup whole wheat flour (I’ve used white whole wheat, whole wheat pastry flour, spelt, and half regular whole wheat + half all purpose – using only regular whole wheat tends to make them heavier.)
For the Muffins:
- 1½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (you may need a bit more during kneading)
Instructions
Take five minutes the night before to mix the sourdough starter with a bit of honey, flour, and milk.
Water will work if you’re avoiding dairy, but they won’t be quite as tender. You can try a milk substitute, but I haven’t so I don’t know if it would work to tenderize the dough like milk.
In the morning, it will look like the photo above (or it may have risen higher, depending on your starter, the temperature, how active your starter is, etc.).
Go with whatever yours looks like. I’ve found English muffins, thankfully, to pretty forgiving.
Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl if stirring by hand.
Add baking soda, salt, and 1/4 cup flour to the dough and mix together.
Knead with the mixer (or by hand) for 3-4 minutes, adding another 1/4-1/3 cup of flour gradually (1-2 tablespoons at a time) during the kneading process.
When the 1/4 cup of flour has been added, the dough should be moist enough to stick to the bowl, but only be a bit tacky when touched with a finger.
If a lot sticks to your finger that’s how you know to add more flour, but no more than 1/3 cup total, as stated in the recipe.
I’ve found that the enemy of any bread is too much flour– it’s best for the dough to need to be scraped out of a bowl.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it into a round. I like to use a lightly floured tea towel. It makes for easy cleanup and also helps you use less flour in the rolling out process.
Use a rolling pin to roll the dough to about 1/2- inch thickness. Cut the dough into rounds using a 3-inch biscuit cutter…or anything that will produce uniform rounds.
I like using biscuit cutters- there are recipes I saw that require you to shape each muffin with your hands- who has time for that?
It’s OK to gather the dough and re-roll to cut more muffins- I haven’t noticed any difference between the first roll and the second.
Set the rounds on a lined baking sheet (parchment or silicone) that has been dusted with cornmeal or a bit of flour.
Don’t let them touch as they will stick together, but an inch or two apart is fine. Dust the tops with a bit more cornmeal or flour.
Cover with a towel and set in a warm place to rise for a couple of hours.
The picture above is the cut muffin dough after a 2-hour rise and you can see that they actually don’t rise all that much- just puff a bit. They will rise more when cooked.
I’ve cooked these after letting them rise only one hour and they were fine, but the holes inside are bigger after the full 2 hour rise.
Heat a griddle or pan to a medium to medium-low setting (about 275 degrees, you may have to play with it a bit). I’ve found a slightly lower temperature works better for the muffins have time to cook inside without burning on the outside.
Transfer the number of dough rounds your griddle/pan can hold with a few inches in between to the dry surface (for even browning, do not grease).
Transferring Tip: The muffins do tend to stick to the lining even with a dusting of flour/cornmeal, so as you slide a spatula under to transfer to the griddle, pick up a bit of the flour/cornmeal as you’re lifting the muffin with the spatula. Then invert onto the heated griddle.
Cook on one side about 4-5 minutes until browned. Turn and flatten slightly with the back of the spatula to get that characteristic English muffin shape.
Cook for about another 4-5 minutes, looking to make sure the muffin is browned on the bottom.
Remove to a baking rack to cool.
You can keep for a day or two in a sealed container or freeze for longer storage.
Slice – or better yet, split with a fork to preserve all the nooks and crannies – toast, and butter like you would any English muffin.
Just be prepared for a major taste difference!
So, a quick recap:
- One quick mix the night before.
- Another stir in a mixer.
- A simple roll-and-cut.
- A rise.
- A super-quick eight minute cook.
I think it might be 20-25 minutes total hands-on time. Not too bad for a baker’s dozen great tasting fresh English muffins that cost about $1.00. Definitely worth it!
While these are amazing just with butter, one of our family’s favorite way to eat the muffins is as a base for Eggs Benedict with super easy Hollandaise sauce – yum.
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Easy Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
Overnight Sponge:
- 1/2 cup (100 g) sourdough starter, fed or unfed
- 1 tablespoon (20 g) honey (or maple syrup or sugar)
- 1 cup (240 g) milk (can use water, but milk makes them more tender)
- 2 cups (240 g) whole wheat flour*
For the Muffins:
- 1½ teaspoon (7.5 g) baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt (5 g)
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (60 g) (may need a bit more when kneading)
Instructions
- The night before: Mix the starter, honey, milk, and 2 cups flour in an 8-cup measuring bowl or batter bowl the night before you want to make the muffins. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight.
- In the morning: Transfer the sponge to the bowl of a mixer (or large mixing bowl to be made by hand). Add the soda, salt and 1/4 cup of the flour.
- If using a mixer, use the paddle attachment to mix together, then switch to the dough hook and knead for 3-4 minutes, adding another 1/4 cup flour, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough is just tacky to the touch, clears the sides of the bowl, but still sticks to the bottom. If too much dough sticks to your finger when pressed, you can add another tablespoon to bring the total amount of flour to about 1/3 cup.
- If making by hand, stir the ingredients together well, turn out onto a floured surface and knead 5 minutes, adding the same 1/4-1/3 cup of flour until it's tacky but doesn't stick to your fingers.
- From the mixer, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times into a round shape – just shape if kneaded by hand. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough about 1/2-inch thick. Cut into rounds with a 3-inch biscuit cutter.
- Place the muffin rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment or silicone and sprinkled with a dusting of cornmeal or flour. Leave about 2-inches between each muffin (they will stick together if they touch after rising), and dust the tops with a bit more flour or cornmeal.
- Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours. They will just slightly puff.
- Heat a griddle to a medium-low setting (about 275 degrees) in order to cook the inside of the muffin without burning the outside.
- Transfer the muffins, one at a time, to the heated griddle or pan (do not grease for even browning) and cook for about 4-5 minutes on one side. Flip the muffins, flatten slightly with the back of the spatula, and cook for another 4-5 minutes on the other side until both sides are nicely browned.**
- Cool on a rack. Store for a couple days in an airtight container or freeze for longer storage.
Notes
Nutrition
More Easy Sourdough Recipes
- Easy Whole Wheat Sourdough Discard Crackers
- Easy Sourdough Artisan Bread Recipe (Ready in 1 Day)
- Amazing Whole Wheat Sourdough Waffles Recipe
- How To Make Easy Sourdough Bagels
This recipe has been updated – it was originally published in 2011.
How many are you suppose to have? I only got 9
Thank you
I usually get 12. They may be smaller than store-bought, but very close.
Hi
This recipe sounds great. Can these be baked instead of griddled? I find that when I griddle them they never cook all the way through. Thanks for your help
Two things you can try (from the King Arthur site): put your muffins on the cold griddle to rise, then you don’t have to move them and they will cook more slowly on that side as the griddle heats up and – if they are brown and not done in the middle, pop them in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. I’d always start on the griddle to get the right outside consistency, though.
I used 100% fresh milled spelt flour for these and they are AMAZING!!! I just rolled them a little thicker, and used a smaller cutter because spelt tends to spread out more than it rises. The flavor is the best bread I’ve ever had!
I’m wondering if I could make this as a sandwich loaf? Would the dough be too wet to bake well?
I’m so glad you liked these, Cary! You know, I haven’t thought about it, but I do know there is a regular English muffin bread recipe, so maybe you could put the dough in a loaf pan and bake it. It would be more of a batter-type bread where you smooth the dough into the pan, I think. I’d look up baking temps and times for English muffin bread and use that. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!
I am planning on making these this weekend! JUST had a question – I have English Muffin ring rounds that I bought. Do you know how I couldn’t utilize these with this recipe? TIA. 🙂
I don’t know, Anne. I’m late answering and wonder if you figured out a way? These are pretty easy to shape and stay in shape, so it might just be extra work to make them fit the rounds…
I am not sure how the overnight sponge for this recipe is supposed to work. It calls for 2 to 1 flour to milk ratio which resulted in a hard ball of very dry dough. What consistency should the sponge be when first mixed? Is the a variance to the flour required for the sponge?
I see others having success with this recipe, so there must be something I am missing.
There is also a 1/2 cup of sourdough starter included in the sponge – is yours a stiff starter? My starter is usually a 1:1 ratio. The sponge should be more dough-like, since you’re not adding a lot of flour the next day. But not a ball. Feel free to add more liquid if your starter is dryer.
Made the muffins this morning. Fantastic! I subbed 1/2 cup spelt and used unsweetened almond milk. Also sprinkled corn meal on the parchment and the griddle. I posted my success on FB Whole Grain Sourdough Baking group.
Wonderful to hear, Robert. I know that cornmeal is more traditional, but I don’t care for the gritty texture on the muffins, so left it out. 🙂 I’ll have to check out that FB group – sounds like a good one.
I don’t have a griddle, but I do have cast iron skillets. Any tips for cooking them in a skillet on the stove?
You’ll have to do it in batches, but otherwise it would be the same – just monitor your heat level and browning and you should be good to go, Sara!
I just made these…They’re amazing!! This will be a go to in my home!! Thank you for sharing!
I love hearing that, Kim – yay!
Could you tell me how much a cup of your flour weighs? I grind my own, so volume varies, but I usually substitute 127g of flour in any recipe that calls for 1 cup and things turn out fine. In this recipe, though, I had a terrible time with sticky dough. The sponge was really wet, and I had to add nearly a cup of flour to the knead step to even be able to handle the dough a little. Rolling and cutting was a challenge still….they are rising now, so time will tell, but I am more than a little interested in how much 1 cup of your flour weighs. Thanks!
I can’t stop making (and eating) these muffins! Between breakfast sandwiches, chicken melts and as a sweet alternative using fruit preserves we devour them. They are so easy to make. I initially had a problem transfering them to the pan. They would stick (even on cornmeal) and either deflate or become misshapen. Today I tried something new and it was perfect. I lined the pans with aluminum foil sprinkled with cornmeal (I interchange foil with parchment paper depending on what I have the most of). After their 2 hour rise, I cut the foil into “squares” around each muffin and sprinkle the tops with cornmeal. I then took each square and invert it onto my griddle. If the foil sticks, leave it for a few seconds and it will pretty much peel right off. Today, success! 25 perfectEnglish Muffins!
So glad to read this, Sandra, thanks for sharing that tip with us!
Thanks for the info! I think I will go ahead and try your recipe. Your instructions are so clear and I’m always a fan of pics. Lol
Hi, I was wondering if the sourdough taste is pretty strong in these English muffins? Because I actually don’t like the sourdough taste but really wanted to try this recipe. Is there a way to maybe make the whole wheat English muffins without the sourdough starter?
My sourdough is usually not strongly flavored – I keep it a bit thicker (adding more flour and less water at each feeding), which results in a mild sourdough flavor (if any at all). It’s all about the starter. I’m sure there are whole wheat english muffin recipes out there that aren’t sourdough – I’m not sure how to convert this recipe, though – sorry!
I cannot believe how easy they are to make! I would never have imagined that. Thanks for the great tutorial, Jamie!
oh i love english muffins and it’s great knowing that the recipe for a sourdough version is so easy! i’m definitely doing this!! another use for my sourdough starter!
http://mummyicancook.blogspot.com/2011/01/pumpkin-ravioli-with-basil-browned.html
I too have just started making sourdough English muffins. And I’m in love! They are so good!
Gina
I got my sourdough starter going last week to make these; I think I found my recipe on GNOWFGLINS last year. However, things got so busy that I forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder! These are on the list for next week, though I think I’ll try your recipe this time and see how it goes.
Thanks for stopping by by and leaving a comment Jami. So glad I came back to check your blog out. I’ve been wanting to make English muffins but have not tried as of yet. And I was just telling ym husband last night I really needed to find a good homemade ranch dressing recipe cuz we go through it like crazy (at least a bottle a week or so).
Oh, these look really good! I love English muffins, but we try not to buy premade food, so we never have them anymore. I’ve been meaning to try homemade but hadn’t found a recipe yet! Thanks! I will try these this week for sure!
~Angela~
Trying out homemade English muffins had been on my to-do list for awhile. I seriously need to try! And I am totally trying out your ranch dressing recipe. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Why have I never made these? We make biscuits quite often in the morning, I think we should make these! Thanks for sharing!