The very first yeast bread I ever tried to make is English Muffin Bread. My mother-in-law introduced me to this bread, as it is a family staple. She makes the bread frequently, and it is her customary gift during the holidays. I always love toasting the bread in the morning and applying a generous amount of butter. Once my kids started enjoying the bread, too, I thought it was time I asked for the recipe!
I was always intimidated by yeast bread, but thankfully this recipe is perfect for beginners. There is minimal kneading (no bread machine required!), and only 1 rise. The recipe is also very forgiving to using different flour types. I have made the recipe with 100% all purpose white flour and I have substituted up to 1/3 of the flour with wheat and ground flax seed, as described in the recipe below.
I will admit it took several tries for me to master this recipe, so I encourage you to keep trying yeast breads, even if it doesn’t turn out the first time! The biggest mistake I made in the beginning was adding too much flour. I used to add the entire amount of flour while mixing the wet ingredients. But since I knead by hand, I had to add additional flour while kneading. This created a dense and heavy load that did not rise properly.
Now I leave out around 1/2 cup of flour until the end when I knead the dough. I have a better feel for what the consistency and texture of the dough should be, and I understand when to stop adding flour. One other tip is to make sure you roll out the dough with a rolling pin and then role up into a loaf shape. Do not skip this step! It really does improve the rise and shape of the final bread.
All of this comes with practice, so don’t give up! Once you start making yeast breads at home, you’ll never want to go back to store bought bread. As I wrote in my previous post about investing in your future self, I want to make healthy choices for myself and family. One of the ways I can do this is by controlling the ingredients of the food we consume. As you can see the in the ingredient list below, homemade bread has simple ingredients, low sugar, and no preservatives.
I hope you enjoy this family recipe for English Muffin bread, and perhaps it will become a family staple in your house!
Healthy English Muffin Bread
Equipment
- 2 Loaf Pans
- 1 Large Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
- 2 Packages Yeast
- 3 1/2 -4 Cups White Flour
- 1/2 Cup Ground Flax
- 1 1/2 Cups Wheat Flour
- 1 Tbsp Sugar
- 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
- 2 tsps Salt
- 2 Cups Milk
- 1/2 Cup Water
Instructions
- Combine 3.5 cups of white flour, wheat flour, ground flax, yeast, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Leave the remaining 0.5 cup of white flour for kneading at the end.
- Heat the milk and water until very warm (120-130 F). Add to dry mixture, stir well.
- Place dough on counter and add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour while kneading gently for 2-3 minutes.
- Divide dough in half. Roll out dough into rectangle and roll into loaf shape.
- Grease 2 bread pans. Put dough in each pan. Cover and let rise in warm place for 45 min – 1 hr.
- Uncover and bake at 400 F for 25 min. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire rack.