This recipe for tasty and wholesome einkorn sourdough English muffins is the making of perfect Weston A. Price approved breakfast.
Simply slather in grass-fed raw butter and add free-range eggs for quick breakfast sandwiches, or drizzle with local honey or top with homemade preserves for the perfect pairing with your herbal afternoon tea.
They are made with 100% organic einkorn flour and bone broth or fresh milk. For sourdough, they are quick, too. Just mix them up the night before, and cook them on the stovetop in the morning for a delicious breakfast.
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Einkorn Sourdough English Muffins
I have already discussed how much my gluten-intolerant life has been changed for the better by discovering the amazing, unhybridized ancient wheat flour called einkorn.
Since discovering this low-gluten flour, I’ve been able to venture into the wonderful world of sourdough and make breads from scratch without any of the nasty ingredients in store-bought.
For example, did you know that many bread products contain l-cysteine? I mean, if you need a little home baking inspo, look no further than that amino acid, which is a product often synthesized from human hair. I’ll let your imagination fill in the rest, or you can read about it here.
Why Einkorn English Muffins?
This recipe calls for a specific type on ancient, non-hybridized wheat called einkorn. I have made it with regular all-purpose flour as well, and it was totally fine!
I love using einkorn in my low-gluten kitchen. Also check out my rustic einkorn pastry and decadent einkorn brownies while you’re here!
Ingredients:
- Sourdough starter
- Einkorn flour
- Milk or unseasoned broth or stock
- Coconut or brown sugar
- Salt
Materials:
- Large bowl
- Wooden spoon for mixing
- Wide-mouth mason jar or English Muffin cutter
- Baking sheet with parchment paper
- Cast iron pan or non-stick pan for stovetop browning
- Baking sheet or dish for finishing in the oven
Method:
1. Activate your starter:
The first thing you need for this sourdough English muffins recipe is active, bubbly sourdough starter. I find this recipe to be quite forgiving, but you’ll need 100 grams of mature 100% hydration sourdough starter at or near its peak. If you keep your starter at a different hydration, you can easily make a levain at 100% hydration.
2. Mix up your dough:
There are just 4 additional ingredients you’ll need for this English muffin recipe: all-purpose einkorn flour, broth or milk, salt, and sugar. You’ll want to mix up the dough in a large bowl, then cover your bowl with a lid or a piece of plastic wrap and let it sit for 30-60 minutes. This allows the einkorn flour time to hydrate.
3. Kneading:
This sourdough English muffin recipe is kneaded using just your hands, which I find simpler. Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface, or even knead it right in the bowl for 5 minutes. If you prefer to use a stand mixer, you can easily do so. Since einkorn is naturally low in gluten, you don’t have to worry as much about overmixing as you would with a typical flour. Just mix it on low for 5 minutes with a dough hook attachment.
4. Let your dough bulk ferment:
This dough takes longer to bulk ferment, which makes it perfect for an overnight rise! It takes about 8 or more hours depending on the temperature of the house. Mine can go 12 hours just fine but it is winter in Canada! Your dough should be around doubled and the top should be smooth.
5. Roll out and cut the English Muffins:
In the morning or after your bulk rise completes, you are ready to roll and cut your English muffins. First, dust your countertop lightly with flour, and tip your dough onto the surface. If you have time, let it “bench rest” for 15 minutes. It’s not going to make or break your baking if you skip this step though. Next, roll the dough out to 3/4-1 inch thick. Use a mason jar to cut the dough into rounds. I like to lightly flour the rim of the jar and gently twist to ease the dough into a smooth circle. Lift the cut out muffin round and transfer it to a prepared baking sheet. You can use parchment paper, a baking stone, and the optional cornmeal.
6. Let the muffins rise:
The final rise will take about 1 hour at room temperature, which is around 20 degrees C or 72 degrees F. The muffins will become puffy and light, but they will not rise much at this time.
7. Cooking:
Cook in a cast iron skillet on low or medium-low for about 5 minutes per side, or until each side is lightly browned.
Transfer the muffins to the oven for about 10 minutes to finish cooking, until the internal temperature reaches about 200 degrees and the middles no longer look gummy.
Einkorn Sourdough English Muffins Baker’s Schedule (2 Options)
Overnight option:
- 8 pm – Measure and mix
- 9 pm – Knead
- 9pm-7 am Bulk Rise
- 7 am – Roll out and cut
- 8 am – Cook
Daytime option:
- 8 am: Measure and mix
- 9 am – Knead
- 9 am-5 pm Bulk Rise
- 5 pm – Roll out and cut
- 6 pm – Cook
- Let them cool, and cut for easy on-the-go breakfasts the following day!
Cost breakdown of Sourdough English muffins
I like to occasionally do a breakdown of my from-scratch recipes, because I love seeing how my efforts in the kitchen save our family money. Here’s the breakdown for my English muffins.
- $1.62 Einkorn flour (I buy in bulk from a local mill)
- $0.05 for the brown sugar, we don’t have any coconut sugar right now but that would be more expensive.
- Bone broth is free, or milk is about $0.36 here
- Redmond real salt in the 10 lb bucket – works out to $0.08. Cheap table salt would be much less but I love using good quality salt!
This costs $2.11 CAD for me to make a batch of 10 with milk, and $1.75 to make with broth (we have been avoiding dairy for a couple of my kids lately).
$0.17-$0.21 per English muffin is pretty good!
Compare this with purchasing store-brand (cheapest) English muffins. You get 6 for $1.75, so $0.29 per English muffin. On top of that, they contain ingredients like: Enriched Wheat Flour, Water, Yeast, Wheat Gluten, Salt, sugar, Vegetable Oil, Calcium Propionate, Vegetable Monoglycerides, fumaric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, L-cysteine Hydrochloride, Enzymes. Topping: cornmeal, Rice Flour, Sorbic Acid. No, thank you!
Frequently Asked about Einkorn Sourdough English Muffins
Yes, these freeze very well! I recommend slicing them first, wrapping each in foil, then placing in a freezer-safe bag. These would make a fantastic make-ahead breakfast.
No, you do not need an english muffin ring to cut these out. I use a wide mouth glass mason jar. But if you prefer, you can find them here.
For a vegan recipe, I think unsweetened plain coconut milk would work just fine.
This recipe is already naturally dairy-free as long as you use the bone broth option for the liquid. Otherwise you could easily substitute coconut milk.
Einkorn Sourdough English Muffins
This simple, overnight recipe yields deliciously tangy and versatile sourdough English muffins that are naturally low in gluten.
Ingredients
- ½ cup (100 g) active sourdough starter
- 1 tablespoon (20 g) coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1 cup (240 g) unseasoned bone broth or milk
- 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose einkorn flour
- 1 teaspoon (5 g) fine sea salt
- ¼ cup (40 g) non-GMO cornmeal (optional, for sprinkling)
Instructions
- The night before you want your English muffins: Add your active starter, sugar, milk or broth, flour, and salt to a large bowl and use your hands to mix until well combined.
- Cover with a lid and let rest 30-60 minutes.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it by hand for 5 minutes. No-Knead Version: Alternately, you can use a stand mixer with a dough hook on low speed for 5 minutes.
- Place the dough back into the bowl, cover and let it ferment on the counter overnight or for 8-12 hours.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, flour the top of the dough and use a rolling pin to roll it out to 3/4 inch thickness.
- Use a wide mouth mason jar or a 3" biscuit cutter to cut rounds.
- If you are using cornmeal, sprinkle the baking sheet and then place the rounds on the baking sheet and top with a sprinkle of cornmeal.
- Cover the uncooked muffin rounds with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 hour at room temperature.
- Preheat your oven to 300 ° F. Preheat your skillet over low to medium-low heat. Gently place a few muffins at a time in the pan and cook until lightly browned on each side. Place them into your oven for about 10 minutes to finish cooking (to about 200° F) on the inside.
Notes
Store at room temperature for 3-6 days or freeze in freezer bags for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1 muffinAmount Per Serving:Calories: 171Total Fat: 1gCholesterol: 2mgSodium: 212mgCarbohydrates: 35gFiber: 2gSugar: 10gProtein: 6g
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These look delicious! Will definitely be trying them for breakfast sandwiches 🙂
These look great! I haven’t done any einkorn yet, but I have some kamut. Do you know if they sub out well for each other?
From what I know about Kamut, it absorbs more liquid than Einkorn does. You may need to add a bit of milk but it should work well!