These English muffins are from The Model Bakery Cookbook (Chronicle, 2013) by Karen Mitchell and Sarah Mitchell Hansen, written with Rick Rodgers. We interviewed Rick and when asked for one recipe he thought we should bring to our community, he didn’t miss a beat. He said these were incredible, and they are. Be prepared to never want to settle for store-bought English muffins again.

Even though the bakery’s doors had been open for over 80 years, these muffins put us on the national radar when they were featured on the Food Network’s The Best Thing I Ever Ate. We used to make these the old-fashioned way, shaped in ring molds (actually, we made ours in old tuna cans, which you cannot do any more because the sizes have changed). When we realized we could shape them by hand, it changed our lives—literally—as everyone for miles around wanted to try this “new” free-form version. Our English muffins are quite large when compared to the supermarket variety, which makes them wonderful sandwich rolls as well as breakfast treats. A couple of notes: You will need a heavy skillet or griddle (preferably cast-iron) to make these. And be sure to make the biga at least 12 hours before making the dough. Since you will probably be toasting the muffins, they don’t have to be fresh from the griddle; so make them a day or two ahead (or freeze them) if you wish.

