The Secret To Making The Best English Muffin Bread Ever

The Easiest Way To Make Your Grandma’s English Muffin Bread

Adding a Danish dough whisk to my arsenal of cooking utensils has been a total game-changer, and it’s why I worked so quickly to make them available in my online shop! It seems like every day I discover yet another great way to use it in my kitchen.

One way it really comes in handy is for mixing the dough for English muffin bread, one of my mom’s recipes that has taken on a somewhat legendary status over the years. Unlike other bread doughs, this one benefits from minimal mixing, which used to be quite difficult to achieve when I made it in my stand mixer.

One advantage of the Danish dough whisk is that it is able to incorporate ingredients without over-mixing them, so I was eager to try making a batch of English muffin bread dough with it. It ended up doing such a great job that I’ll never go back to the stand mixer method (which had been my go-to method for decades!)

Related: 11 Reasons Why OGT Readers Love This Unusual Whisk

So in honor of this excellent discovery, and as an ode to both my Danish dough whisk and my mom’s English muffin bread, I thought I’d re-share her recipe with you here. It’s definitely one you’ll want to try for yourself (if you haven’t done so already!)

Check out this English muffin bread recipe in the video at the end of the post!

3 Reasons To Love English Muffin Bread

1. It’s Easy To Make

I doubt you will ever come across another homemade bread recipe as easy as this one. You mix all the ingredients together at once, then divide the dough into loaf pans and bake.

That means no flouring of surfaces, no kneading, no shaping, and you only need to let it rise once thanks to my good friend instant yeast. ;-) Unlike many other baking projects, this recipe embraces shortcuts and feels no shame about it.

2. It’s Economical

If you don’t count water, you only need four inexpensive ingredients to make four full-size loaves of English muffin bread. I actually sat down and did the math to figure out the cost per batch based on Walmart’s current prices for flour, yeast, salt, and sugar, and it came out to just under $3 per batch, or $0.75 per loaf.

That’s a great deal no matter which way you slice it. (Pun very much intended!)

3. It’s Delicious And Ideal For Snacking

The last reason is the best reason of all—English muffin bread is just plain delicious! It’s great for breakfast, as the name implies, but I love it just as much as an afternoon or midnight snack.

It makes the best toast, and tastes great with any of the usual things you’d spread on toast: butter, jam, fruit preserves, honey, cinnamon sugar… you name it! But enough chit-chat—let’s get to the point, which is actually making the stuff!

Here’s how you can make a big, delicious batch of English muffin bread at home.

How To Make English Muffin Bread

Ingredients:

• 5 1/2 cups warm water
• 3 envelopes instant yeast*
• 2 Tbsp salt
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 11 cups all-purpose flour

*Instant yeast is sometimes called “rapid rise” or “quick rise” yeast, but they’re all the same thing. If you only have active yeast on hand, keep in mind that you’ll need to let the dough rise twice (once in the bowl until doubled in size, then again in the loaf pans until it reaches the top edge.)

Directions:

Add the water, yeast, salt, sugar, and flour to a large bowl and stir just until combined.

As I mentioned previously, a Danish dough whisk works perfectly for this, because it incorporates ingredients more effectively in fewer strokes than other utensils.

Divide the dough evenly into four well-greased loaf pans, then let the dough rise until it’s slightly above the top.

Bake at 350°F for 35-45 minutes, or until the tops are a light golden brown color.

Right after you take the loaves out of the oven, turn them out of the pans, place them on a cooling rack, and brush butter onto the top of each one. Allow the bread to cool completely before slicing.

When it’s ready to slice and eat, good luck trying to decide what to put on it! ;-) As I mentioned earlier, it’s great toasted with lots of butter and jam (or a generous layer of honey butter ambrosia), especially when paired with a mug of creamy hot chocolate. Yum!

This English muffin bread makes a wonderful food gift as well. And why not make some delicious homemade butter to go with it? The lucky recipient of this bread and butter gift would never believe how easy all of it was to make (and you under no obligation to tell them!)

Can I Make It Gluten Free?

While I always like to offer a gluten-free option when possible, I have tried to make this particular recipe using gluten-free flour and it did not go well. :-( Unfortunately, some recipes just aren’t very flexible! (But I do recommend trying this gluten-free bread recipe, if you haven’t done so already!)

Praise for the Danish Dough Whisk

I’m not the only one who loves their Danish dough whisk! Just check out these customer reviews: 

“How did I go my first 53 years of life without Jillee’s Danish Whisk? This piece is amazing. I cannot believe I waited so long to buy it. It glides smoothly through the dough and doesn’t need to be shaken or tapped against the side of the bowl when mixing eggs as a traditional whisk requires. I call it my wonder whisk!”

Patty Anne

“I love love love this Danish dough whisk. I make English muffin bread and quick breads, and love the way it gets down to bottom of bowl. I don’t have flour left because the whisk gets it all.” 

Dianna M.

“This whisk is worth its weight in gold! Buy it! Buy more for your relatives and friends with arthritis! It works great and doesn’t put stress on your wrist. They will bake again and be very happy!” 

Eileen M.

“I ordered the Danish dough whisk because my severe arthritis has made it difficult to tightly grasp things, and this looked easy to hold and use. And it is! I use it for everything that needs mixing, and cleanup is a breeze. I am ordering two more for gifts.“

B.

What would you put on a slice of English muffin bread?