English Muffin Experiment

Ever since bringing home a set of English muffin rings from the thrift shop 10 or more years ago, I've been threatening to make English muffins.  Not sure why it took so long, but finally today, perhaps in a testament to finally feeling like doing something besides lying on the couch reading or sleeping, which is about all I've done for the past 10 days, I decided to give it a whirl.

Part of the delay was due to the fact that the recipe makes 8 but there were only 4 rings in the box.  Mmhh? how to deal?  I read that you could hold half the dough for later.  Then I looked in the old faithful Joy of Cooking and discovered they could be made without rings.  Eureka! All these years deprived of homemade English muffins unecessarily!

We did, of course, experiment.  Half (ones in the back here) were made with the rings, half formed into circles and allowed to rise, free form.  Two were cooked on a cast iron griddle (the one that is flat on top at back), 6 baked in a 425 degree oven.  I'm here to report, the two tested so far are delicious. I can tell no real difference between the various techniques, but can say, I will be making them again before 10 more years go by.

Call me crazy, but I also felt compelled to hang out laundry today despite the high temperature being 32.  And yes, the clothes were freezing into solid shapes before I even had them all hung out, but after being cooped up inside for so many days, I just thought it would be nice to smell that cold ozony smell on the sheets when I changed them.  Hopefully the air is dry enough that they will thaw and dry by tomorrow.