With our English muffin recipe it is easy to enjoy the best English Muffins you have ever tasted, even while camping!

Yes...these are even better than Thomas English Muffins. With a little preplanning, this recipe becomes even easier and you will be surprised at how well making English Muffins and camp cooking go together.

This is a relatively simple recipe. Do not let the length of the instructions scare you. I have broken it down into very basic steps to make it easy to follow.

Just so you don't get frustrated or crunched for time while cooking at camp, I recommend practicing this at home at least once. Really, homemade English Muffins are as simple to prepare as rolled biscuits once you learn the technique. The overall time from start to finish is a little longer because you need time for the dough to rise, but the technique itself is no more difficult.

But the best part is clean-up is as easy as it gets for real camp made foods and the real payoff is in having hot, soft, fresh made bread at a fraction of the cost of store bought English muffins.

These are the camping kitchen tools you should have:

• Gas stove
• Griddle
• Large pot with lid
• Large wooden spoon with a plain, round handle
• 2 metal soup spoons
• Metal spatula for the griddle
• Flexible spatula/scraper for the bowl
• Foil or parchment paper cut into 18 pieces, 4" X 4"
• 1- or 2-cup measuring cup for water
• Work table or Prep surface

Ingredients:

• 5 cups of flour, divided
• ½ cup powdered milk
• 1 ½ cups water
• ½ stick butter, ¼ cup
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 package yeast
• 1 egg

Yield:

18 of the freshest English muffins you can find.

Preparation Before Camp:

Allow butter to warm until softened. Put ½ cup flour in a quart size zipper type plastic bag and label. Mix the remaining 4-½ cups flour, powdered milk, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter. It should be mixed into the flour completely.

Transfer to a gallon-size zipper-type plastic bag and label. Cut parchment paper or foil to size and place in a sandwich bag. Assemble all required tools and ingredients prior to leaving.

Preparation At Camp:

Plan to start at least one hour prior to meal time. You should allow some additional time for the muffins to rise when the temperatures are cooler.

Put water into the pot. Heat the water until it is warm but not uncomfortably hot to the touch. Add the yeast, egg, and approximately 1/3 of the muffin mix to the water and butter. Holding the wide end of the wooden spoon and putting the handle into the pot, beat until the mixture is a smooth batter. Using the spoon upside down will save cleaning a second spoon later.

After mixture is smooth, add remaining muffin mixture. Stir with the handle end of wooden spoon. The mixture will be too stiff to be able to work with the wide end of the spoon. Continue stirring and folding until the dough is smooth and elastic. Use the flexible spatula to scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl. Dip the spatula in flour first and as needed to keep the dough from sticking.

Using one of the metal spoons and the quart bag with the plain flour, start to form the muffins. The flour in the bag is used to keep your hands and spoons dry so the dough does not stick to them. Use the two spoons together to cut out balls of dough.

Now you will need to have the squares of parchment paper or foil ready on your table. Dip one spoon into the flour. Sprinkle a little flour on the surface of the dough. Dip your hands into the flour as needed. Use the spoons to scoop out a ball of dough that is slightly larger than a golf ball,. Using floured hands, roll the dough into a ball and then flatten onto one of the parchment or foil squares. The formed muffins should be approximately 3" around and 3/8" high. Remember to use just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to anything.

Let the formed muffins set and rise until they appear fluffy; they may almost double in size. If the temperature is below 60º, you may want to place the muffins over a warm but not hot surface such as pot of warm water or several warmed bricks or stones. This will help them rise quicker.

Preheat the griddle on the stove to a low temperature, lower than you would cook pancakes. Carefully place the muffins on the griddle by gently turning them over so the parchment is on top, and then carefully peeling the parchment off.

Cook on the first side for 7 to 8 minutes. The muffins should continue to rise during this part of the cooking time. The muffins must cook slowly so the middles have time to cook. Using the metal spatula, slide the muffins around so they get evenly browned. Most stove and griddle sets have hot and cool spots.

After 7 or 8 minutes, turn the muffins carefully with the metal spatula. Continue cooking for an additional 6 to 7 minutes, again slide around every several minutes to make sure they are cooked evenly. Remove to the serving plate. Enjoy!

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