I love bread; the taste, smell, and texture are just joyful. But, I don’t like how it makes me feel, foods containing gluten beat me up. I suffer from stomach distress and joint aches when I eat them. I had a little dilemma when hubby had a hankering for English muffins and asked if I would make him some. Well, of course could, yet I would probably eat one (or more ) if I did, those things are delicious!

I decided to make up a batch this morning while we were in our camper, and I happened to have all of the ingredients needed for a gluten-free version instead of going the traditional route. This was the first time I’ve tried this variety and since they turned out awesome, I decided to share what I did.

butter, sugar, gluten-free flour mix, measuring spoons, salt, egg, powdered butter milk blend, corn grits, instant yeast, mixing bowl and large measuring cup

Ingredients & Special Equipment

2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 cup warm water 110ºF
2 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk (if using the powder, please pay special attention to the directions).
3 tbsp melted butter
1 room-temperature egg
2 3/4 cup of gluten-free flour blend
1 tsp salt
corn meal or semolina
2 sheets of parchment paper
biscuit cutter

Directions
Warm the water, it is best to use a thermometer but if you do not have one, heat the water until it is comfortably warm when you stick your finger in it. The reason it is best to use a thermometer is because comfort is subjective, if the water is too hot you will kill your yeast, and if it is too cool you won’t properly activate it.

If you are using the buttermilk blend add another 3/4 cup of water and heat 1 1/4 cup water total. Do not add the dried buttermilk yet, that will come later. Add the sugar and yeast to the warm water, and stir till dissolved. Allow the mixture 5 - 10 min to become foamy. While you are waiting, prepare the other ingredients.

Hubby likes to buy the big logs of Amish butter. It is a whole lot easier to measure stick butter going by the lines on the wrapper. I used a digital scale to get around this, I needed 3 tbsps or 42 grams, 43 grams was close enough :-)

Melt your butter, allow it to cool a little, and then blend in the egg.

Place the flour, salt, and dried buttermilk into a mixing bowl. Blend the dried ingredients.

I like to use the dried buttermilk blend because I only use buttermilk when cooking, I don’t drink it. The smallest amount you can purchase is by the quart so it goes to waste if I don’t make anything that includes it as an ingredient. The dried buttermilk blend stores in the fridge and is there when I need it.

Gluten-free English muffin batter in a mixing bowl.

When your yeast mixture becomes foamy you know the yeast has been activated. Add the egg and melted butter to it and mix. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and mix into a batter. If you are used to making traditional English muffins you know that your batter will be very elastic and a little sticky. Well, this batter turned out very sticky but there is no elasticity, of course, because of the lack of gluten.

I covered the bowl and allowed the batter to rest. Regular English muffins need time rise for about 1/2. I was not expecting these to rise at all. I use the rising time to clean up, which is what I did.

Gluten-free English muffin dough in a mixing bowl

Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did indeed rise a bit. Who knew?

Gluten-free English muffin dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper.

Next, place the dough on a sheet of parchment paper, cover with another and pat it out evenly until about 3/4 - 1 inch thick.

Gluten-free English muffin dough being cut with a biscuit cutter.

Cut your muffins using a biscuit cutter, thin-rimmed mug, or cup.

Heat a frying pan over very low heat, when the pan becomes warm enough to feel heat radiating from it. Sprinkle a small amount of cornmeal or semolina across the bottom to prevent the muffins from sticking to the pan. Do not use oil, it is not necessary. I used yellow grits, it worked fine.

Gluten-free English muffins cooking in a corn meal sprinkled frying pan.

Place the cut muffin dough in the pan and cover. These took a little longer to cook than the traditional muffins. They needed about 12 minutes per side.

Gluten-free English muffins cooking in a frying pan, browned on top.

Do not crowed the pan while cooking, you need enough space to flip the muffins with out disturbing the others.

Well, this is why I took the time to share. There are differences in texture and thickness, they do not rise the same way and the crumb is different, but the taste is spot on, yummy! I might wind up using that buttermilk blend a lot faster than I thought.