Whole Wheat English Muffins

For the English muffins:
In the bowl of a stand mixer add the water, sprinkle in the yeast and add one tablespoon honey. Mix lightly and set aside for ten minutes until the mixture foams lightly (proofs).

In a small saucepan over medium low heat, heat the milk, butter and remaining 2 tablespoons of honey until the butter is melted. Remove it from the heat and let it cool lightly.

In a large bowl combine the yeast mixture and cooled milk mixtures, mixing gently. Add 3 cups of all-purpose flour, 2 cups whole wheat flour and salt. Using the dough hook knead the dough until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Add more wheat flour a tablespoon at time if your dough is too wet. Once the dough has formed a ball, continue to knead for five minutes on medium speed. Once done allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper and lightly sprinkle with cornmeal.

Flour the counter lightly and roll the dough out until it’s 1/2 inch thick. Cut out circles (don’t spin your cutter, just cut straight down) or whatever shape you desire. Gently place on the cookie sheets, sprinkle the tops with cornmeal and cover with a dry, light cloth. Re-roll the scraps of dough once to make additional muffins. Let the muffins sit in a warm place for 45 minutes or till nearly doubled in size.

Heat a heavy bottomed skillet on medium low but don’t grease it. Gently place a muffin in your hand and shake lightly to remove some of the cornmeal. Gentleness is key in all of the handling. Place into the pan and repeat til the pan is full. Don’t let them touch each other. Keep the heat on low. Cook for 8 minutes on the first side or until browned well. Then flip and cook the other side in the same fashion. Remove cooked muffins to a wire cooling rack and repeat cooking the rest of the dough. Let the muffins cool lightly on a wire rack. Cut, toast and serve with butter.

While the dough rises make the butters. You can also just make one butter using 1 whole stick of butter and three tablespoons of jelly, peanut butter or Nutella.

Line a small pan with parchment paper or waxed paper. To make all three varieties of butter, divide the stick of butter into thirds and place each in a small bowl. To one bowl add one tablespoon of jelly, to the second bowl add one tablespoon of peanut butter and to the last bowl add one tablespoon Nutella.

Using a fork or the back of a spoon mix each butters until well combined. Spoon each mass of butter onto the wax paper and spread it out to about 1/4 inch thick. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes. Remove it from the freezer and cut the butters into your desired shapes. You can also just wrap the butters in wax paper like a log, refrigerate and then cut into circles.