Sourdough English Muffin Loaf
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This sourdough English muffin loaf has all the flavor you love in a sourdough English muffin, but is baked in a loaf pan to let the oven do all the work for you. The result is a delicious loaf that tastes like an English muffin and is just as delicious toasted with butter or jam as the muffin version.
If you enjoy baking different types of sourdough in a loaf pan, you'll really love this sourdough cornbread loaf and this popular sourdough sandwich bread.
Why You'll Love This Recipe!
No Fuss Recipe - if you love the taste of English muffins, but want a no fuss version, you'll love this loaf. The dough is added to a loaf pan and baked instead of shaping into rounds and cooking in a skillet. It takes all the fuss out of the process, but you don't lose any of the flavor!
Easy Breakfast - this bread makes easy breakfasts. Just slice, toast, and go. It pairs beautifully with homemade butter, jam, or eggs.
Beginner Friendly - no fancy techniques or specialty pans required. If you’re new to sourdough, this is a forgiving and simple recipe to try.
Ingredients
- Sourdough Starter - your fed and bubbly starter will give this bread the signature English muffin flavor without the need for yeast, and will give it the rise it needs.
- Milk - I've used regular dairy milk for this recipe, but I'm sure a non-dairy milk will work if you prefer. Cold milk is better for overnight ferment.
- Bread Flour - the higher protein content in bread flour really gives the best result in this loaf.
- Salt - salt helps with the flavor as well as strengthens the dough. Don't skip it.
- Honey - a little bit of honey helps to bring out the flavor. You can use sugar instead if you want to.
- Cornmeal - just like English muffins, you'll use cornmeal to dust the outside of the loaf.
How to Make a Sourdough English Muffin Loaf
I've used my recipe for sourdough English muffins as the basis for this recipe, but rather than cooking it in a skillet, I've shaped the dough in loaf pan and baked it in the oven.
Let's make it together!
In a large glass bowl, mix together all of the ingredients, including your sourdough starter and bring it together to form a dough. The dough will be quite sticky. Gently knead the dough to bring it together.
Once you have a dough formed, cover it in plastic wrap and set aside for around 12 hours to ferment at room temperature. You want the dough to rise (it doesn't need to double though). It should rise at least half in the bowl and become a smoother, structured dough (see the pics of my dough). It's important that the dough maintains its gluten structure in order to be shaped into a loaf.
Just like traditional sourdough bread, you'll need to watch the dough, rather than the clock.
Once you're happy with the dough, you can wet your hands and gently shape your dough into a rough ball by performing a set of stretch and folds. This will deflate the dough - but don't worry.
Now leave the dough to rest for around 30 minutes.
While the dough is resting, grab a loaf pan and lightly grease it with butter or oil (whatever you're comfortable with is fine). Lightly dust the inside of greased pan with corn meal).
Dust your work surface with corn meal and then ease the dough out of the bowl so it lands on the counter with the sticky side up.
Gently press the dough into a rectangle using your hands and then roll it up into a log or loaf shape. At this point, I like to roll my dough in cornmeal so that it gets that English Muffin texture when it bakes.
Place the dough into the loaf pan your prepared earlier. Cover the pan and allow the dough to rise up and over the lip of the pan (you're looking for it to double now and get a nice rounded shape on top).
When you're ready to bake your sourdough English muffin loaf, preheat your oven to 180C (350F). Once the oven is at temperature, take a second loaf pan the same as the first and spray the inside of it with water, place this on top of the pan with your dough in it and place this inside your oven.
Bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the loaf pan "lid" and bake for a further 10 minutes to color the top of the loaf (you can increase the temperature here if you need to (sometimes I increase my temperature to 200C (390F) to get a better color on the crust).
Once golden brown, remove from the oven and carefully remove from the loaf pan to cool on a wire rack. I like to slice this thicker than I would a normal loaf. It toasts really well, even sliced very thickly.
Kate's Recipe Tips
- Use a second loaf pan (sprayed with water inside) on top when baking this sourdough English muffin loaf to trap steam and encourage a better rise during baking. It replicates the lid on a skillet when cooking traditional English muffins.
- Scoring the loaf before baking can encourage "craggly bits" to toast up at the end of baking, replicating the "nooks and crannies" you get with regular English muffins.
How to Freeze + Store
Store this loaf in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
This bread also freezes well. Make sure you let it cool completely. Then wrap tightly in plastic wrap or foil and place in a freezer safe zip top bag for up to 3 months. You can freeze the entire loaf, or slice it first.
Sourdough English Muffin Bread
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- 2 Loaf Pans (I've used a 1.5 pound USA Pans - you'll need 2 pans exactly the same so that one can be used as a lid to create steam around your loaf).
Ingredients
- 200 g Sourdough Starter (fed and bubbly)
- 500 g Milk (cold is better for overnight ferment)
- 600 g Bread Flour
- 12 g Salt
- 20 g Honey (you can use sugar if you want to)
- 50 g Cornmeal (for dusting)
Instructions
- Once you have a dough formed, cover it in plastic wrap and set aside for around 12 hours to ferment at room temperature (see notes). You want the dough to rise (it doesn't need to double though). It should rise at least half in the bowl and become a smoother, structured dough (see the pics above of my dough). It's important that the dough maintains its gluten structure in order to be shaped into a loaf.Just like traditional sourdough bread, you'll need to watch the dough, rather than the clock.
- Once you're happy with the dough, you can wet your hands and gently shape your dough into a rough ball by performing a set of stretch and folds. This will deflate the dough - but don't worry. Now leave the dough to rest for around 30 minutes.
- While the dough is resting, grab a loaf pan and lightly grease it with butter or oil (whatever you're comfortable with is fine). Lightly dust the inside of greased pan with corn meal).
- Dust your work surface with corn meal and then ease the dough out of the bowl so it lands on the counter with the sticky side up.
- Gently press the dough into a rectangle using your hands and then roll it up into a log or loaf shape. At this point, I like to roll my dough in cornmeal so that it gets that English Muffin texture when it bakes. Place the dough into the loaf pan your prepared earlier. Cover the pan and allow the dough to rise up and over the lip of the pan (you're looking for it to double now and get a nice rounded shape on top).
- When you're ready to bake your sourdough English muffin loaf, preheat your oven to 180C (350F). Once the oven is at temperature, take a second loaf pan the same as the first and spray the inside of it with water, place this on top of the pan with your dough in it and place this inside your oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the loaf pan "lid" and bake for a further 10 minutes to color the top of the loaf (you can increase the temperature here if you need to (sometimes I increase my temperature to 200C (390F) to get a better color on the crust).
- Once golden brown, remove from the oven and carefully remove from the loaf pan to cool on a wire rack.
Notes
Nutrition
