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This English Muffin Bread recipe will quickly become a family favorite! Perfect for new bread bakers, made with simple ingredients, and a dream to toast with all those little nooks and crannies.
Nothing makes me feel more accomplished than baking up a batch of this simple English muffin bread!
Susie Homemaker In The House!
Baking bread from scratch can certainly be a little intimidating, but once you’ve done it once or twice you’ll see just how simple it can be. Especially when it comes to our English muffin bread that’s literally begging you to slice it up, toast it til browned and crispy, and slather it with our cinnamon honey butter, a bit of apple butter, or some salted butter + raspberry jam.
I have big feelings about this bread.
This is cheaper than buying a pack of English muffins, but more importantly, the sense of accomplishment you feel as you pull a loaf of fresh baked bread out of the oven is seriously second to none. And I don’t know if you’ve smelled a loaf of bread baking before, but it’s pure heaven.
Have I convinced you to give this one a try yet?
Ingredient Notes:
Yeast – We’re using active dry yeast. I buy it in bulk and store it in the fridge. We use it often to make our quick dinner rolls.
Flour – We use all-purpose flour. You could try using a combination of wheat and white flour, but we do prefer white flour.
Sugar – Just a touch of granulated sugar.
Cornmeal – This coats the loaf pan and gives the bread a bit of coarse texture on the crust.
Milk & Water – We use whole milk, but any variety should work fine.
How to Make English Muffin Bread:
Warm the milk and water in a pot until warm. Do this over low heat and target about 120 degrees F. Remove from heat and add the yeast. Let it set for 5 minutes.
Use your stand mixer with a dough hook and add your yeast mixture, flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Knead the mixture on medium speed for 7 minutes. Check the dough – it should be slightly sticky, but workable.
Grab an 8×4 or 9×5 loaf pan (either will work) and spray with non-stick spray or brush on vegetable oil. Then sprinkle the pan with cornmeal and shake the pan until the inside of the pan is evenly coated.
Shape the dough in the pan and let it sit in a warm place for about 45 minutes until it doubles in size.
Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees F, or until it is golden brown on the outside. Cool before slicing.
Karly’s Tips!
Bread Baking Tips:
- If your liquid is too cool, the yeast will not activate. If your liquid is too hot, it will kill the yeast. You want the liquid to be between 110-120 degrees Fahrenheit.
- This can be done by hand with a bit of elbow grease. No mixer needed!
- The dough should barely stick to your fingers when you pinch it. If it’s too sticky, you’ll have a hard time shaping it. You can add a touch more flour as needed, but don’t overdo it.
- The bread should be golden brown on the outside and should sound hollow when you knock on it with your fist. For the most accuracy, use an internal thermometer – bread is done at 190 degrees F.
- Some breads can be sliced warm, but this one works best if you let it cool completely before slicing.
Special Tools!
You can bake bread by hand, but we find it easiest to use a mixer.
We have a KitchenAid stand mixer that is excellent for making bread when fitted with the dough hook.
We recently purchased a Bosch Mixer that is a new favorite for making bread.
Whichever tool you decide to use, I’m sure the bread will be tasty!
The exact loaf pan I use is no longer available, but this one is very similar and so cute!
Serving Suggestions:
This bread is delicious toasted and topped with butter and jam.
We also use it to make breakfast sandwiches with scrambled egg, air fryer sausage patties, and cheese.
Try your hand at a delicious avocado toast! Toast the bread, spread with smashed avocado, sprinkle with crumbled feta, and top with Everything Bagel seasoning or a drizzle of balsamic glaze.
More Breakfast Favorites:
- Baked Donuts
- Hootenanny
- Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
- Homemade Biscuits
- Chocolate Chip Cake Mix Muffins
- Sheet Pan Pancakes
English Muffin Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon corn meal
Instructions
- Warm the milk and water over low heat until warm, but not hot to the touch, around 110-120 degrees.
- Remove from the heat and add the yeast to the mixture and let bloom, about 5 minutes.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the yeast and milk mixture and stir in the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.
- Knead on medium speed for 7 minutes. Test dough and add more flour if it’s too sticky too handle. It should be slightly sticky, but workable.
- Spray an 8×4 loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and sprinkle in the corn meal. Shake the pan around so that the corn meal coats the inside of the pan evenly.
- Place the dough in the pan and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes.
- Bake in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Cool completely before slicing.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This recipe was originally published in February of 2014. It was updated in January 2023. Original photos below.
Walter Killion says
Do you have a receipe that can be used in a bread machine? I would love to try this.
Karly says
I don’t have any experience with bread machines, so I’m not sure how this would work in one.
Terri says
Can 5his be made in a bread machine?
Karly says
Hi Terri! I’m sure it could be, but I don’t have any experience with bread machines, so no idea if you’d need to change anything.
Roxie says
Don’t know what I did wrong. It was a complete disaster. Never rose.
Karly says
If it didn’t rise, your water was probably too hot or your yeast was bad. Did the mixture bloom and get foamy before you added the flour? If not, something was wrong with that initial step (bad yeast, too hot or cold of liquid).
Angela says
EASY EASY ANYONE CAN DO! I TWEAKED THE WATER LEVEL AND FLOUR …STARTED WITH 2.5C FLOUR AND 1/2 C WATER SOMEPLACE BETWEEN GOOP AN DOUGH I ALWAYS PROOF SEPERATE THEN RIISING TIME 1 HOUR IN WARM OVEN UNDER THE DIRECT LIGHT MUCH BETTER MUFFIN LIKE TEXTURE ALSO LESS SALT MORE BAKING SODA 1 TEASPOON
Jeff says
Have you ever tried this with bread flour? Most of the recipes for English muffin bread I’ve seen call for bread flour. I just wondered if it would make a difference in texture.
Also, I only have 2% milk. Is that okay? Thanks!
Karly says
Hi Jeff! I’ve only made this with all purpose flour. If you try with bread flour, let us know how it turns out! As for the milk, 2% is fine. I’ve tried it with both 2% and whole milk and don’t notice a difference.
Angie says
Curious if you tried this with bread flour?
Sunshine7777 says
Oh my goodness this bread it outstanding! So easy and relatively quick to make as far as bread making goes. I made this for a recipe, an apple chutney leftover pork roast open face sammy that calls for English muffins. I’ve made this countless times for many years always a hit but this bread knocked it out of the park! I just tried some for breakfast with a fresh batch of strawberry jam AMAZING! So Thankful I found your recipe, it’s my new simple pleasure.
Karly says
So glad you enjoy the recipe! Thanks for the review! 🙂