Momofuku Ko English Muffins

A lot of what I choose to cook comes down to just how much time I have available. For the longest time I wanted to try the Ko English Muffins in David Chang's Momofuku cookbook, but never quite had the time. Yesterday I decided to start the whole process and finish them up today.

Momofuku Ko English Muffins

I've found that most of the recipes in this book are not technically difficult. If you read through everything before hand and make sure you've got the right tools and enough time to properly execute every step - it's pretty easy.

I busted out these simply because I just...well...felt like it. There's a link to the recipe at the bottom of the page. Here are some of my notes from the whole process:

• I made half the recipe. It halves very well. As is usually the case, I think they would have turned out even better with the whole recipe. Due to the smaller batch the dough probably got a little overworked by adhering to the mixing and kneading times provided.

• 60 grams most certainly does not make a normal sized English muffin. For that you're going to need probably something in the range of 80-90 grams. That being said, the 60 gram size is actually a nice mini size for less hearty appetites. Regina also thinks they "look cute".

• I sifted the cornmeal through a fine meshed sieve and only used the courser corn meal left in the sieve; otherwise the finer aggregates in the cornmeal absolutely coat the dough. If you look at the picture in this recipe for a hollandaise sauce, you'll see what I mean about too much corn meal.

• I cut the ones you see above, but WAIT UNTIL THEY ARE COMPLETELY COOL and USE THE FORK TO PRY THEM APART! If you don't wait for them to cool you are going to create a giant mess. Patience Grasshopper.Prying them open provides the "nooks and crannies" that you get from a good traditional English muffin.

• I didn't include the chive batons. I really didn't see the point in it.

• I didn't do the bay leaf butter either. Hydrating dried leaves doesn't work very well, and I didn't have fresh ones at the ready.

• Some type of diffuser plate may be necessary to keep the heat low enough on the cast iron skillet. I used a cast iron fajita plate between the range and skillet to keep a low temp

Link to Momofuku Ko English Muffins from Momofuku, by David Chang, here.

This was my first go at English muffins. I think it's pretty close to authentic. I'd give them another try, or I might try this recipe, which has received quite a bit of praise. This was written by Alton Brown, but I think shesimmers.com does a nice job with the pictures and comments. The recipe on its own does look pretty intriguing because the ingredients are vastly different from this one.

Looking for other recipes that I've done go to the Food page here.