Homemade English Muffin Bread
Here’s an easy way to cut your grocery bill this week—make bread. Wait! Hear me out. I want to show you how to make homemade bread that is so easy, so simple, and so foolproof it’s going to make you feel like a genius. This homemade English Muffin Bread is simply amazing.
If you’ve read my book, 7 Money Rules for Life, you know that Rule #1 is so simple it would be easy to overlook it as being too elementary. Here it is: Spend less than you earn.
Now think about it … “spend less than you earn” is not the same as “don’t spend more than you earn.” The latter implies it would be okay to spend all that you earn, but no. The operative word is “less.”
You need a gap between what you earn and how much of it you spend. That is the fundamental secret to living below your means.
It’s in that gap that you can repay debt, build an emergency fund, and financial freedom can grow. You really need to read the rest of the book, but for now, let’s just say that growing the gap is the challenge.
Making your own homemade bread is an easy way to increase your gap this week even if only by a few dollars. It all adds up! Let me show you how to make homemade bread that is so amazing, so simple, and so foolproof it’s going to make you feel like a genius.
English Muffin bread is great for sandwiches. Toasted with butter and jam, it is pure heaven. So much better than commercial English Muffins and way cheaper.
This recipe makes the equivalent of 24 English muffins for about $3 total or $.13 each, depending on how you purchase the ingredients. I buy flour and yeast in bulk). Makes awesome grilled cheese sandwiches, by the way.
English Muffin Bread
The ingredients are super simple—nothing complicated here! (Scroll to the end for the full printable recipe.)
I used my electric mixer to mix just until all the ingredients were wet and sticky. I removed the paddle and let the dough rise until double, right in the bowl (about one hour … quick!)
So easy to spoon the wet dough into these two loaf pans, allowing the dough to rise again, to the top of the pans.
Please note that I cut the recipe in half, which made this one extra large and one small loaf.
I baked these loaves in a 350F preheated oven for 45 minutes total (that’s my beautiful countertop Breville Smart Oven).
Brush with butter after 35 minutes, then returned them to the oven for the final 10 minutes.
After completely cooled, I toasted up a couple of slices. Can you see all those nooks and crannies? Wow! So yummy.
This easy homemade bread is quite moist and stays fresh in a tightly sealed plastic bag for two to three days. Freezes well.
Updated and Republished 12-31-21
Homemade English Muffin Bread
Ingredients
- 5 ½ cups warm water
- 6 ¾ teaspoons active dry or rapid-rise yeast, equal to three ¼-oz. pkgs.
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 3 tablespoons white granulated sugar
- 11 cups bread flour can use all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix just until incorporated. It will turn into a very wet, sticky dough. Just leave the dough in the bowl, cover with a clean, wet dishtowel, and let it rise until double in size, about 1 hour.
- Spoon this sticky dough into four well-greased loaf pans. Allow to rise in pans until dough reaches the top of the pan.
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake for 35 minutes; brush tops with melted butter and return to oven for another 10 minutes.
- Allow pans to cool on cooling rack 10 to 15 minutes, then remove loaves from pans, allowing bread to completely cool.
- Bread will be moist at first. Best when allowed to cool completely before cutting. (Granted, it takes a lot of personal discipline to wait that long.) Store bread in a linen cloth bag (See Notes) for two to three days. Freezes well.
Notes
Nutrition
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This bread is terrific! Easy to make and tastes great.
This bread is so good! The only problem is that you will want to eat too much bread. So give a loaf away to save yourself!
Joyce
Mixed yeast and sugar and water for the half recipe and then added the salt and flour. It was a dry dough, not sticky. I used 5-1/2 c bread flour.
The freshness of your flour, the temperature & rate of humidity in your house & kitchen, & the weather outside (include humidity rate outside) all play important roles in working with yeast & flour. These factors could account for your non-sticky, dry dough.
This is my new favorite bread. I halved the recipe because I only had 2 loaf pans. I used all purpose flour and it came out perfect. I am now addicted. Thank you!
One more thought from Costa Rica… my husband loves the bread!
We live in Costa Rica in the northern rainforest, far from San José. I thought a large city would have bread flour but have not found it anywhere. So I use AP or whole Wheat for all my breads. This bread was everything you said it was…easy, delicious, a tender English muffin! Thank you for sharing!
I love this recipe but also use regular bread from the grocery store for sandwiches. I wrap each slice individually in plastic wrap and place the slices back in the wrapper and freeze them. I only take out what I need and the slices don’t stick together.
That’s a great idea, Kay! Since we are only two, I have to put half a loaf of bread in the freezer. I never thought of wrapping them individually to make it easier. Thank you!
Was also wondering if half recipe would work in bread maker?
Yes, you will see in the post that I was using 1/2 recipes to make that one large and one small loaf.
I’m wondering too, if it can be made in the bread maker. I’m going to give it a try with fingers crossed!
Made it in the bread maker. It came out good but I halved the recipe and it was still a bit too much dough for my bread maker. Spilled over the side just a bit. Not enough to cause a problem. Will make it again in the bread maker.
I have been making this since the last time you posted it, and my husband LOVES it! He doesn’t want to eat “store bought” toast any more… he just wants that “good bread” for his toast! Thank goodness this is so simple and easy, and I can freeze one loaf while we work on the other. By the way, I don’t even use a mixer. I have a bread dough “mixer” utensil that works just fine, and is super easy to clean. Thanks for this great recipe!
work in breadmaker?