This English muffin bread bakes up with all the nooks and crannies you love—just like the real thing, but without all the fuss. It’s no-knead, stirs together in minutes, and slices up into the perfect toast: crispy, golden edges with soft, airy middles that soak up butter like a sponge.
🎧 Listen to the recipe
Not in the mood to read all this? Hit play below and I’ll walk you through the audio version of this English muffin bread recipe with all the sass, tips, and biscuit-loving charm you’ve come to expect from me.
Table of Contents
- 🎧 Listen to the recipe
- 🎥 Video: English muffin bread
- Reasons to love this english muffin bread
- 📋 English muffin bread ingredients
- 📖 Recipe
- 🔪 How to make English muffin bread step by step
- 🔍 What should the dough look like? Hint: Gloopy Is Good!
- Marye’s Pro Tips (They’ll Save Your Loaf)
- 📚 More bread recipes you'll love
- 💬 Comments
🎥 Video: English muffin bread
Wanna know what gloopy perfection looks like? Watch this quick video to see exactly how your English muffin bread dough should look—nail the texture, and you’re golden (literally).
Reader Review: (5 stars) Made this tonight, and I was a little nervous as I’ve never attempted bread before. Easy recipe to follow and turned out absolutely delicious!!! Was going to share my second loaf with a neighbor but I changed my mind after the first bite! ~Rachel
Reasons to love this english muffin bread
Some mornings demand real toast — crispy edges, buttery craters, and zero kneading. This loaf delivers everything you want in a slice of toast—without asking you to wrestle with a dough hook.
- No kneading required – stir by hand
- Sticky, gloopy dough = right texture, trust me. (It might look like a hot mess in the bowl, but that’s the secret to those buttery craters we’re all here for).
- Use cornmeal for that signature crust
- Best for toasting — crispy edges, fluffy inside
- Done in just over an hour (plus rising time)
📋 English muffin bread ingredients
You'll just need basic ingredients for this recipe - most are probably in your pantry right now.
- Yeast -You can use instant yeast instead of regular yeast - just add it in with the dry ingredients and skip the first step of proofing in water.
- Water - Make sure your water temperature isn't too hot nor too cold - it should be about 110F. This is important! Use a thermometer if you're not an experienced baker.
- Sugar - Yeast need sugar to "eat" in order to rise properly. You can substitute honey if you prefer.
- All-purpose flour - No need for bread flour for this recipe.
- Milk - Any kind of milk is fine - just make sure it's 110F.
- Butter - Salted or unsalted is fine. Whatever you have handy.
- Baking soda - Helps to make the craters.
- Salt - Is important for flavor as well as keeping the yeast under control.
- Cornmeal - Not essential but it is traditional.
🍞 Grab your Free English Muffin Kitchen Cheat Sheet for extra tips, FAQs, and more.
📖 Recipe
English Muffin Bread Recipe
Print Pin Recipe Rate RecipeIngredients
- 4 ½ cups flour, you may need less or a little more
- 2 tablespoons yeast, or 2 packets
- 1 tablespoon honey, or sugar
- ¼ cup warm water, 110F
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 ¼ cups warm milk, 110F
- Butter and cornmeal for greasing and dusting the pans
Instructions
- Mix the yeast, honey, and water. Set aside.
- Stir the salt, baking soda, and 1 cup of flour together.
- Add the milk to the yeast mixture.
- Blend well.
- Add the remaining flour, OR ENOUGH TO GIVE YOU A SOFT GOOPY DOUGH and beat.
- You should have a very soft, goopy dough. Yes. I said goopy. See the video for a visual.
- Spoon the dough into 2 loaf pans that have been greased and dusted with the cornmeal.
- Set aside in a warm place until the batter has doubled and is at the top of the pans, or a little above. This may take 30 to 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425F
- Dust the tops of the loaves with cornmeal and bake for 15 minutes or so. Loaf will sound hollow when tapped. Interior should register 190F-200F on an instant-read thermometer stuck in the center.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes if you want a crisper, more golden crust.
- Cool and slice.
Notes
- The pans I use are 9x5-inch.
- Just use all-purpose flour in this recipe. No need for bread flour.
- The batter should be very loose and gloopy. If you add too much flour you won't have those lovely nooks and crannies.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition information is estimated as a courtesy. If using for medical purposes, please verify information using your own nutritional calculator. Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
This recipe has been tested several times. If you choose to use other ingredients, or change the technique in some way, the results may not be the same.
🔪 How to make English muffin bread step by step
This is an easy, no-knead yeast loaf. You don't need a mixer or a breadmaker - just a big wooden spoon and some patience. In about an hour you'll have a loaf that's perfect for toasting.
- Butter two 9x5-inch bread pans.
- Dust with cornmeal.
- Add the sugar to the water in small bowl.
- Stir in the yeast.
- Set aside until foamy.
- Blend the dry ingredients.
- Add the yeast mixture to a large mixing bowl.
- Add the milk.
- Add ENOUGH FLOUR TO GIVE YOU A SOFT GOOPY DOUGH.
- Spoon the dough from the large bowl into each prepared loaf pan. Try to keep the amount of batter in each one equal. Set aside in a warm place to double. Dust the tops of the dough with cornmeal and bake until the top of the loaves are golden brown.
- Cool loaves.
- Slice.
🔍 What should the dough look like? Hint: Gloopy Is Good!
I've had so many people ask what a gloopy dough is so I grabbed one of the images from the video. This is the perfect texture!
It's a very wet dough. Usually if you can't get the bumpy texture like in my pictures you've added too much flour because you're afraid of the sticky dough.
Marye’s Pro Tips (They’ll Save Your Loaf)
- This is an easy bread recipe to stir together by hand. I DO NOT recommend making it with an electric mixer because it will get over beaten, even on low speed, and your perfect texture will be lost.
- You can let the dough for this English muffin loaf rise overnight in the refrigerator if you want to save time in the morning or if you prefer to develop the flavor more. Spray plastic wrap with no stick spray and cover the batter so it won't dry out.
Don't forget the free English Muffin Kitchen Cheat Sheet for more.
📚 More bread recipes you'll love
🍞 Cinnamon Raisin Slow Cooker Bread - All the cozy vibes, none of the work.
🍞 Buttermilk Bread -Southern charm in a fluffy, no-fail loaf.
🍞 No-Knead Sandwich Bread - Your new go-to for toast and grilled cheese.
Once you’ve had a slice of this English muffin bread fresh from the toaster, I promise — you’ll never go back to store-bought. Leave a rating, drop a comment, or tell me what you slathered on top (I’m a strawberry butter girl, but I don’t judge). And don’t forget to grab your free English muffin bread cheat sheet while you’re here — it’ll save your loaf more than once.
Taylor Celia Cromeado says
I'm usually pretty clueless when it comes to baking different breads. Fortunately, this one turned out to be a moist Excellent recipe! It was straight forward to prepare and served up quite nicely with a rich slathering of honey marmalade.
Marye Audet says
I'm glad you like it!
gbmom2407 says
My dough is not "goopy" at all. I just read through the comments and I think I figured out my problem... I was sifting AFTER I measure so I do believe I have too much flour? Right, sift first, then measure?!?
(I should note that it is still awesome tasting bread, just really stiff and doesn't rise well.)
Marye Audet says
I've fixed the instructions. Anytime you make bread you may need more or less flour than called for in the recipe. You may use more one day than you do another day - it's weird like that.
Marye Audet says
very true!
Dominique says
Mine wasn't "goopy" either. I thought I had added an extra cup of flour. I just added an extra 1/2C of warm milk and it turned out great!
Marye Audet says
I've adjusted the recipe.. you really only add flour until you get to the goopy point. 🙂
Kimberly says
Excited to try this recipe. Do you use an electric stand mixer with dough hook?
Marye Audet says
No, I've always mixed this one up by hand... but you could. 🙂
Kevin D. says
New to baking so i kinda messed this one up. Didn't know about spooning the flour into measuring cup so put way too much flour in also forgot the baking powder....lol hope i learn from this attempt. Still hoping for an edible bread when its all done.
Marye Audet says
You might want to looks at the series I did for beginning bread bakers...https://www.restlesschipotle.com/yeast-bread-baking-tips/ that's the first one in the series and there are a couple more. they should be linked. 🙂
Tamara says
Of all the baking I've done over the years, something about working with yeast intimidates me. I love English muffins, tho, and would love to give it a go. So, amateur that I am - do I use bread flour or regular all-purpose?? And when it's done, mine will be topped with orange marmalade - my all-time gave way to enjoy an English muffin!!
Marye Audet says
Either is fine. 🙂 Oh orange marmalade? You, me, and Paddington! I love the stuff!
Susan says
I have made English Muffin Bread before but not this recipe. Just looked in the oven to see how things were looking and the bread sunk, oh no!! My other recipe only calls for 2 pkgs of yeast, I'm thinking this might be the problem although no one else seems to have an issue! Wondering how it will taste
Marye Audet says
I don't think that would do it, Susan. I would guess that there wasn't enough flour or it wasn't mixed enough.
Leslie says
HAve you ever made his with a sourdough starter? Any idea how to adapt that?
Marye Audet says
I am working on an adaption with sour dough starter but I haven't gotten it right yet.
Sheila says
Made this yesterday and it was awesome, and so easy. I only made 1 loaf though. I halved all the ingredients except the warm water to bloom the yeast. Then I halved the warm milk minus the 2 tablespoons because of the extra water. It came out great.
Marye Audet says
glad you liked it. 🙂
Tara says
Just pulled this out of the oven. My house smells heavenly! I let the dough rise until it doubled, but when I took it out of the oven, it was somewhat flat on top. However, it looks and smells amazing otherwise! I am so excited to cut into it! Thanks for a super simple recipe!
Marye Audet says
That's awesome! You're welcome. 🙂
Mary in Iowa says
My husband absolutely loves the crunch of English muffin bread, so I thought I might give this a try. A couple questions though. Is there something special about kosher salt that makes it better for baking, or is regular or sea salt ok? Also, just to make sure, you measure the flour and then sift? Or the other way? Thank you!
Marye Audet says
It's more pure. The crystals are bigger so if you use regular salt use less. I sift then measure. 🙂
Brittany says
I too had an issue with the dough being too dry.... I added a tbsp of warm water to help but didn't want to add to much incase it affected the texture of the bread once cooked... I had to use my hands to scoop the dough out, there was no using a spoon here... the dough almost had the texture of a "not worked enough" pizza dough... hopefully it comes out alright ?
Marye Audet says
It is a very thick dough... and it sounds like the texture was about right. How did it work?
Sheila says
It sounds like you had too much flour. When baking, never measure your flour by scooping your measuring cup into the flour. It packs it too much. Instead, spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level off with the back of a butter knife. I learned this from Mrs. Boyer in my high school home ec class over 50 years ago.
Reba says
I'm making this right now- my dough was also drier than I think it should have been- I added warm water and mixed it more- can you over mix this recipe?! I'm still excited- but curious what I should do if I try this again! Thank you! It appears to be rising!!!!
Marye Audet says
Mixing in a little extra warm water or milk shouldn't be a problem. I think it would be very hard to over mix it. 🙂
Shaylan says
So I'm trying this recipe for the first time and my batter didn't come out very "goopy". Should I add more milk or water next time I make this? I measured everything out exact but the batter came out a little sticky. It's rising right now so I'll let you know how it turns out in the end!
Marye Audet says
Just saw this. How did it work?
Kelly says
This yielded kind of a tough, stretchy dough, after following the recipe to a T. It didn't rise, either. It seems like a lot of dry ingredients and not enough wet to produce a dough that's "goopy" and can be "spooned" at all.
I've made more difficult breads with success and wanted a quick loaf out of this, and ended up with something inedible. Any tips or tricks? Is there a missing ingredient?
Marye Audet says
The recipe is correct. I'm sorry you had trouble with it, Kelly. It does sound like there was too much flour - is there any possibility that your measurements were off?
Nancy Ratti says
The second time I a making this delicious recipe. The last time I sliced one loaf then froze it. I was able to take out
What I wanted ,toast it and butter and raspberry jam. It of this world. They are in the oven now, the house smells amazing. Thank you.
Marye Audet says
Thanks for this! 🙂 I am so glad you like it
Shannon says
Butter and honey....I thought I was the only one ❤ I can't wait to try this recipe!
Marye Audet says
Oh no, you're not the only one!
Steve says
Hey Marye~
I have tried a couple of other recipes for this type of bread with a moderate success level, I have not tried yours yet but will be doing so in the next few days and cant wait to see the results. My biggest grip with the others I tried was the lack of a lot of good sized nooks and crannies (as you stated it looks like regular bread) your pics show exactly what I am looking for the ones I tried had much smaller nooks and crannies or as you say course bumpy texture to hold butter and other spreads so my main question is what makes those nooks and crannies is it the baking powder or something else?
Thanks in advance cant wait to try it!
Ciao
Steve
Marye Audet says
I'm not sure. I think it's the combination of the yeast and the baking powder.
Laura says
Just made this, halved the recipe. Made one awesome loaf!i will be making this again! Thank you.
Marye Audet says
Thank you, Laura!
Caryn says
Can this be done in a bread machine??
Marye Audet says
I've never used one so I am not sure. I don't see why not?
Jamie Porter says
Just made this. It was delicious! My house was a little cool so it was a bit dense but still tasted great and made wonderful toast! Will let it rise a bit more next time but that will only be tomorrow! Highly recommended.
Marye Audet says
🙂 thanks for letting me know!