Treacle muffins
 
English bread muffins, you gotta love them! By adding some treacle it gives these muffins a new dimension of flavour that works so well toasted with a little butter and marmalade or a new combination I have been trying is toasted with cheese, amazing ! Don’t forget to batch bake these and store them in the freeze for another day to save time. 
 
 
Ingredients 
 
500g Flour 
10g Yeast 
10g Salt 
50g Treacle 
50g Melted butter 
310g Water 
3 tbsp Polenta or ground semolina 
 
Here’s how:
 
Pour the flour, yeast and salt into a mixing bowl and using your hand blend the ingredients together. 
Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the water, treacle and melted butter. 
Using your hand in a claw shape roll it around the bowl to mix together until it forms a soft ball of dough. 
Transfer the mixture into a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and stretchy. 
Return the dough back to the mixing bowl, cover and leave to prove for 1 hour or until it doubles in size. 
You can also place the dough in the fridge overnight to prove as the cold temperate of the fridge will slow the proving process down and develop the flavour. 
Scoop the dough back out of the mixing bowl onto a lightly floured work surface, dust with a little flour on top and knock all the air out. 
Roll the dough out to approximate 3cm thick and use a 9cm cutter to cut out approx 9 muffins.
Scatter the polenta out onto a tray and sit the muffins on top, this will stop them sticking while they prove. 
Leave the bread to prove and double in size. 
Pre heat a heavy bottomed pan on a medium heat. 
Place three of the muffins into the hot pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden. 
When they are cooked on each side place on a baking tray and repeat the process until you have cooked all 9 muffins. 
Now bake the bread in a pre heated oven for 15 minutes at 160c to bake the centre. 
Serve toasted with butter and traditional English marmalade for breakfast. 
 
Recipe by Peter Sidwell