English Muffins

Nothing makes me more excited/angrier than discovering I can make something at home when I've been buying it at the store for years. English muffins are now one of those things.

• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 1/4 t active dry yeast (one package)
  
• 1 cup warm water
  
• 1/4 cup melted shortening
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

1. First, stir the yeast into the warm water. Let it set until it starts foaming and smells "yeasty" (5-10 minutes).
2. While the yeast is foaming, warm the milk in a saucepan. Dissolve the sugar in the milk. Add the shortening and let it melt.
3. Add this milk/yeast/shortening mixture to 3 cups of flower and the yeast-water. Mix. Once it is combined, add the rest of the flour (only use as much as necessary to form a soft dough.
4. Knead the dough for 5 minutes or so until it's sort of elastic. Put the dough in a greased bowl and let rise for 45-60 minutes.
5. After the dough has risen, punch it down and use a rolling pin to roll it out so it's about 1/2 inch thick. Using a drinking glass (or biscuit cutter if you want to get fancy) cut circles. I got about 18 muffins. Try to get them as close together as possible- it's really hard to re-roll out the dough.
6. Place the circles on a piece of waxed paper that you have sprinkled with corn meal. Sprinkle the top of the muffins with corn meal as well. Cover and let rise again for about 30 minutes.
7. Cook the muffins on a griddle on medium heat- about 10 minutes on each side. I just kept squeezing the sides until they felt soft but cooked through.

This recipe brought to you by the new Radiohead album, "The King of Limbs".