Blueberry English muffins

The blueberries in these tasty homemade muffins give a joyous burst of sweet flavour, and when they’re smothered in hot butter, straight from the oven, they are sublime. This recipe does involve some of the bread making process with two proves, so it isn’t quick, but you can leave the first prove in the fridge overnight if you would like hot English muffins for brunch. Heather x

Ingredients

• 300g strong bread flour
• 7g fast-acting yeast (1 sachet)
• 7g salt
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 200ml milk
• 100g blueberries
• Semolina

Method

1. In a jug, add the milk, butter and sugar and heat in the microwave in 20 second bursts until the milk is warm. Add the yeast to the warm milk mixture, whisk it in and leave for five minutes for the yeast to start creating foam on the surface.
2. In a big bowl, add the flour and salt. Pour in the milk mixture and stir until it forms a sticky dough. Either knead this by hand for 10 minutes, or mix using a stand mixer and the dough hook for 7-8 minutes.
3. Oil the sides of the bowl, cover and leave the dough to double in size in a warm place (an hour).
4. Line a tray with greaseproof paper and sprinkle with some semolina.
5. Once doubled in size, turn out onto a surface lightly dusted with flour. Add in the blueberries and knead until the blueberries are evenly dispersed. This will make the dough very sticky: use some of the semolina to help shape the dough.
6. Press the dough into a rough rectangle shape about 1cm thick and using a cutter (about 8cm in diameter, but it doesn’t have to be precise), cut out the rounds of dough and place on the tray. Use all the dough to get about 6 muffins. Sprinkle more semolina on top and leave to prove for another 45 minutes.
7. Once proved, heat a heavy-bottomed pan or skillet to a medium heat and add the muffins carefully to the pan. Each side should take 5 to 8 minutes to cook, but keep an eye on them in case they brown too quickly. If they do, just pop them into the oven to finish baking the centre.
8. These muffins are delicious hot from the pan but they will last three days, and once cooled they are delicious toasted.