These Sourdough English Muffins are easy to make and the perfect way to use up your sourdough discard! The recipe is vegan-friendly and uses only simple ingredients. Prepare the night before you wish to make your English Muffins.
This recipe is:
- 100% vegan
- egg-free
- dairy-free
- delicious & easy
- using only simple ingredients
- plant-based
- super soft and fluffy
- great to use up your Sourdough discard
If you want to go all out, try this Vegan Egg McMuffin or this recipe for a Vegan Breakfast Burger using English muffins!
When making sourdough, you often end up with a lot of sourdough discard - this Sourdough English Muffins recipe is a great way to make use of your Sourdough discard and to use it in a fun and delicious way. And the best thing about it? It's also vegan!
Ingredients & Notes
Here's everything you need for this English muffin recipe:
- sourdough starter: it's a great way to use up your sourdough discard in this recipe!
- vegan Greek-style yoghurt (I used Oatly on this occasion)
- lukewarm water: it's important for the water to be lukewarm to allow the sourdough bacteria to grow. Cold water will prevent it from growing or slow down the process and hot water will kill any bacteria development. The best temperature is around 50-55C - a little warmer than body temperature, but at a temperature where you can comfortably stick a finger into the liquid without it being too hot.
- plain flour (bread flour would be ideal, I use the bread flour from Buywholefoodsonline).
- baking soda: this will help the muffins expand
- fine salt
Equipment
- a mixing bowl
- a clean towel or lose lid for the bowl
- lined baking tray or silicone baking mat
- a round cookie cutter for your English muffin shape
Instructions (Step-by-step)
Step 1: Prepare the Sourdough discard
Start by mixing the sourdough discard with 230g vegan-friendly greek-style yoghurt, 80ml lukewarm water and 280g of plain flour and set the mix aside lightly covered at room temperature. Let it rest overnight or for at least 8 hrs.
Step 2: Create the dough
The next day, the mix will have expanded and show bubbles as a sign of activity. Give it a stir and then add in 120g flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon of fine salt. Combine everything into a sticky dough - keep a container of water nearby to wet your hands and prevent the dough from sticking to your fingers whilst you're handling it.
Step 3: Roll out the dough
Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface to about ½ - ¾ inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter (or a mason jar) to cut out the Sourdough English muffins. Transfer them to a non-stick baking sheet and allow for them to rest for 1 hour. Gently brush off any excess flour.
Step 4: Pan-fry the English Muffins
Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat, once hot, place a few muffins into the pan at a time, giving them room to expand. Once the bottom edges begin to slightly brown, flip the muffins and heat for another 1-2 minutes until the Sourdough muffins are golden on both sides.
FAQ - Sourdough English Muffins
Your sourdough starter should be bubbly and smell similar to fermented yoghurt. To use it in this recipe, it should be well and active, so at least a couple of days old.
Your sourdough starter should be at least 5 days old by the time you wish to use the discard for this recipe. You will need a total of 175g of sourdough starter to make these vegan English muffins. Pay close attention to your sourdough starter and ensure to feed it in regular intervals to keep it alive. At the time of using it for this recipe, it should be bubbly and smell similar to fermented yoghurt, and roughly double in size in under 10-12 hours.
In the UK, where I live, there are a number of options for dairy-free greek-style yoghurt - for example Alpro and Oatly. It doesn't necessarily need to be one of these brands, so if you have a different brand, go for it! The most important part is that the yoghurt needs to be thick and not super liquid and runny. If you can only find regular vegan yoghurt, you can transfer it into a cheesecloth and hang it over a bowl for an hour, so the excess liquid can drip off and you're left with thick greek-style yoghurt.
Sourdough English Muffins can be great with a variety of toppings - both sweet and savoury! I personally like to change things up and enjoy all kinds of toppings on my English Muffins. When I'm more in a sweet mood, I often opt for vegan chocolate spread (the one by Mr Organic is fantastic!), peanut butter or other nut butter, chia jam or straight up chocolate (cause it's divine, try it!). On the savoury side, I really enjoy hummus, vegan butter + nutritional yeast, baked beans, a slice of vegan cheese or a variety of store-bought vegan spreads. Avocado and garlic mushrooms are also a good shout if you have a little more time on your hands.
If you want to go all out, why not try this Vegan Egg McMuffin recipe from the blog?
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📖 Recipe Card
Sourdough English Muffins (Vegan Sourdough Discard Recipe)
Equipment
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 Non-stick skillet
- 1 container with water
- 1 kitchen brush
Ingredients
- 175 g sourdough starter discard
- 230 g vegan greek-style yogurt
- 80 ml lukewarm water
- 280 g all purpose flour or bread flour
- 120 g all purpose flour or bread flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
Instructions
- Start by mixing the sourdough discard with 230 g vegan-friendly greek-style yoghurt, 80ml lukewarm water and 280 g of plain flour and set the mix aside lightly covered at room temperature. Let it rest overnight or for at least 8 hrs.
- The next day, the mix will have expanded and show bubbles as a sign of activity. Give it a stir and then add in 120g flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon of fine salt. Combine everything into a sticky dough - keep a container of water nearby to wet your hands and prevent the dough from sticking to your fingers whilst you're handling it.
- Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface to about ½ - ¾ inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter (or a mason jar) to cut out the Sourdough English muffins. Transfer them to a non-stick baking sheet and allow for them to rest for 1 hour. Gently brush off any excess flour.
- Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat, once hot, place a few muffins into the pan at a time, giving them room to expand. Once the bottom edges begin to slightly brown, flip the muffins and heat for another 1-2 minutes until the sourdough muffins are golden on both sides.
Love a good savoury breakfast? Here's a few more things I think you'll love:
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Jess
Just made these and I love them! The perfect way to use up my sourdough discard, and they've also kept well in the freezer 🙂
ShaunD
Just getting into sourdough and found your recipe for English muffins to use discard in.
I am wondering what is the best way to split the English muffins?
Romy
Hey Shaun, thanks for the message! I'm not 100% certain if you're referring to the dough or the baked muffins, so just in case, I'm gonna include both details here 🙂 For cutting the dough into shape I usually use a large round cutter - such as a cookie cutter or even a dessert ring. Those give the best shape! Once baked, I usually use a serrated knife to slice them, but if they're freshly baked, they can also be ripped open, giving a more rustic texture (just be careful if they're still hot!). Hope this helps!
ShaunD
Oops! Sorry I wasn’t more clear. After cooking was what I was referring to. I decided to use a fork and just inserted it all the way around and then they opened up perfectly and with the rough edges I love.
Romy
Ohh love that fork trick! Glad you enjoyed them, yay 🙂
Roberta
I’m not going to rate them till I try them again…to be fair. Mine were dense and a bit doughy. Help! Everyone else seemed to have great success. I have a boatload of discard (I’m a sourdough newbie and can’t seem to get my spelt flour starter doubling - hence, the boatload!). Any suggestions will be so gratefully appreciated.
Romy
Hi Roberta! Firstly, thanks for visiting my recipe blog & for trying my recipe 🙂 I'm sorry to hear you're having troubles with your sourdough! To be honest, there are a lot of different factors that might be causing issues with sourdough - especially with Discard baking. If you're on Facebook, maybe this Sourdough baking group might be of help: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sourdoughstartersbeginnerbakers Plenty of people share their sourdough struggles and successes in this group and help each other out - and I'm sure together we can figure this out 🙂
ShaunD
I just finished making these English muffins and they are AMAZING and make me feel like a professional baker!!!!! Oh. My. Goodness!! They were the easiest thing ever to make!! They taste better and look just like store bought!!!
I couldn’t find plain Greek yogurt in my grocery store, but knew that Cocojune was a little thicker and it worked great!
I used a fork to split them after cooking them which was ideal.
Who knew English muffins were so easy! And I always thought they were baked in an oven!
Thank you, Romy for sharing your success!