Mumsy’s English Muffin Bread

I remember being completely in awe by my grandmother’s behemoth, faux wood-paneled microwave when I was a kid. She was the queen of kitchen gadgets. Who else owns a potato ricer? But despite all those gadgets, the foods I associate most with our visits to her house are goldfish, fruit loops (eaten straight out of the mini waxed paper-lined carton with milk–which we did not get at home), and donuts with pink icing (that my dad would pick up first thing as we drove off the bridge into her island community). It’s funny because to read what I’ve written, you would think she just… didn’t cook? On the contrary, to flip through my more obscure childhood memories and to look back through her cookbooks and read her handwritten notes, I would say she was a damn adventurous woman in the kitchen. She was even one step ahead of the curve when she took some microwave cooking classes back in the 80s. There are two recipes from those classes that she passed to my mom which have become major comfort food to me: Clay Pot Italian Beef and English Muffin Bread. I’ll save the beef for another day. Bread baked in the microwave is much more fascinating.

Oh this bread! Knowing I have some sitting on my counter as I type is kind of torture. I want to eat more and more and more. With lots.of.butter. The thing about this bread is that you have to eat it toasted, just like you would an English muffin. And you also have to eat it on Christmas morning with some of my other grandma’s meat pie. And if you make it at Christmas, you have to bring a loaf to your neighbors. It’s also good with honey for breakfast on any old day.

Mumsy’s English Muffin Bread

makes two loaves

grits or cornmeal for pans
2 cups milk
1 cup water
5 1/2 cups flour, divided
2 tablespoons yeast (or 2 envelopes)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Grease two loaf pans, sprinkle with grits or cornmeal and shake out the excess. Combine milk and water. Heat for about 3-4 minutes in the microwave (or on the stove top til almost too hot to touch). Mix 3 cups flour, yeast, salt, sugar and baking soda in large bowl. Add  warm milk mixture and beat well. Blend in remaining flour and stir until dough is soft. Divide dough into loaf pans. Cover and let rise in warm spot for about 45 minutes or until dough rises to top of pan. Cook loaves one at a time on high for 6-6 1/2 minutes in the microwave, or if you are like me and don’t have microwave safe glass loaf pans, at 350° for 25 minutes until it sounds hollow when tapped and it’s golden on top. Let stand for five minutes in the pan and then remove so the grits don’t get all soggy.  You can’t have soggy grits on your crust.  Serve toasted, like an English muffin.