English muffin emerged as ‘an elegant alternative’ to toast

One of the items found on the breakfast tables of America is the “soft and crunchy” toasted English muffin. Despite its “across-the-pond” name, the first English muffin was created in New York City in the early1880s.

 

The recipe was formulated by an Englishman, however. He was Samuel Bath Thomas, a native of Plymouth in Devon County in southwestern England. Thomas came to the United States in 1874 and found work in a Gotham bread bakery.

He was able to save up and open his own bakery in 1880 in the affluent Chelsea neighborhood on Manhattan’s West Side. Originally, Thomas’ English muffins were known as “toaster crumpets,” a variation of the popular British staple served during breakfast and afternoon tea with fruit jam, clotted cream or butter placed atop the crumpet.

 

“Though crumpets and English muffins are both griddle cakes cooked on the stove, there are some key differences,” commented Gordon Ramsay, a British celebrity chef.

 

He says a crumpet contains flour, yeast, salt, baking soda, warm water and milk. An English muffin uses flour, yeast, salt and milk, along with butter. But no baking soda or warm water.

“Crumpets have more moisture. Make crumpets by pouring the batter into a crumpet ring mold and cooking the batter on one side,” Ramsay said. They are eaten whole, and the nooks and crannies appear on the top of the crumpet.

“English muffins have a firmer dough, and the muffins are usually rolled out into little balls and flattened. Cook both sides,” he said. English muffins are then halved, to expose the nooks and crannies on the inside, and toasted before being served with fruit jam, cream cheese or butter. Add egg and cheese to make a breakfast sandwich.

One piece of advice from SiriusChef.com is: “True aficionados know you never want to slice an English muffin with a knife; doing so ruins all those wonderful air pockets (nooks and crannies). Instead, use an English muffin splitting tool, which leaves two equal halves with perfectly preserved peaks and valleys.”

 

Or, follow the instructions on the bottom of the Thomas English muffins box and split the English muffin using the tines of a fork. 

Shortly after Thomas’ English muffins hit the market in the 1880s, New York City’s fine hotels began serving English muffins as “a more elegant alternative to toast.” It wasn’t long before Americans in general embraced the English muffin.

With the introduction of electric pop-up toasters in 1926, English muffins became a mainstay of American breakfast cuisine.

The Thomas brand continues today as the English muffin industry leader. Two early competitors have survived as well. They are Wolferman’s and BAYS English muffins.

Louis Wolferman opened a corner grocery store in Kansas City, Mo., in 1888. In 1910, Fred Wolferman (son of the founder) began making his own English muffins, using tuna cans (with the tops and bottoms removed) as molds. This is what gave Wolferman’s English muffins their distinctive shape and height of at least 2 inches thick.

 

George W. Bay opened a bakery in downtown Chicago in 1933. Bays Bakery was one of the first companies to package its English muffins in a box with a cellophane window. McDonald’s introduced its Egg McMuffin Canadian bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on a toasted BAYS English muffin in the early 1970s.

Today, the Thomas and BAYS brands of English muffins are part of Bimbo Bakeries USA, a subsidiary of Grupo Bimbo, a huge conglomerate based in Mexico. Wolferman’s is owned by 1-800-FLOWERS.com, Inc., which is headquartered in Oyster Bay, N.Y.