{{Short description|Small, round, flat yeast-leavened bread}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox food | name = English muffin | image = File:Harborview Bistro & Bar - January 2024 - Sarah Stierch 08.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = A split and toasted English muffin | alternate_name = Breakfast muffin, flatbread muffin | country = England<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/TheArtOfCookery|title=The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy|access-date=19 July 2020}}</ref> | region = | course = Breakfast | type = Leavened bread | served = | main_ingredient = Wheat flour, yeast | variations = Raisin | calories = | other = }}
An '''English muffin''' is a small, round, flat yeast-leavened (sometimes sourdough) bread which is commonly about {{convert|4|in|cm|0|abbr=on}} in diameter and {{convert|1.5|in|cm|0|abbr=on}} tall. It is generally split horizontally and served toasted.<ref name=david>David, Elizabeth (1977). ''English Bread and Yeast Cookery''. London: Allen Lane. {{ISBN|0713910267}}</ref> They are unsweetened and frequently eaten with sweet or savoury toppings, such as butter, fruit jam, honey, eggs, sausage, bacon, or cheese. English muffins are an essential ingredient in eggs Benedict and a variety of breakfast sandwiches derived from it, such as the McMuffin.
Rather than being entirely oven-baked, they are also cooked in a griddle on the stove top and flipped from side-to-side, which results in a flattened shape rather than the rounded top seen in baked rolls or cake-type muffins.<ref>{{Cite web |title=English Muffin - Kitchen Dictionary - Food.com |url=https://www.food.com/about/english-muffin-819 |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=www.food.com}}</ref>
It is of English or European origin.
These products are called ''English muffins'' to distinguish them from the sweeter cupcake-shaped quick breads also known as muffins, although in the UK, English muffins are sometimes referred to simply as ''muffins''<ref name="Myers 2018">{{cite web |last1=Myers |first1=Dan |url=https://www.latimes.com/food/sns-dailymeal-1869637-eat-england-english-muffins-are-just-called-muffins-20180202-story.html |title=In England, English muffins are just called 'muffins'|website=Los Angeles Times |date=2 February 2018 |access-date=27 February 2023}}</ref> or ''breakfast muffins''.<ref name="warburtons">{{cite web|url=https://www.warburtons.co.uk/products/pancakes-potato-cakes-and-muffins/4-toasting-muffins/|title=Warburton's Breakfast Muffins}}</ref> English muffins are available in a wide range of varieties, including whole wheat, multigrain, cinnamon raisin, cranberry, and apple cinnamon.
==Origin== thumbnail|upright|''London Cries: A Muffin Man'' ({{c.|1759}})
The word ''muffin'' is thought to come from the Low German {{lang|nds|muffen}}, meaning "little cakes".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/muffin|title=muffin|access-date=29 December 2016|via=The Free Dictionary}}</ref> The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' also suggests a possible link to Old French {{lang|fro|moflet}}, a type of bread. Originally it meant "any of various kinds of bread or cake".<ref>"muffin, n.". OED Online. March 2022. Oxford University Press. https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/123299 (accessed 2 April 2022).</ref>
The first recorded use of the word ''muffin'' was in 1703,<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muffin#h1|title=Merriam-Webster|date=8 November 2023 }}</ref> and recipes for muffins appear in British cookery books as early as 1747 in Hannah Glasse's ''The Art of Cookery'', although the product is undoubtedly older than that.<ref>{{Cite book |last=David |first=Elizabeth |title=English Bread and Yeast Cookery |publisher=Penguin |year=1977 |isbn=0-14-046791-2 |location=London UK |pages=343 |language=English}}</ref> The muffins are described by Glasse as being "like a Honey-comb" inside.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Glasse|first=Hannah|title=The Art of Cookery|publisher=A. Millar and T. Tyre|year=1758|location=London|pages=298–299}}</ref>
In the ''Oxford Companion to Food'', Alan Davidson states that "[t]here has always been some confusion between muffins, crumpets, and pikelets, both in recipes and in name".<ref name=Davidson>Davidson, Alan. ''Oxford Companion to Food''. Oxford University Press:Oxford, 1999 (p. 517)</ref> The English muffin has been described as a variant form of a crumpet, or a "cousin", with the difference being the location of the holes; in a crumpet, the holes go all the way to the top, whereas with an English muffin, the holes are inside.<ref name="Nibble1">{{Cite web |title=The Nibble: English Muffin History |url=http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/breadstuffs/english-muffin-history.asp |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=www.thenibble.com}}</ref>
===Muffin men=== [[File:Muffin man - Project Gutenberg eText 20338.png|thumb|upright|A Victorian-era muffin man ringing a bell, ''Punch'', 1892]]
The increasing popularity of flatbread muffins by the mid-18th century is attested by the existence of muffin men, a type of hawker who would travel door to door selling English muffins as a snack bread before most homes had their own ovens.<ref name=Davidson/>
The bell-ringing of muffin men became so common that by 1839 the British Parliament passed a bill<ref>{{cite web| title=Paragraph 14 of section 54 of the Metropolitan Police Act 1839 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/2-3/47/contents}}</ref> to prohibit it, but this was not adhered to by sellers.<ref>Mayhew, Henry (2013). ''London Labour and the London Poor''. Volume 1. p. 202. "The prohibition has been as inoperative as that which forbade the use of a drum to the costermonger, for the muffin bell still tinkles along the streets, and is rung vigorously in the suburbs"</ref> In 1861, "goodsized" muffins from street-sellers were commonly sold for a halfpenny each; crumpets were about a penny.<ref>{{Cite web| title=London Labour and the London Poor, Volume 1 1861| hdl=10427/53837| url=http://hdl.handle.net/10427/53837}}</ref>
Comparing the bell-ringing of muffin men to the melodic chimes from an approaching ice cream van that generates excitement in children today, Michael Paterson writes in ''A Brief History of Life in Victorian Britain'', "the ringing of a handbell was one of the most joyous sounds in a Victorian childhood".<ref name="Paterson"/> The tradition of the muffin man continued until the Second World War.<ref name="Paterson">{{cite book |last1=Paterson |first1=Michael |title=A Brief History of Life in Victorian Britain |date=2013 |publisher=Hachette UK}}</ref>
==By country== ===United Kingdom=== thumb|A wholemeal English muffin, whole, split, toasted and topped with butter
Both English muffins and sweet American-style cupcake-shaped muffins are referred to as ''muffins'' in the UK, although the terms ''English muffin'', ''breakfast muffin'', or ''toasting muffin'' are often used to indicate the former, and legislation refers to the latter as ''American muffins''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Muffins recipes |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/muffins |website=BBC Food |publisher=BBC |access-date=1 April 2025 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=English muffin recipes |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/english_muffin |website=BBC Food |publisher=BBC |access-date=1 April 2025 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Myers 2018"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Restricting promotions of products high in fat, sugar and salt by location and by price: government response to public consultation |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/restricting-promotions-of-food-and-drink-that-is-high-in-fat-sugar-and-salt/outcome/restricting-promotions-of-products-high-in-fat-sugar-and-salt-by-location-and-by-price-government-response-to-public-consultation |website=www.gov.uk |access-date=27 February 2023}}</ref> They are usually consumed with tea or coffee, and sometimes feature in afternoon tea served in UK hotels.<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Mason | first1 = Laura | last2 = Brown | first2 = Catherine | year = 1999 | title = From Bath Chaps to Bara Brith | place = Totnes | publisher = Prospect Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last = Pettigrew | first = Jane | year = 2004 | title = Afternoon Tea | place = Andover | publisher = Jarrold}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last = Fitzgibbon | first = Theodora | year = 1972 | title = A Taste of England: The West Country | place = London | publisher = JM Dent}}</ref> They are also consumed for breakfast in the form of American-style breakfast sandwiches.<ref>{{cite web |title=Breakfast Menu |url=https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/menu/breakfast.html |website=mcdonalds.com |access-date=27 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Wetherspoon Breakfast Hours and Menu |url=https://breakfasthours.co.uk/wetherspoons/ |website=breakfasthours.co.uk |date=13 January 2022 |access-date=27 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Mushroom & Egg Muffin |url=https://www.starbucks.co.uk/menu/product/11221 |website=starbucks.co.uk |access-date=27 November 2022 |archive-date=27 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221127103631/https://www.starbucks.co.uk/menu/product/11221 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===United States=== "Mush muffins (called ''slipperdowns'' in New England) were a Colonial [American] muffin made with hominy on a hanging griddle."<ref>Mariani, John F. Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, [Lebhar-Freidman Books: New York]. 1999 (p. 211)</ref> These and other types of flatbread muffins were known to American settlers, but they declined in popularity with the advent of the quickbread muffin.
References to English muffins appear in U.S. newspapers starting in 1859,<ref>{{cite news|title=Thomas' Dining Saloon|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17772891/english_muffins/|newspaper=The Buffalo Daily Republic|date=22 September 1859|page=2|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 25 February 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Wanted: An English Muffin and Crumpet Baker|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17772901/english_muffins/|newspaper=New York Daily Herald|date=17 September 1862|page=2|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 25 February 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Call at Steam Bakery|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17772910/english_muffins/|newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=30 May 1863|page=5|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 25 February 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref> and detailed descriptions of them and recipes were published as early as 1870.<ref>{{cite news|title=Fancy Bread|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17773014/english_muffins/|newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=4 November 1870|page=1|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 25 February 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=English Muffins|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17773091/english_muffins/|newspaper=The Weekly Star|date=29 March 1876|page=6|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 25 February 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref>
[[File:Muffin House watering jeh.jpg|thumb|upright|The "Muffin House" in Manhattan, home of Samuel Bath Thomas' second bakery, and ancestor of Thomas' English Muffins]]
A popular brand of English muffin in the U.S. is Thomas', which was founded in Manhattan, New York, by English immigrant Samuel Bath Thomas in 1880.<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/nyregion/28muffins.html| work= The New York Times| title= Do You Know the Muffin Man Was on West 20th Street? | date= 28 July 2006| access-date= 26 May 2024}}</ref> He reintroduced the flatbread muffin to the American market. Thomas called the product "toaster crumpets", and intended them as a "more elegant alternative to toast' to be served in fine hotels.<ref name="Nibble1" /> Thomas opened a second bakery around the corner from the first at 337 West 20th Street in a building that remains known as "The Muffin House".<ref>[http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-1850s-muffin-house-no-337-w-20th.html Muffin House] -Daytonian</ref> Today the company is owned by Bimbo Bakeries USA, which also owns the Entenmann's, Boboli, Stroehmann, Oroweat, and Arnold brands.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bimbobakeriesusa.com/brands|title=Bimbo Bakeries - Our Brands}}</ref>
In 1910, Fred Wolferman of Kansas City, Missouri began making denser English muffins at his family grocery, using empty tin cans as molds.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nibble: Wolferman's |url=http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/breadstuffs/wolfermans.asp |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=www.thenibble.com}}</ref>
Foster's sourdough English muffins was a popular brand of English muffin originally from San Francisco. They were a signature menu item at Foster's restaurants from the 1940s to the 1970s, and continued to be produced as a packaged brand until 2008.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}
===Portugal=== English muffins are similar to the Portuguese {{lang|pt|bolo do caco}}.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}
==Preparation== {{Gallery |title=Preparation of flatbread "English" muffins<ref>Based on a recipe by Alton Brown in "The Muffin Man" episode of the television cooking show ''Good Eats''</ref> |Image:Flickr jspatchwork 146937143--Making English muffins 01.jpg|The dough is ''slack'', or relatively wet |Image:Flickr jspatchwork 146937144--Making English muffins 02.jpg|is cooked in rings |Image:Flickr jspatchwork 146937146--Making English muffins 03.jpg|and then cooled |Image:Flickr jspatchwork 146937151--Making English muffins 04.jpg|before it is split |Image:Flickr jspatchwork 146937175--Making English muffins 05.jpg|and finally toasted. }}
===Bakeware=== Muffin rings are metal cookware used for oven-baking or griddle-cooking flatbread muffins. They are circle-shaped objects made of thin metal. The rings are about one inch high.
A "muffineer" was originally a sugar shaker, looking like a large salt cellar with a perforated decorative top, for spreading powdered sugar on muffins and other sweet cakes. Later, in the 19th century, the term was also used to describe a silver, or silver-plated, muffin dish, with a domed lid and a compartment below for hot water, used to keep toasted English muffins warm before serving.
==In popular culture== The traditional English nursery rhyme "The Muffin Man", which dates from 1820 at the latest, traces to that custom.<ref name="|Douce Adds 134(8) no. 3">{{cite web|url=https://www.soundsurvey.org.uk/index.php/survey/radio_recordings/1930s/1557|title=London Sound Survey|access-date=11 February 2019}}</ref>
A well-known reference to English muffins is in Oscar Wilde's 1895 play ''The Importance of Being Earnest''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.literaturepage.com/read/importance-of-being-earnest-55.html |title=Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest |website=literaturepage.com |access-date=18 November 2022 |quote=Well, I can't eat muffins in an agitated manner. The butter would probably get on my cuffs.}}</ref>
==See also== {{portal|Food}} * Scone * List of breads * List of British breads
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Australian cuisine}} {{British bread|state=collapsed}}
Category:British breads Category:British cuisine Category:American cuisine Category:Australian cuisine Category:Australian breads Category:Canadian cuisine Category:New Zealand cuisine Category:New Zealand breads Category:American breads Category:Yeast breads Category:Breakfast