Gluten Free English Muffins

Does the picture of this gluten free English Muffin make you want to jump up and click your heels? It made my little gluten free heart flutter like crazy. I usually reserve that for when my husband (yes, still, after 15 years) walks into the room, but I made an exception for these babies.

Pre-Celiac, I often used to wake up in the middle of the night STARVING. I literally would get out of bed, 3 AM, shuffle to the kitchen, and toast either a piece of pita or an English muffin. I'd fill all the little crispy, toasted nooks and crannies with butter and scoff it down, then go back to bed and sleep until breakfast when I would usually wake up STARVING again. You know the drill. Who knew at that time that nothing I was eating was being digested?!

I've been searching since January '06 for an English Muffin, commercially baked or made in my kitchen, to take the place of the old "nooks and crannies" English Muffin of my past. I'm happy to say that this fits the bill. It has no aftertaste, it isn't gritty, in fact, it is downright delicious. I had to stop myself after eating two of them.

After I filled the English muffin tins with the dough and before it rose for 30 minutes:


And here's a baked English Muffin split in half:


Though the original recipe calls for using hamburger bun muffin pans, I used English Muffin tin rings that I ordered from King Arthur's website. You can also find them here. And the least expensive option is to order them from a dealer on Ebay.

Gluten Free English Muffins
adapted by Ellen Allard from Gluten Free Sox Fan who adapted it from Annalise Roberts who created the recipe (Annalise gets the biggest thanks - if you're not familiar with her cookbooks, run, really fast, and buy this one or this one and/or visit her website!)
Makes 6 English Muffins

(click here for printable recipe)

1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 scant tbsp quick rise yeast (I used one whole packet)
1 tsp canola oil
3/4 cup + 1 tbsp warm water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin tin rings with nonstick spray and dust with rice flour.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of mixer.

Add oil and water and mix until just blended, scraping down the sides to make sure you incorporate all of the dough. Then beat on high for another two minutes.

Spoon dough into the tin rings (see note below for tip on how to do this). Cover and let rise in warm place for 30 minutes.

Bake for 15 minutes. Be prepared: they will not be browned on the top, but they will be browned on the bottom.

IMPORTANT: Let cool before splitting and eating (delicious untoasted or toasted).

NOTE: I used an ice cream scoop (like this) to drop the dough into the tin rings. Then I sprayed my fingertips (multiple times) with nonstick spray and patted the dough so that it filled the entire round.