HOMEMADE BUTTERY ENGLISH MUFFINS

Steps:

• Heat the milk and butter to blood temperature.
• Test a drop on your wrist-- it should feel barely warm.
• Beat in the egg.
• Dissolve the yeast in the milk mixture.
• Measure the flour into a bowl and stir in the salt.
• Make a well in the middle and pour in the milk mixture.
• Mix well.
• Turn out the dough and knead it until it is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
• Put the dough back into a clean, oiled bowl and turn it over (so it is coated in the oil.) Cover it with a damp teatowel and let it rise for about 2 hours, until doubled in volume.
• Punch it down, then turn it out and roll it into a cylinder, about 1 1/2" in diameter.
• Cut it into 16 equal slices.
• They should be 1/2" thick; flatten them slightly if required.
• Arrange these on an oiled cookie sheet or on waxed paper.
• Cover them with the damp towel and let rise another 2 hours, until doubled in size again.
• Bake them in a heavy, ungreased, cast iron skillet at a temperature just slightly lower than for pancakes.
• (Medium-low heat.) They should be lightly browned.
• Turn them once, and bake the other side.
• Each side should take 3 to 5 minutes.
• To serve the muffins, they should be split and toasted.
• (They will be just barely cooked in the middle otherwise.) These can also be made in a bread machine on the dough cycle.
• Put the wet ingredients in first, and follow with the dry ingredients.
• Run the dough cycle.
• Let rise for the first time, then follow the instructions above from that point, step ten.