Cheerio! Have a muffin

Before I started baking, I used to classify English muffins up there with pita bread.

There must, I thought, be some sort of unknowable magic involved in making them.

Turns out, there's not.

It's just bread. Who knew?

English muffins are next up in "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" Challenge, and I was happy for a break from fruit-and-nut-studded loaves.

I made English muffins once before, using a different recipe that called for sourdough starter.

I loved those flavorful, nook-and-cranny-filled muffins and I had high hopes for Peter Reinhart's version.

So, you start out by making a pretty basic dough, enriched with a little shortening or butter. Reinhart's recipe only makes six muffins. So, I decided to do two batches: One an all-white dough for the muffins, another mixed with a few ounce of whole-wheat flour for English Muffin Bread.

After bulk fermentation, you shape the muffins into balls (or the loaf into a loaf) and let them rise again.

The muffins are then cooked on a griddle, on both sides, before being finished in the oven.

And the end result is this baby, positively crying out for a big, ol' pat of butter:

These are good, don't get me wrong. But I wasn't floored by them as I have been some of Reinhart's recipes. I didn't get those great nooks and crannies I'd hoped for. Maybe my dough should've been wetter? I also found the muffins to be a bit bland (though a smear of PB&J or a mound of fresh tomatoes made up for that.) Next time, I might try an overnight fermentation in the fridge to develop more flavor. Or, I might add some sourdough to the mix.

How 'bout you, BBA bakers: What'd you think of these muffins?