Semolina-Sourdough English Muffins for BBD #10

After my croissant catastrophe yesterday I regrouped, decided to make English Muffins for the first time, and then spent a food-filled afternoon in Ottawa, our nearest city. Before leaving though I fed my new Semolina Levain to try a different take on Susan's Sourdough English Muffins. I did make a couple of changes to her recipe, using the aforementioned Semolina Levain, substituting Semolina in place of the Whole Wheat Flour, and substituting my homemade Maple Syrup for Honey/Agave Nectar. I kept the amounts of each the same though. I also translated her measurements in teaspoons to:

7g Baking Soda
5g Sea Salt
6g Maple Syrup/Honey/Agave Nectar

since I've become hooked on the success that precise gram measurements seem to guarantee. Never having made English Muffins before, they seemed to behave as I expected they would in all steps of the process. I'm giving my last one 1 more minute on the griddle as I write, cooling the rest, and trying to decide whether to go with butter or Douanier, a Morbier-like cheese I got in Ottawa made by Fritz Kaiser in Quebec. I'm leaning toward the Douanier. By the way, if anyone out there needs a restaurant recommendation in Ottawa, we ate at Domus yesterday and it was a great lunch! Very seasonal/regional. The chef even used Cold Pressed Canola Oil in place of the ubiquitous EVOO as a nod to favoring Canadian ingredients over non-. I was not a fan of the flavor, slightly nutty & bitter, but I respect the motivation.

Anyway, back to the English Muffins. They're done, fork-split, toasted, and very nice with the Douanier. The crumb is a tiny bit tighter than I expected, probably due to the Semolina. They taste great though & next time I'll try them with the Whole Wheat Flour just for the sake of comparison.

Ahhhh. I feel much better than I did after baking yesterday. Thanks for the great topic!