Macey's English Muffins

As a busy mom and working woman, I'm always looking for easy and delicious recipes that fit into my busy schedule. These English muffins from Macey's are perfect for a quick and satisfying breakfast or brunch.
The muffins are made with simple ingredients that you probably already have on hand, and they come together in just a few steps. The dough is a bit sticky, but don't worry - just add a little more flour until it's the right consistency. Once the dough is ready, you'll divide it into 16 small balls and place them on a baking sheet. Cover the balls with a damp cloth and let them rise in a warm place for about 1.5 hours, or until they're doubled in size.

Step-by-step

• Mix water and yeast, let rest for about ten minutes making sure the yeast foams and is active.
• After yeast foams, add all of the rest of the ingredients, starting with about 4 cups of flour and, start mixing (if you have a mixer, use your dough hook, if doing it by hand, you will need to start with 5 cups of flour).
• Add flour a little at a time until you have a fairly stiff smooth dough. Take the dough on a lightly floured surface and start dividing it in halves. Ultimately you want 16 small little equal sized dough pieces.
• Place a piece of parchment paper (or silicon mat) on the bottom of a cookie sheet. Roll and shape each of the small dough pieces into a round ball, and place on the cookies sheet, leaving enough room for them to spread out (I choose a 2 x 4 pattern, so they were laid out as follows):

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• Then place a sheet of parchment paper on top of them, and place an empty cookie sheet on top of them, giving a little push to flatten out the top of the english muffins, but don't squish them too thin. As they rise, the sheet will press down and make it so they rise out into an english muffin shape.
• Let them rise until muffin sized (about 1.5 - 2 hours) and then bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for ~15 minutes. Leave the cookie sheet on top of the english muffins while baking, this helps them keep they're shape and stops them from browning too much (you don't want them very brown since they need to be toasted).