I'm new to this newsgroup so I don't know if this has recently been covered.
I just replied to an OLD post from the month of May and I don't know if it
will be read so I'm posting a new message. I'm following a recipe I found
here on making English muffins. The formula calls for only a single rise
then portioning it into eight and flattening them over corn meal and baking
on the stove top in a heavy skillet. For this I portioned them BEFORE
letting them rise.

My question to the group is, is that so very wrong? Should I have waited
for it to rise then punch the whole mass down before dividing? Why? What
are some factors that go into the decision NOT to portion early?

Thanks

Rich

Rich Hollenbeck wrote:
> I'm new to this newsgroup so I don't know if this has recently been covered.
> I just replied to an OLD post from the month of May and I don't know if it
> will be read so I'm posting a new message. I'm following a recipe I found
> here on making English muffins. The formula calls for only a single rise
> then portioning it into eight and flattening them over corn meal and baking
> on the stove top in a heavy skillet. For this I portioned them BEFORE
> letting them rise.
>
> My question to the group is, is that so very wrong? Should I have waited
> for it to rise then punch the whole mass down before dividing? Why? What
> are some factors that go into the decision NOT to portion early?
>
> Thanks
>
> Rich

The following is just my opinion.

The first rise may produce a dough with relatively large bubbles in it.

Punching it down removes these voids and the second rise is often
slower with smaller bubbles forming.

Dividing after the first rapid rise is simply easier to do with one
mass of dough.
You also get a higher internal temperature with a larger mass of dough.
That heat may be required to provide the required rise.

In your example it probably does not matter.

If they came out OK I would not worry about it. Perhaps try it the
other way and see if you get a different result.

Thank you for your reply. I did the English muffin formula posted last May
and it turned out pretty good, except it didn't have very big holes in it.
I think I need to have a little wetter dough--almost a batter. I'll have to
experiment to get the results I want. My reason for not wanting to punch
down is because the English muffins traditionally look like swiss cheese
inside with those huge bubbles.

> wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> Rich Hollenbeck wrote:
>> I'm new to this newsgroup so I don't know if this has recently been
>> covered.
>> I just replied to an OLD post from the month of May and I don't know if
>> it
>> will be read so I'm posting a new message. I'm following a recipe I
>> found
>> here on making English muffins. The formula calls for only a single rise
>> then portioning it into eight and flattening them over corn meal and
>> baking
>> on the stove top in a heavy skillet. For this I portioned them BEFORE
>> letting them rise.
>>
>> My question to the group is, is that so very wrong? Should I have waited
>> for it to rise then punch the whole mass down before dividing? Why?
>> What
>> are some factors that go into the decision NOT to portion early?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Rich
>
> The following is just my opinion.
>
> The first rise may produce a dough with relatively large bubbles in it.
>
> Punching it down removes these voids and the second rise is often
> slower with smaller bubbles forming.
>
> Dividing after the first rapid rise is simply easier to do with one
> mass of dough.
> You also get a higher internal temperature with a larger mass of dough.
> That heat may be required to provide the required rise.
>
> In your example it probably does not matter.
>
> If they came out OK I would not worry about it. Perhaps try it the
> other way and see if you get a different result.
>

I tend to use recipes as a guidline and play with it a bit. If the
result suits you just note what you did so you can do it again.

I can't really think what an english muffin is - I was thinking about
"crumpets", the flat round thing you stick in the toaster which is full
of big holes.

Hopefully you will get some other opinions posted.

> wrote in message
ups.com...
>I tend to use recipes as a guidline and play with it a bit. If the
> result suits you just note what you did so you can do it again.
>
> I can't really think what an english muffin is - I was thinking about
> "crumpets", the flat round thing you stick in the toaster which is full
> of big holes.
>
> Hopefully you will get some other opinions posted.

According to http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-cru1.htm, "It is
true that English muffins and crumpets are related things, though neither
should be (or could be) confused with an American muffin, which to British
eyes and taste buds is a sweet-tasting cake. Both muffins and crumpets are
flat discs about three inches across and an inch or so deep, cooked in a pan
or on a griddle. The main difference between them lies in the composition of
the mixture used, which makes muffins feel and taste rather more like bread;
in addition, muffins are baked on both sides, so they must be cut in two
before they can be toasted. With crumpets, the cooking process generates
distinctive deep dimples on one side.
"It's the cultural associations-immediately recognisable to most English
readers-that matter most. Toasting crumpets for tea in front of an open fire
on winter days in the company of parents or friends is an old image of
comfortable, unthreatening middle-class English life of an older period. It's
associated especially with boarding school, and features in school stories
going back more than a century, of which the Harry Potter books are just the
most recent. You can't expect an American youngster to appreciate all these
subtleties, but to remove the potential of doing so is a pity.

"Crumpets have been known for several centuries, though the origin of the
name is obscure. It is first recorded in the modern spelling and sense in
the eighteenth century, though earlier there was something called a crompid
cake, where crompid means curved up or bent into a curve, which is what
usually happens to thin cakes baked on a griddle; the word may be linked to
crumb, crimp and other words from a common Germanic origin."

Yes these have the big holes in them, and it was my experience that with a
wetter dough (almost a batter) I get better holes in the product. They are
the things Eggs Benedicts and Jack-In-The-Box's Extreme Sausage Sandwiches
are served on.