Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffin Recipe
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These easy honey whole wheat sourdough English muffins are airy, bubbly, and perfect for holding a generous amount of melting butter. This is a simple, same-day sourdough recipe that works well for both beginner and experienced bakers.
I love English muffins. They’re incredibly versatile, delicious, easy to make, hold butter beautifully, and one of my favourite same-day sourdough recipes. After plenty of trial and error, I’ve landed on the best technique for achieving those signature airy pockets that make a great sourdough English muffin. They look a little rustic, not as picture perfect as other recipes because big air pockets cannot be controlled!
I know these honey whole wheat sourdough English muffins will be a hit in your home. With just a few simple ingredients, a happy sourdough starter, and gentle hands, you’ll create English muffins that are beautiful, full of flavour, and far better than anything store-bought.
Why You’ll Love These Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins
Bronwyn’s Sourdough Notes
This is your loaf! I’m here to share my tips, experience, and what’s worked for me — but sourdough is wonderfully flexible. Whether you’re a seasoned baker or just starting out, feel free to experiment and make this recipe your own. There are a bajillion ways to make a great loaf of sourdough, and my goal is simply to help you find the methods and rhythms that suit you best.
Water: If you can drink it, you can bake with it. I’ve used city, tap, well, and filtered water — all with great results. Don’t overthink it.
Salt: Use whatever fine salt you have. Unrefined salts like Himalayan or Redmond Real Salt support fermentation beautifully, but table salt works fine too.
Sourdough Starter: Start bread with an active, bubbly starter for best results. Learn more about your starter here.
Temperature: Dough rises best around 23–26°C (73–79°F) dough temperature.
Colder = Slower fermentation (6-12 hours)
Warmer = Faster fermentation (3-6 hours)
Adjust with warm or cool water depending on the season.
Flour: I always do a blend of standard all-purpose flour and freshly-milled whole grain flour as my whole wheat flour. Use whatever flour works for you.
Hydration: In summer, I use cooler water and slightly less. In winter, warmer water and a touch more can help balance fermentation speed.
Autolyse: This step involves holding back salt and sourdough starter at the mixing stage. I prefer a simpler variation — I mix in the starter right away but hold back the salt for 30–60 minutes. This short rest gives the dough time to hydrate and relax, especially important when using whole grain flour, which takes longer to absorb moisture.
Sourdough Starter
If you’re here, I’m assuming you have a sourdough starter and generally know how to use it. It is beyond the scope of this post to teach you how to create and maintain a sourdough starter.
If you haven’t made one already, read my post on how to make a sourdough starter from scratch.
Once you have an established sourdough starter and you know how to identify when it’s active or needs a fresh feeding, you’re pretty much good to go. It doesn’t matter much whether its thin, batter-like, or stiff, a healthy starter will make healthy bread.
If you have a sourdough starter but are having trouble understanding it, learn more with the ultimate guide to understanding your sourdough starter.
Freshly Milled Flour
The whole wheat flour in all of my baking recipes is made with freshly milled whole wheat flour. While store-bought whole wheat works just fine in terms of texture and flavour, the nutritional value of freshly milled flour is far superior — it’s full of the natural oils, vitamins, and minerals that are lost once flour sits on a shelf.
If you live in the city, you might be able to find fresh-milled flour at local bakeries or specialty grocery stores.
If you’re in the country or have access to whole grains, consider milling your own. You can start small with what you already have — a powerful coffee grinder or blender can get you going. A great next step is a KitchenAid grain mill attachment, perfect for small batches.
If you fall in love with fresh milling (like I did), investing in a Harvest NutriMill is absolutely worth it. I use mine almost daily — it’s both beautiful and practical.
When you’re ready to invest, get your Harvest NutriMill using this link and use my code BRONSBREAD20 at checkout for $20 off your order!
Ingredients
- White flour: Just simple all-purpose is what I use.
- Whole wheat flour: I like a blend of freshly milled grains but whole wheat from the store is fine too.
- Water: Good ol’ drinking water.
- Active Sourdough starter: Essential for a fluffy loaf. If you don’t know when your sourdough starter is active, learn more here.
- Honey: Local is always best but whatever you’ve got will work.
- Salt: The best quality salt you have because sourdough bread deserves the best.
- Cornmeal: Essential for classic English muffins.
Materials
- Medium-Sized Mixing Bowl: A heavy set ceramic mixing bowl would work best.
- Bowl Cover: Anything that covers and seals the bowl and covers your loaf for final proofing. I use these reusable elastic bowl covers.
- Dough Whisk (optional): It is cleaner to get things started with a dough whisk but it’s definitely not necessary. Wooden spoon works too.
- Plastic Bench Scraper: I find this tool very handy for cleaning and scraping the dough out of the bowl.
- Kitchen Scale or Measuring Cups and Spoons: I prefer using a kitchen scale but if measuring cups and spoons is all you have then that’s all you need to get started.
- Biscuit Cutter: For cutting out your English Muffin shapes.
- Large Pan or Skillet: For baking your English Muffins.
- Cooling Rack: For cooling down your English muffins.
FAQ
Step-By-Step Instructions
Mix: Add the water, honey, and sourdough starter to a mixing bowl. Stir until dissolved.
Add the white flour and whole wheat flour and mix until no dry bits remain.
Cover and rest for 30–60 minutes (autolyse).
Add Salt: Sprinkle the salt over the dough and add a small splash of water.
Squeeze and fold the dough until the salt is fully dissolved and evenly incorporated.
Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
Strengthen the Dough: Perform a series of stretch and folds. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
Strengthen (Part 2): Perform a second set of stretch and folds. Cover and allow the dough to continue fermenting.
Bulk Fermentation: Let the dough rest until it has doubled in size, has a domed surface, and jiggles when the bowl is shaken.
- Warm kitchen: 4–6 hours
- Cool kitchen: 8–12 hours
Shape: Generously dust your work surface with cornmeal. Turn the dough out onto the surface and gently stretch it into an even round about ½-inch thick.
*Do not use a rolling pin.
Rolling will press out the beautiful gas bubbles that create those signature English muffin pockets.
Cut: Sprinkle the top of the dough with more cornmeal. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out rounds. You should get about 15 English muffins.
Proof: Ensure each muffin is well-coated in cornmeal to prevent sticking. Gently transfer them to a proofing surface or tray.
The dough will be light, soft, and very gassy—handle with care.
Cover with a towel and proof for 1–2 hours, until slightly puffy.
Cook: Preheat a non-stick skillet or well-seasoned cast iron pan over medium-low heat. Place 3 muffins in the pan (or as many as fit with about an inch of space between). Cover with a lid and cook for 3 minutes. Flip and cook for another 2–3 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Repeat with remaining muffins.
Cool: Allow the English muffins to cool for at least 1 hour before slicing. This ensures the crumb fully sets and the interior stays light and airy.
Serve warm with a generous amount of butter and enjoy!
How to Store
Once they have cooled down completely: Store in a plastic bag for 3–4 days. Freeze in plastic for longer storage, sliced or unsliced.
Recipe
Easy Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins
Ingredients
- 200g White flour
- 200g Whole wheat flour
- 250g Water
- 150g Active sourdough starter
- 25g Honey
- 10g Salt
- Cornmeal for dusting
Instructions
- Mix: Add the water, honey, and sourdough starter to a mixing bowl. Stir until dissolved. Add the white flour and whole wheat flour and mix until no dry bits remain. Cover and rest for 30–60 minutes (autolyse).
- Add Salt: Sprinkle the salt over the dough and add a small splash of water. Squeeze and fold the dough until the salt is fully dissolved and evenly incorporated. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- Strengthen the Dough: Perform a series of stretch and folds. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- Strengthen (Part 2): Perform a second set of stretch and folds. Cover and allow the dough to continue fermenting.
- Bulk Fermentation: Let the dough rest until it has doubled in size, has a domed surface, and jiggles when the bowl is shaken. (Warm kitchen: 4–6 hours/Cool kitchen: 8–12 hours)
- Shape: Generously dust your work surface with cornmeal. Turn the dough out onto the surface and gently stretch it into an even round about ½-inch thick. *Do not use a rolling pin. Rolling will press out the beautiful gas bubbles that create those signature English muffin pockets.
- Cut: Sprinkle the top of the dough with more cornmeal. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out rounds. You should get about 15 English muffins.
- Proof: Ensure each muffin is well-coated in cornmeal to prevent sticking. Gently transfer them to a proofing surface or tray. The dough will be light, soft, and very gassy—handle with care. Cover with a towel and proof for 1–2 hours, until slightly puffy.
- Cook: Preheat a non-stick skillet or well-seasoned cast iron pan over medium-low heat. Place 3 muffins in the pan (or as many as fit with about an inch of space between). Cover with a lid and cook for 3 minutes. Flip and cook for another 2–3 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Repeat with remaining muffins.
- Cool: Allow the English muffins to cool for at least 1 hour before slicing. This ensures the crumb fully sets and the interior stays light and airy.
- Serve warm with a generous amount of butter and enjoy!
Question before making! I’ve (successfully!) made your other EM recipe using all all-purpose flour and reducing the water by 25 g per your suggestion. I notice that this recipe calls for a little more flour (400 g vs 375g) but the same amount of water (250g). I assume the 25 g of honey is adding to the hydration level. If using all-purpose flour only do you still recommended the same 25 g reduction of water?
hey mindy! yes, you’re right, adding honey increases the hydration! if you’re doing all white flour again, I’d add honey to the original recipe and reduce the amount of water by the amount of honey added (25g honey added then 25g less water needed) and still decrease the flour by the suggested 25g for all white. this should give you the texture we’re looking for!
when in doubt, start with less water, you can always add more later but not ideal to add more flour later with sourdough recipes.
let me know how it goes!