Homestead Muffins

In my part of the country Thomas brand English muffins have long been popular at grocery stores. I always liked them at breakfast or for a snack. I usually toasted them whole and then sliced them just before adding butter, jelly or peanut butter and let the topping melt in. They are not sweet tasting, but a type of bread with a wonderful crust and lots of air bubbles inside. In stores English muffins are also available with raisins or made from whole wheat. Fast food restaurants offering breakfast usually have at least one English Muffin egg and meat sandwich on the menu.

With home grown and ground grains I do not expect to get the fluffy centers with large air pockets. I do want a hearty staple quick bread muffin. Having a crust on all surfaces should keep them fresh with out preservatives longer than any sliced loaf. I do love the flavor of corn bread, but it tends to be too crumbly to make a sandwich. Oats tend to stick together much better. So why not combine them and make a muffin which will stay with you for hours as you work.

After resting for 20 minutes or more this Homes...

The Lodge brand cast iron pan was oiled and pre...

From Lodge Cast Iron cook ware I bought a pan to make 7 muffins at a time. You could use any wide muffin tin. Not long ago really large and shallow muffin top pans were popular, and those should work fine too.

This recipe is as simple as possible. Equal amounts of corn meal and ground or even rolled oats. Today I used a cup and a half of each. In a mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients. In a separate pint measuring cup or bowl put two eggs and some warm water and briskly stir with a fork. If you have extra milk it would fortify the muffins. Mix into the dry ingredients, and top off with enough warm water to make a thin batter and let it rest for at least 20 minutes. Some liquid will absorb into the grains, so check it before going into the pan.

I did not add any Baking Powder to make them rise. If you want that, mix it in just before baking.

Using the Cast Iron Lodge brand pan, I added 1/2 teaspoon of oil to each of the 7 openings, and made sure the sides were covered. Then I preheated the cast iron to about 325 degrees so the pan was hot but did not burn the oil. If you use thin bake ware just grease it before adding the batter and you may want to add some oil into the mixture.

Hearty just baked in cast iron muffins.

Oat and Corn Homestead muffins cooling on a rack.

Spoon the batter into the baking cups and bake at 425 degrees or a hot oven on a wood range. This recipe took 20 minutes. Better to check it after 15. In our electric range I used the Roast instead of Bake setting to cook from both the top and bottom. Our wood range oven also heats from many directions.

I will serve mine tomorrow with home made chicken soup for lunch.