…one, two, three-sy!
When you’ve been around as long as I have, it’s hard to keep a straight face with some dish or recipe is pushed out on Instagram, or some other platform, as new or revolutionary or viral or whatever hype a content creator can think of. For example, Jimmy Carter was inaugurated in 1977, and given his peanut farmer roots, “Miss Lillian’s Peanut Butter Cookies” were all the rage. Flash forward to today’s social media overload, and the recipe for those same peanut butter cookies is “viral”, “newly discovered”, “taking the Internet by storm”, and, of course “just three-ingredient” cookies. Yawn!!!
The time people had on their hands during COVID was a major contributor to the “make your own bread” movement; and as the normalcy we all sought returned, so, too, did the lack of time for many newcomers to bread making to keep it up. Instagram has been hit by a tsunami of easy bread recipes, and I have to confess I was reluctant to try them. Only when my daughter requested a particular bread that she had tried and liked did I get on the bandwagon.
I’ll be the first to admit that this new batch of recipes is easier (at least in terms of ingredients and time); and, while missing the depth of aroma of yeast-leavened breads (see NOTE), and the slight tang of sourdough, they do work in a pinch. If you decide mid-afternoon that you want bread for dinner, they work. And the same goes for a somewhat last-minute want or need for English muffins. I will caution you that both doughs are somewhat loose, and you might want to add a bit more flour than called for (tablespoon at a time) until the consistency is something you can handle Nitrile gloves, regardless!
This is the one that got me into trying the quick and easy. Literally, two ingredients – self-rising flour and Kefir. Takes about 10 minutes to prepare, 2 hours to proof, and 45 minutes to bake. It has a great crumb (see, above), toasts well, and is great for tearing apart to dip in olive oil with balsamic or spices or just salt.
TWO-INGREDIENT ENGLISH MUFFINS
This one makes 8 good-sized muffins; totally to my liking. They toast well, and deliver all the support you’d want and expect for your Eggs Benedict. When you make them, you’ll cook one side, then flip them to cook the other. After flipping, you’ll want to gently press them to ensure that you have that flat-on-both-sides trademark shape. CAUTION: they’re soft, and if you press to hard you’ll end up with something akin to a fluffy pancake, but not the same.
NOTE
If you don’t have self-rising flour, you can make your own. To 2 cups of all-purpose flour, add 1 Tablespoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon fine salt. Whisk to combine and you’re ready to go. You can easily increase the amount to fit the flour requirements of your recipe.
If you miss the yeast, both of these can be ‘flavored’ by adding a bit of yeast to the dough. I tried it by adding 1/4 tsp active dry yeast and 1/4 tsp of sugar to a Tbsp of warm water; mixed it and let it sit for a few minutes until foamy, then added it to the dough at the beginning of the mixing process. Worked for me.
never 2 old 2 start cooking 
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