englihs muffins,(in US) are flat disks, made from a yeasty batter, so the interior texture is very open --large yeasty holes, not the fine dough/crumb to found in bread.

The dough (when home made) is cut with a circle cutter (a biscut cutter in US term), and placed on a hot griddle (which in US is a flat pan, often made of cast iron) which was heated on the stove top, and the muffins are turned over, and the other side is cooked in the pan too. this give the 'muffins' flat tops and bottoms; commercial muffins are baked.

in size, the are just about 3 inches (or about the size of a cured pork loin (US canadian bacon)) the are savory (ie, not sweetened)

to serve, they are split- exposing the open texture of the dough, toasted and then served with butter and/or jam, or cream cheese. They also serve a base for such dishes as 'egg benidict'(aka 'heart attack on a plate"=poached eggs served on a buttered muffin, with canadian bacon and hollandaise sause!)

they are more like crumpets than anything else i can think of, (crumpets are cooks first on a stove top, and finished in an oven, right? )

Muffins sold (baked)in a paper bun case (in US Cupcake papers!) are usually sweet, and here too, they have become oversized.


my other obsession