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. ~ of troy

Yep! That's a proper muffin you describe and you can buy them here like that. I am puzzled how the cakes sold as English muffins ever came to be known as that. They now come in a variety of flavours with chocolate chip and blueberry probably the most popular. They resemble the little cakes (about 2"/50mm diameter) that are made and sold here in paper cases, often with a splash of icing on the top, and eaten at children's tea time - but we have never called those muffins and their texture is not so soft as the English muffin cake.

Crumpets and muffins are among the few good things about winter.