English muffins are flat, circular breads, about one inch high, usually made from flour, milk, butter, and yeast, and they are often dusted with cornmeal. The muffins are cooked on a griddle, sometimes with special English muffin rings. English muffins have a golden-brown top and a white middle so soft that the muffins are horizontally split with the fingers or a fork (not a knife). English muffins are toasted and can be spread with butter, jams, and jellies or used as a sandwich bread.
Some early muffin recipes produced what we now call “English” muffins. Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747) contains a muffin recipe of flour, yeast, salt, and water.