Sometimes you want a nice big breakfast for dinner.  Usually when that particular craving is upon me, I make a big stack of pancakes and eggs over-easy or I whip up some French toast.   Tonight, I wanted something a little more decadent.  I wanted something where I could really flex my baking/cooking muscles and prove (to myself, at least) what a great cook I can be.  Yes, I’m bragging.  I made Eggs Benedict 100% from scratch.  I made homemade English muffins and I made homemade Hollandaise Sauce.  I made perfectly poached eggs and caramelized the ham to perfection.  As a side, I made homemade hash browns.  I rocked it.  Here’s how:

In my Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book (every beginner cook needs one of these) there is a recipe for English Muffin Bread.  Most of the bread recipes in this cookbook are infuriating because the bread never turns out quite right.  This bread recipe was no exception.  The loaf was always rock hard and extremely dense.  So it occurred to me one day to make English Muffins out of the recipe.  It took a couple of tries to get it right, but I’ve got it.  And you know what?  It’s really easy and I LOVE English muffins for breakfast.  Here’s the recipe with my modifications:

Cornmeal

6 cups AP flour

2 packages active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp.)

1/4 tsp. baking soda

2 cups milk

1/2 cup water

1 Tblsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

Sprinkle enough cornmeal on the bottom of two baking sheets to make a thin coating.  Set aside and preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl combine 3 cups flour, the yeast and the baking soda.  In a medium saucepan heat and stir the milk, water, sugar, and salt until warm (the temperature to look for is between 120 and 130 degrees F.  However, if your mixing bowl is cold or if you refrigerate or freeze your yeast and it is still cold, you can go a little warmer in order to ensure the activation of the yeast).  Stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture.  Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to a thickness to 1/2-inch thickness.  Use a large biscuit cutter (3 inches) to cut out rounds and place them on the baking sheets with the cornmeal.  Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with cornmeal.  Cover the pans with clean dish towels and let them proof (rise) for 45 minutes in a warm, draft-free place.  Once the dough has risen, place the pans in the preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes.

At the 10 minute mark, check the muffins.  When the tops are a light brown, take a butter knife and tap the tops.  If there is a hollow sound, that means the muffins are done.

The next thing to do was prepare the Hollandaise Sauce.  Hollandaise Sauce is one of those things that gets a bad rap for being overly difficult to prepare or that it can all go wrong very quickly.  I don’t know about that.  It’s not hard to make and it’s not something that takes a long time to prepare either.

I love to get Eggs Benedict from a local Restaurant here on the East Side of Seattle called The Original Pancake House.  I am always a little disappointed with the dish because the Hollandaise sauce is painfully bland.  I don’t like bland anything so I decided to make my own.  Since I am a beginner with this recipe, again, I went to my beginner’s cookbook, the Better Homes and Gardens.  Here’s the recipe:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 beaten egg yolks

1 Tblsp. lemon juice

1 Tblsp. water

salt

white pepper

Cut the butter into thirds and bring it to room temperature; allow about 45 minutes.

In the top of a double boiler combine egg yolks, lemon juice, and water.  Add a piece of the butter.  Place over gently boiling water (upper pan should not touch water).  Cook, stirring rapidly with a whisk, until butter melts and sauce begins to thicken.  The sauce may appear to curdle at this point, but it will smooth out when the remaining butter is added.  Add the remaining butter, a piece at a time, stirring constantly until melted.  Continue to cook and stir for 2 to 2-1/2 minutes more until sauce thickens.  Immediately remove from heat.  If sauce is too thick or curdles, immediately whisk in 1 to 2 Tblsp. hot water.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Say hello to any cook’s best friend.  Meet Mr. Double Boiler!  Ok, so it’s a glass bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.  This is a perfect double boiler.  DO NOT go out and buy a double boiler pot.  They are overpriced and they only come in one size.  If you use the bowl over the pot trick, you can have a teeny tiny double boiler or a big one!  Just remember to always make sure the water NEVER touches the bottom of the bowl and that the water is simmering gently and not boiling.

All that’s left to assemble Eggs Benedict are poached eggs and ham.  Those are pretty straight forward.  I can offer a couple of small tricks for poaching eggs.  First of all, put about 1 Tblsp. of white vinegar in the poaching water.  It helps to stabilize the egg whites and keeps them from spreading.  Also, crack the eggs individually into small dishes before adding them to the water so that they can be dropped in gently.  Other than that, I’m sure you can figure out the rest.

To assemble the Eggs Benedict, split and lightly toast an English Muffin.  On the bottom piece of the muffin, place a thinly sliced piece of ham.  Top with a poached egg and Hollandaise Sauce.  Replace the top part of the muffin and add more sauce.

Now simply introduce this lovely dish to your face and try not to eat it too fast.  It’s delicious.  Enjoy!