Thank you so much, Carolyn, for this recipe. I'd never known what this "muffin" (which also appears in Emma I believe) was like. In the modern-day U.S., muffins are sweet and cakelike. But "English muffins" seem much like this recipe -- unsweetened and breadlike, and with many holes from the rising process ("nooks and crannies" is how they're advertised). Unlike "regular" muffins, English muffins are always toasted, and the holes are wonderful for melting butter to nestle into.