English Muffins from Sourdough Discard

Because we are still in quarantine and flour is scarce, I am only feeding my starter enough to bake the loaves I want, then putting it in the fridge until I am ready to bake again.  However, it needs a few feeds before it’s ready for bread each time.  Yesterday, I took out my starter and fed it 1:1:1 with whey and bread flour, and then fed it again about 12 hours later with 1:2 whey/bread flour.  It was so happy by morning that it looked like beautiful bubbly dough.  I gave it another feed this morning but wanted to create something fabulous with the discard. 
 
I went back to an old tried and true recipe from King Arthur Flour, but I had to modify it to accommodate for my lack of ingredients while in quarantine.  I think the result is actually much better than when I used the KAF formula exactly.  KAF’s recipe called for 227g of starter discard, but I only had 160g of fed active starter.  So instead, I took out another 20g of unfed starter and gave it 20g of buttermilk and 27g of AP flour.  I combined this freshly fed starter with my previously fed starter discard to get to 227g of active and fed starter.  The buttermilk also helped resolve the missing citric salt and dried milk ingredients.  I used the last of my whey (1/4 cup) and mixed it with 1 1/3 cups of warm (90F) water.
 
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp sugar 1 1/3 cup warm water ¼ cup whey 1Tbsp active dry yeast 160g sourdough starter discard (ripe) 180g freshly fed discard 20g unfed starter 20g buttermilk (real cultured milk) 20g AP flour 843g AP flour 57g (1/4 cup) butter cut into cubes 1 Tbsp bread salt Cornmeal for coating  
 
1)First, feed the smaller starter with the buttermilk and flour, and combine with the remaining normally fed starter for a total of 227g of starter. Then combine everything except the liquid and the salt in a mixer on low speed.  Slowly add in the liquid until combined.   Let it rest 5 minutes and then add the salt.  Mix for 5 minutes (use a timer).
 
2)You should have a fairly firm dough (the mixing bowl should be relatively clean).  Turn the dough out and knead into a ball.  Place it into an oiled bowl (large enough for it to expand) and cover.  This first ferment takes between an hour and a half to two hours. However, you can also put it in the fridge and let it ferment for 24 hours and resume baking the following day.
 
3)Turn out your dough onto a lightly floured work surface.  (In a flour shortage,  I used Peter Reinhardt’s technique of lightly oiling my work surface and my hands with olive oil). Give it a gentle knead and then cover it with a damp tea towel for about 5 minutes (this step is important because otherwise the dough will be too elastic to roll properly). Divide the dough in half.  Roll the first piece ½” thick and cut 4” rounds (the ones shown in the picture were cut with 3” rounds and they were very small).  Then repeat with the second half. You can re-roll the scraps too. 
 
4)Place the shaped muffins onto a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal (approx. 12 per sheet). Sprinkle additional cornmeal over the tops. Cover with either loose plastic wrap or lightly dampened tea towels and allow them to rise for about 40-60 minutes.
 
5)I like to cook English muffins in a cast iron pan.  I heat the cast iron to about 350F and cook them on each side until the centers read 190F.  I find that after the initial heating in the cast iron, I have to turn the flame down to low, so they don’t burn on the bottoms before cooking through. 
 
6)Remove and cool them on a rack.  Then eat and enjoy!
 
 
Here are the differences that I noticed between the original recipe and my modifications:
The buttermilk and whey gave it an incredible flavor.  The cold butter cubes helped make them flaky.