Oven Bottom Muffins

by Hint of Helen
Oven bottom muffins

Oven bottom muffins are my favourite type of ‘bun’, ‘bread roll’, or ‘barmcake’. I grew up in Lancashire where oven bottoms were a staple… it wasn’t until we moved from the area I realised the rest of the UK tend to use ‘fluffer’ bread rolls, and they have 101 different names for them!

To this day, oven bottom muffins are my favourite style of bread bun – they’re the perfect mix between a slice of bread and a bun, meaning they’re perfect for almost any sandwich – especially chip or fish finger buttys.

oven bottom muffin cooked

Oven bottom muffins are now available nationwide (I think!?) in supermarkets… but honestly, those aren’t real oven bottom muffins. The texture is all off, they’re basically a white roll marketed as an oven bottom. A true oven bottom is flatter, yet soft and fluffy still! The texture of the inside reminds me of a white loaf rather than wide air bubbles which are present in the likes of a burger bun.

Oven bottom muffins Recipe

If you’ve not yet tried making oven bottoms at home – give them a go! They’re enjoyable to make and I’ve detailed the step by step below. This is a recipe I’ve had written on a tatty piece of paper for about 10 years – it’s lovely to finally share it!

Oven bottom muffins recipe

How to make oven bottom muffins at home

Scroll down to the bottom for full ingredient list and recipe. Please reference below step by step photos before beginning.

I use my stand mixer to make the dough – with the dough hook attached. You can do this by hand, but if you have a stand mixer I recommend you use it 🙂

1. Add the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, butter and oil into the mixing bowl

2. Use your hand to mix together and form a very rough crumb

3. Next pour in the milk and warm water

4. Use the dough hook to knead on the lowest speed, for 5 minutes – the dough should be slightly sticky and hold its shape when the hook is raised

5. Remove the dough from the hook and place gently back into the bowl

6. Cover with a lid, or clingfilm and set in a warm place to double in size for an hour (thankfully today was a sunny day!)

7. One the dough has risen, lightly grease a baking tray (you might need 2, depending on their size)

8. Flour a clean work surface and place the dough out onto the flour

9. Divide the dough into six equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball

10. Take a clean chopping board (or similar flat surface) and lightly flour it, then press it down onto one of the balls

11. You’re looking to squish the dough into a flat, round

12. Then place the round dough onto the greased baking sheet – repeat this for each of the dough pieces

13. Cover with a clean tea towel and allow to rest for 30 minutes

14. After half an hour, take your chopping board (or you might need a smaller flat surface) and again, press down on the dough until it’s flatter

15. Take your thumb and press an indent into the centre of each – like this:

16. Bake in the oven for 16 minutes – turning halfway through cooking – then they’re done! Keep your eye on them during cooking as timings can vary depending on your oven and how ‘well done’ you like them

Yield: 6 Muffins

Lancashire Oven Bottom Muffins

oven bottom muffin cooked

My favourite type of bread bun - a traditional Lancashire oven bottom muffin!

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Additional Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes

Ingredients

  • 400g strong bread flour
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 7g instant dried yeast
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 85 ml milk
  • 170 ml warm water
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

    1. To a large mixing bowl (or your stand mixer bowl) add the flour, sugar, salt and yeast, butter and oil and combine using your hands until rough crumbs form
    2. Next, pour in the warm water and milk and continue to knead/mix for 5 minutes - until all well combined and a dough has formed
    3. Remove the bowl from the mixer and cover with some cling film - allow to rise in a warm place for an hour - until doubled in size
    4. Whilst the dough is rising, grease a baking tray with butter (you might need two trays, depending on their size and if you want 6 or 8 muffins)
    5. Once the dough has risen for an hour, lightly flour your work surface
    6. Tip the dough onto the floured surface and divide into 6 even pieces
    7. Roll each of the pieces into a round ball, then, use a chopping board (or similar flat surface) to squish each of them into a round disk (see photos above for reference) you might have to press quite hard!
    8. Once each of your muffins are squished down, place onto the greased cooking tray(s), cover loosely with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for a further half an hour
    9. Preheat your oven to 200C whilst they're resting
    10. After half an hour, repeat the step of pushing down on the pieces (using the floured chopping tray, or similar - until the muffins are about half their thickness)
    11. Use your thumb to press a dent into the centre of each muffin
    12. Place the trays of muffins into the oven and cook for 15 minutes (turning halfway through cooking)
    13. Once cooked, allow to cool before serving. You can freeze these muffins for up to a month, or they keep fresh for 3 days.

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 204Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 5mgSodium 19mgCarbohydrates 38gFiber 1gSugar 1gProtein 7g

Nutritional data provided here is only an estimate. If you're tracking these things for medical purposes please consult an outside, trusted source. Thanks!

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39 comments

Tom Riddell 11th April 2020 - 2:20 pm

Hi
I have been amateur baking sourdough breads for a while now, especially to avoid palm oil.
Missed oven bottom buns which commercially contain palm oil.
I have used your recipe and it has worked a treat.
Thanks Tom

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Helen R 12th April 2020 - 9:53 am

So glad you enjoyed these Tom! I love sourdough baking too… struggling to get hold of flour at the moment though! Oven bottoms are my fave – shop bought are def not the same and as you say – contain so many unnecessary ingredients

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Anonymous 16th April 2020 - 3:07 pm

Hi Helen, just made the oven bottom muffins and they were great, and so easy. But I do think a little salt would improve the flavour. Will definitely do these again, thanks xx

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Helen R 18th April 2020 - 8:59 am

Yay so glad you enjoyed! 🙂 and yes for sure re: salt, I do often add this in, I’ll add it into the recipe notes too 😀

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Karen Parkinson 14th June 2022 - 9:57 am

Easy to follow recipe,done all by hand no mixer used hope they taste good with burgers later

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Peter 16th April 2020 - 8:44 pm

Hi Helen,

Thanks so much for this recipe it does actually work! And the end result is amazing. They are proper Lancashire oven bottom muffins. Delicious!

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Helen R 18th April 2020 - 9:00 am

Yay I’m so glad you enjoyed these Peter 🙂

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Helen 18th April 2020 - 1:19 pm

Hi Helen
I made these yesterday my son said they are the best and taste very similar to morning rolls.
We had some for breakfast today with sausage ,bacon,egg and mushroom -yummy! I have frozen the 2 left over other wise my son will eat them all. I am going to make again very soon when I have more flour as at the moment its very hard to get hold off.

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Helen R 18th April 2020 - 2:23 pm

Helen, I’m so happy to read you and your son enjoyed these muffins, your breakfast sounds lovlely! 🙂 and yep, it’s CRAZY how difficult flour is to get hold of at the moment… it’s like golddust!

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Paul Glennon 18th April 2020 - 3:01 pm

I don’t know what I did wrong , they looked perfect but tasted very yeasty, I going to try again though

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Hint of Helen 18th April 2020 - 3:37 pm

Oh no 🙁 sorry to hear they turned out yeasty! I can only imagine this is due to the different/flour/yeast used – not all are created equal I’m afraid! I’d advise next time adding a little bit less yeast now you know (perhaps like 4g?) – hope this helps and thanks for letting me know Paul 🙂

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Kate Comer 26th May 2020 - 12:40 pm

Made these this morning they were gorgeous – popped 2 in the freezer.

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Hint of Helen 30th May 2020 - 11:36 am

So glad you enjoyed them Kate 😀

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Jean Cosier 10th May 2020 - 9:15 am

Hi Helen, can I use multigrain flour for these oven bottom muffins?
Thank.
Jean x

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Hint of Helen 10th May 2020 - 9:29 am

Hi Jean!
I’ve not yet tried baking these with multigrain flour – so I’m not 100% sure. But generally, multi-grain flour makes bread a lot denser, so I’d try it at a ratio of 250g strong bread flour and 150g of multigrain flour (if you’re after a multigrain taste/style). If you’re struggling to get hold of bread flour the next substitute would be plain (all-purpose) flour. I don’t have any multigrain in the house at the moment to trial it for you though I’m afraid! Helen x

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Kate Comer 26th May 2020 - 9:34 am

Do you actually cook them on the bottom of the oven please

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Hint of Helen 30th May 2020 - 11:37 am

Hi Kate, as per the recipe photo I cook this in the centre of the oven, on a baking tray 🙂

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Anonymous 21st May 2020 - 7:51 am

Hi Helen, l have fresh yeast, what quantity should I use? Thanks for this recipe.
Hilda x

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Hint of Helen 21st May 2020 - 8:30 am

Hi Hilda 🙂 I’ve not done this recipe with fresh yeast before, but quickly researched online which is suggesting 15g of fresh as a sub for the 7g of dried active x

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Andrew Jackson 24th May 2020 - 9:59 am

Loved your recipe Helen, I’m from Lancashire and know what a proper Oven Bottom Muffin should look and taste like. Traditionally they were cooked on the floor of the oven, so are browned top and bottom. If baked on the bottom of an electric oven you’ll get the traditional look. Make sure if you’re using more than one baking tray to switch them around and keep the fan on, so they don’t burn.

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damon 11th June 2020 - 6:04 pm

Great recipe came out lovey!

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John Heywood 3rd July 2020 - 10:54 am

I have tried this recipe twice and I do lime them but find they are somewhat crustier than the traditional oven bottoms I buy locally in Oldham. Can they be made softer?

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Hint of Helen 4th July 2020 - 8:42 am

Hi John! I’d maybe try to reduce your oven temp to 180C, or cooking time slightly, and stop baking once they’re ‘done’ – so the outside doesn’t have a chance to get crusty – each oven is slightly different and I suspect yours might be hotter than mine 🙂

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Valerie Scott 2nd August 2020 - 8:29 pm

Can you use a bread making machine to make the dough for these?

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Hint of Helen 31st October 2020 - 8:20 am

You can 🙂 I have heard a few people have with success x

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Graham Stratford 24th August 2020 - 7:24 pm

Just made these, having only ever tried the well known national brand. Never again shall supermarket muffins cross my threshold. Brilliant recipe, worked perfectly even though I added too much milk by accident. Thanks Helen.

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Helen 28th August 2020 - 5:03 pm

Aw amazing! I’m so glad you enjoyed them Graham 🙂

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Susan Jones 26th September 2020 - 1:42 pm

Hi Helen, I’ve lived in Oldham all my life and have eaten these for as long as I can remember. I’ve baked them using my adapted recipe for my bread maker, and I must say that it gives the most authentic taste, but this could just be personal opinion. I omitted the milk and sugar, and used olive oil instead of vegetable oil. Instead of greasing a baking tray, I placed each muffin on a little bread flour, and they were a success!

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Julie 9th November 2020 - 3:46 pm

I am trying this recipe tomorrow. I have a kitchenaid food processor with a plastic blade. Will this be ok to use as I don’t have a stand mixer? I have seen some comments on other sites saying not to use, though the kitchenaid booklet says the plastic blade is for bread

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Hint of Helen 15th November 2020 - 9:12 am

Do you have the plastic dough hook with your Kitchenid? (This is what I use and comes standard with the machine?)

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Jeanette 20th January 2021 - 12:39 pm

My family had a bakers in Glodwick in the 50’s and I used to have the most delicious ( darkest ) oven bottom muffins saved for me as a young child. Later Declerc were a favourite from Tommyfield indoor market. Years and many moves later your recipe was recommended by my son. Twice made now, the latter with a little salt, all I can say is ” thank you”.🙂

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hintofhelen 22nd January 2021 - 7:47 pm

You’re very welcome Jeanette! 🙂 I’m so glad you enjoy the recipe – I also remember eating darkly coloured oven-baked muffins from a local farm as a kid… they were amazing, can’t quite recreate those at home and I think of them often (I presume it’s due to a home oven vs whatever they used)! haha – Helen

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Paul 30th January 2021 - 4:43 pm

Hi Jeanette,

Another one here from Glodwick in the 50s (Pitt Street East) and also trying to capture the fabulous taste of the muffins we grew up with.

Paul

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Julie S 26th January 2021 - 6:21 pm

We used to have proper oven bottom muffins every week when I was growing up in Hyde and there’s nothing quite like them. I can’t get them now as I’ve moved away so I tried your recipe. The result was so authentic and I’ve made them a few times now. I’m so happy to have found this recipe, thanks so much 🙂 I’ve also adapted it to make tea cakes which I used to buy from Hyde Market – they’re delicious too!

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Susan 14th February 2021 - 8:36 pm

Made these today, they are so lovely. I made 4 oven bottoms and used the rest of the dough to make little dough balls, which I brushed with garlic butter. So lovely, will make again, great recipe.

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hintofhelen 17th February 2021 - 9:05 pm

So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe, Susan. Dough balls sound great!

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David 25th February 2021 - 12:18 pm

Just made these, with a slight change. I use extra virgin olive oil and made them vegan by using the 15ml oil to replace the butter.
Really good result. very good with a drizzle of olive oil.

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Mike O’Carroll 23rd August 2022 - 11:59 am

As an exiled Lancashire Lad we can’t get good oven bottoms in Yorkshire, your recipe is so quick and simple we can make a batch in no time. Thanks for the recipe. Mike

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Alyx 18th July 2023 - 1:07 am

I’ve just made these for the first time this evening as my son has requested Maccies breakfast in the morning 😅 as we’re both dairy and soya intolerant it’s impossible to find shop bought muffins that we can have. I made these with coops own oat milk and flora plant based butter and I’m in love!

First time I’ve ever actually made bread buns in general as I’ve never had the courage before, honestly I usually shy away from handmade bread in general if I can’t use my bread maker for it, but these were so easy to make and taste amazing!

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