За основу возьмем классическую книгу Изабеллы Битон ["The Book of Household Management", 1861]

  1727. MUFFINS
INGREDIENTS. To every quart of milk allow 1-1/2 oz. of German yeast, a little salt; flour.
Mode. -- Warm the milk, add to it the yeast, and mix these well together; put them into a pan, and stir in sufficient flour to make the whole into a dough of rather a soft consistence; cover it over with a cloth, and place it in a warm place to rise, and, when light and nicely risen, divide the dough into pieces, and round them to the proper shape with the hands; place them, in a layer of flour about two inches thick, on wooden trays, and let them rise again; when this is effected, they each will exhibit a semi-globular shape. Then place them carefully on a hot-plate or stove, and bake them until they are slightly browned, turning them when they are done on one side. Muffins are not easily made, and are more generally purchased than manufactured at home. To toast them, divide the edge of the muffin all round, by pulling it open, to the depth of about an inch, with the fingers. Put it on a toasting-fork, and hold it before a very clear fire until one side is nicely browned, but not burnt; turn, and toast it on the other. Do not toast them too quickly, as, if this is done, the middle of the muffin will not be warmed through. When done, divide them by pulling them open; butter them slightly on both sides, put them together again, and cut them into halves: when sufficient are toasted and buttered, pile them on a very hot dish, and send them very quickly to table.
Time. -- From 20 minutes to 1/2 hour to bake them.
Sufficient. -- Allow 1 muffin to each person.

Миссис Битон правильно говорит, что их в основном пекли профессионалы и продавали, дома оставалось только разогреть и подмаслить. Методика была всегда: не резать ножом, а слегка им наметить и разорвать пальцами, масло класть в образовавшийся карман. ("Muffins of all kinds should only be cut just around the edge, then pulled open with the fingers".) Итак, профессиональный рецепт ["The Bread and Biscuit Baker's and Sugar-Boiler's Assistant" by Robert Wells; 1890]:

14. Muffins.
Sift through the sieve 4 lbs. of good Hungarian flour; take as much water and milk as will make the above into a nice-sized batter, having previously dissolved 2 ozs. of yeast, 1 oz. of sugar, and 3/4 oz. of salt in the liquid; then beat this well with your hand for at least ten minutes; after it has half risen in your pan beat again for other ten minutes; then let it stand till ready, which you will know by the batter starting to drop. Have one of your roll-boards well dusted with sifted flour, and with your hand lay out the muffins in rows. The above mixture should produce 24 muffins. Then, with another roll-board slightly dusted with rice flour, take the muffins and with your fingers draw the outsides into the centre, forming a round cake; draw them into your hand and brush off any flour that may be adhering to them; place them on the board dusted with rice, and so on till all are finished; then put them in the prover to prove, which does not take long. The heat of the liquid for muffins (or crumpets) should range from 90° to 100° Fahr., according to the temperature of the bakehouse.
One great point to guard against in fermenting cakes or bread, is to see that your sponge or dough does not get chilled. By the time your muffins are ready, have the stove or hot plate properly heated, then row them gently on to the hot plate so as not to knock the proof out of them; when they are a nice brown turn them gently on the other side and bake a nice delicate brown.
15. Another Way. -- Some persons now make muffins after the same formula as for teacakes, namely, moulding one in each hand and pinning out the size required, then proving and baking. I have tried that way more than once, but I cannot get the muffins to appear anything like what my experience teaches me a muffin should be. Practice and judgment are required to make one proficient in muffin making.
There has recently been introduced to the trade a hot plate heated with gas, which will go a long way in helping the muffin-maker. It is both cleaner, handier, and you can bake with it to a more certain degree of heat.

В общем, классические "маффины" пекут в печи безо всяких форм. По времени дрожжевое тесто требует подготовки заранее, и это фатально: "if the muffins are wanted for luncheon, mix them about eight o'clock in the morning; if for breakfast, set them at ten o'clock at night".

Следующая цитата, правда, из американской книжки нескольких авторш, но специально подчеркивается, что речь идет об English muffins. Вышла книга в 1889 г. Обратите внимание на появление специального оборудования "muffin-rings", их клали на противни, чтобы получить ровные края у лепешек. Либо, если это не так принципиально, автор рецепта предлагает лить тесто с ложки - т.е. в данном случае получается что-то вроде печеных блинов или шанег.

MUFFIN OR SHORTCAKE DOUGH
Two pints of flour, three tablespoons of sugar, one tablespoon of melted butter, one egg, one pint of sweet milk, three teaspoons of baking powder.  Bake in a quick oven in muffin rings, or drop the dough from the end of your spoon as you do for drop cake.  To be eaten hot.  Try with a broom splint, as cake.  Enough for four or five large persons.

Есть рецепты, которые реализуются без духовки, на плите (т.е. вариант "оладьи"). На сковородке, особенно большой, тоже можно использовать muffin-rings.

English Muffins
One quart of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, one-third of a cake of compressed yeast, or one-third of a cupful of liquid yeast; one cupful and a half of water. Have the water blood warm. Dissolve the yeast in one-third of a cupful of cold water. Add it and the salt to the warm water, and gradually stir into the flour. Beat the dough thoroughly; cover, and let it rise in a warm place until it is spongy (about five hours). Sprinkle the bread board with flour. Shape the dough into balls about twice the size of an egg, and drop them on the floured board. When all the dough has been shaped, roll the balls into cakes about one-third of an inch thick. Lay these on a warm griddle, which has been lightly greased, and put the griddle on the back of the stove, where there is not much heat. When the cakes have risen a little, draw the griddle forward and cook them slowly, turning often, to keep the flat shape. It will take about twenty minutes for them to rise on the griddle, and fifteen to cook. Tear them apart, butter them, and serve.

Английские авторы от них не отстают:

COMMON MUFFINS
Having melted three table-spoonfuls of fresh butter in three pints of warm milk, set it away to cool. Then beat three eggs as light as possible, and stir them gradually into the milk when it is quite cold; adding a tea-spoonful of salt. Stir in by degrees enough of sifted flour to make a batter as thick as you can conveniently beat it; and lastly, add two table-spoonfuls of strong fresh yeast from the brewery. Cover the batter and set it in a warm place to rise. It should be light in about three hours. Having heated your griddle, grease it with some butter tied in a rag; grease your muffin rings round the inside, and set them on the griddle. Take some batter out of the pan with a ladle or a large spoon, pour it lightly into the rings, and bake the muffins of a light brown. When done, break or split them open with your fingers; butter them and send them to table hot.

Ладно, не будем умножать сущности без нужды, словом, ингредиенты там могут меняться практически все: мука не только пшеничная, но ржаная или овсяная, или смесь; молоко, вода, сыворотка (buttermilk); яйца можно добавлять, а можно нет; дрожжи или пекарский порошок (baking powder, saeleratus) - все равно, надо приготовить рызрыхленное, легкое, не жидкое, но и не очень густое тесто, а потом хоть печь, хоть жарить: "dip a spoon in water each time, and put the batter on the griddle in small cakes, or bake in rings. You may make it a little stiffer, and roll it out to bake in large cakes". Как говорится - кому чего.

Ну, и чтобы закрыть тему: американские "маффины" предполагают другой процесс приготовления. Их пекут в формах. Это уже больше кексы, может, даже с закосом под суфле. О подмасливании речи уже не идет. В тесто могут примешиваться ягоды, тертые яблоки и проч. Я выбрала самый простой рецепт, но обратите внимание на отдельно сбитые белки.
Cooking-school Muffins
2 cups sifted flour.  2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
1 cup of milk.
2 eggs.
1 large teaspoonful of melted butter.
Mix the flour, salt, and baking-powder, and sift. Beat the yolks of the eggs, put in the butter with them and the milk, then the flour, and last the stiff whites of the eggs. Have the muffin-tins hot, pour in the batter, and bake fifteen or twenty minutes. These must be eaten at once or they will fall.