I love a good crumpet, slathered in butter and a good dollop of jam. There’s no hard and fast rule about when to chow down on a crumpet but many people enjoy them for breakfast. I love them at any time of the day or night, grilled or toasted.
Whilst shop bought crumpets are perfectly acceptable, there’s something rather rewarding about eating your own and technically these aren’t difficult to make.
Ingredients
Makes 4
200ml whole milk
1 tbsp dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
100ml boiling water
150g strong white flour
100g plain flour
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
20g butter for greasing the griddle/pan and rings.
Mix the sugar, milk and boiling water in a jug and stir in the yeast. Leave in a warm place for 15 minutes until it starts to froth.
Add both flours to a large mixing bowl, along with the salt. Stir in the liquid and mix vigorously until smooth. Cover keep in a warm place for between 90 minutes and 2 hours until the batter resembles a sea of tiny bubbles.
Mix the bicarbonate of soda with 50ml warm water and stir it into the batter. Cover and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Melt the butter and use it to brush the inside of four crumpet rings, I use very well greased pastry cutters. Heat a large frying/griddle pan on a medium-low heat and grease. Put the rings flat into the pan and ladle a spoonful of batter into each, so they are about half full.
Cook until the top is dry and riddled with holes, the trick here is to cook them slowly over a low heat, resisting any urge to fiddle until they are almost cooked. Push the crumpets out of the rings.
If eating straight away, toast the tops under a hot grill until brown, then serve. If not, cool on a wire rack, then toast on both sides to reheat.
Please don’t expect a replica of the supermarket-bought crumpet, these are going to be heavier, have way more texture and taste so very special.
