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Crumpets

Introduction & method

English crumpets are a kind of thick but light pancake, characterized by the numerous holes in the top. Served hot and smothered with butter, there's nothing quite like them. Not to be confused with muffins.

Crumpets Recipe

Make the Batter


Mix together all the dry ingredients except the bicarbonate of soda (baking soda). Stir in the milk and water and whisk vigorously. Set aside for 1-2 hours until the mixture has doubled in volume.

Dissolve the bicarb in the remaining water and stir it into the batter. Leave to rest 15-30 minutes.

Cook the Crumpets


You'll need some kind of metal rings to cook your crumpets in - 9cm (3.5 inches) diameter is about right. If you don't have any crumpet rings, you can improvise by removing the top and bottom from tuna cans, but be careful of sharp edges.

Generously butter the inside of the rings.. Melt some butter in a heavy-bottomed pan (or a cast-iron skillet or griddle plate) on medium-low heat. Arrange the rings in the pan and pour batter into each one. Your crumpets should be about 2cm (¾ inch) thick. Cook them gently until the top has solidified - it may take a bit of practice for you to be able to get the crumpet cooked through without the bottom being burnt, but it should take 8 or 9 minutes.

The tops of the crumpets should have lots of small holes in them. To finish off the crumpets, remove from their rings and turn them over - cook for one more minute.

Serve with lashings of butter, and if that's not enough, some jam or a thin scraping of Marmite.



The video above is from the Keef Cooks YouTube channel. Click here to see the video recipe of Crumpets on YouTube.

 

Ingredients & Info


BATTER
 150 grams strong white bread flour
 100 grams plain (all-purpose) flour
 200 ml milk
 100 ml warm water
 1 sachet active dried yeast
 1 tsp salt
 1 tsp sugar
 half a tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

PLUS

Butter for greasing rings and pan. Extra 50ml (2 fl. oz.) water to dissolve soda in.


UNITS:
Metric
US Customary/Imperial

Makes 4 crumpets
Prep time: 5 minutes.
proving time: 2 hours.
Cooking time: 8 minutes.
Total time: 2 hours 13 minutes.