Crumpets….. those delicious small griddle cakes with air bubbles made with milk, water, flour and yeast. We love them oozing with butter, dripping onto the plate. I have lovely memories of toasting our Sunday afternoon crumpet treat over the open fire in the lounge.
Personal choice, but I love mine with Marmite as I’m a savoury person. and..! for that extra yummy snack, butter, some marmite then topped with mature cheddar cheese and toasted. Delicious!
Historically, breads were always cooked on a griddle where a bread oven wasn’t available. Crumpets differ from muffins in that they are made from a batter whereas muffins are made with a dough. From the 19th century some bicarbonate of soda was also usually added to the batter, which is what I have found makes the difference.
Crumpets
Ingredients
- 375 ml milk
- 7 g easy bake yeast
- 375 g plain flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Oil or butter for cooking
Instructions
- Heat the milk until just warm and stir in the yeast.
- Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
- Pour in the milk gradually, beating or whisking as you go to make a completely smooth mixture. ***
- Cover the bowl and leave in a warm place for 1- 1¼ hours or until doubled in size and full of bubbles.
- Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in 200ml water.
- Add to the batter and mix well. Cover and set aside for 15 minutes.
- Heat a pan to medium heat and brush with a little oil or butter.
- Lightly oil the inside of 2 pastry cutters about 9 cm in size. Put them on the pan.
- Pour in the crumpet batter to a thickness of 1cm, lower the heat to very low and cook for 7-8 minutes. The bubbles will rise as the crumpets cook.
- The crumpets are ready to turn over when the top has dried out enough to form a dry skin.
- Loosen the rings and turn the crumpets over browning the top for about a minute.
- Remove and repeat with the rest of the mix.
- If the batter starts to thicken add a little more water.
- To serve toast the crumpets as usual.
