Crumpets

 

Crumpets are something we eat often – my children love having them for tea on a Sunday evening whilst watching TV.  I decided this week to make my own for the first time.  The recipe I followed was one by Paul Hollywood from his book How to Bake but he has a similar recipe in the Good Food Channel website. 

 

First plain flour, yeast and sugar are mixed together in a bowl with warm milk and water and whisked to form a smooth batter.

 

The bowl is covered and left for a couple of hours at room temperature.  Initially it will rise to more than double the volume.

 

It will then fall back down.  At this point the batter is ready for the next stage.

 

Salt and bicarbonate of soda are added to the mixture then it is left to rest for a further 10 minutes.

 

The batter is the spooned into crumpet rings that are placed in a frying pan or on a griddle.  The rings should be well greased and heated in the frying pan prior to adding the batter to prevent them sticking.

 

When the crumpet is cooked through – bubbles are visible on the surface and the surface is dry (this one needs another minute or two) – which takes about 8 minutes, the crumpets can be taken out of the rings and cooked on the other side for a further 2-3 minutes.

 

The first few I made stuck to the ring and I discovered the trick was to make sure the ring was nice and hot as well as being well greased (I just used vegetable oil).  They were delicious.  We ate some that evening and I had a couple for breakfast the next day with scrambled eggs.