Kim

Crumpets

There’s a street food van that sells homemade crumpets that we visit each year we go to Glastonbury festival. My order is two crumpets, one topped with peanut butter and the other with cheese & marmite. They’ve dug us (well, Kieran) out of many a hangover.

When we got home, I was totally inspired to try and make my own from scratch. These turned out really well, though crumpet making is a definite skill and you have to keep a close eye on them to make sure they don’t burn. 

Delicious Magazine

Ingredients

  • 275ml milk
  • 225g strong white bread flour
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
  • ½ tsp caster sugar
  • Melted butter for greasing

Instructions

  1. Heat the milk together with 55ml water in a small saucepan until just warm enough to put your finger in and hold it there for a few seconds.
  2. Meanwhile, put the flour, salt, ?yeast and sugar in a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. When the liquid is ready, pour it into the bowl, stirring with a metal spoon, to make ?a smooth batter. Don’t overbeat – stop as soon as it’s smooth. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for 45 minutes. The batter will rise, forming bubbles, and become sticky. Heat the oven to 150°C/130°C fan/gas 2.
  3. Brush the insides of the rings with a little melted butter. Put a flat griddle pan or large heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat and brush with melted butter. Arrange as many rings as will fit and, when the butter is sizzling, spoon 3 tbsp of the batter into each ring.
  4. Turn down the heat to low and cook for 10-15 minutes until the crumpet tops are almost cooked, with just a hint of undercooked mixture – you’ll see bubbles form in the mixture, which will then burst.
  5. Remove the crumpet rings using ?a tea towel to protect your fingers, then flip the crumpets with a palette knife and cook for 2 minutes more. Set aside on a baking sheet. Re-grease the crumpet rings and repeat with remaining mixture.
  6. When all the crumpets are ready, put them in the oven for 5-8 minutes to make sure the insides are cooked.

Notes

You’ll also need:

9cm non-stick metal crumpet or egg-poaching rings