Crumpet Success

I had nearly given up on making my own crumpets following the previous two efforts. The first was an absolute disaster. The second attempt was better, in fact I finished off a couple of those crumpets today (they had been in the freezer don't worry!), but still not quite right. 

I continued in my search for home made crumpet perfection and having seen the Hairy Bikers making them on you tube I thought that the recipe might actually work. Here is is if you're interested.

I followed the recipe to the letter, including using whole milk and not filling the crumpet rings up all the way.

I did have to help some of the bubbles to pop but then so did the hairy bikers.

Look! A home made crumpet with holes in!

It takes ages to cook a whole batch of crumpets, I made about 16 or 17 out of this recipe. I think it took me over an hour to cook them all. They cook better at a medium to low heat otherwise they burn on the outside before cooking in the middle. Also the last batch wasn't as holey as the first, I think this was because the bicarbonate of soda effect had worn off due to the time, I'd probably split the dough next time and add the bicarb in two goes to ensure all crumpets were as holey as they should be. Very glad to have finally had some true success with these. They are so light and fluffy and not at all rubbery like the ones you buy. 

Crumpets - Mark 2

So the last attempt at crumpets was a disaster. I had used the recipe from the River Cottage book on bread and followed it to the letter but no matter what I did they were burnt on the outside and uncooked in the middle. 

I didn't want to let them beat me though and I looked up crumpet recipes on the internet until I came across this one from someone who had been there and done that. 

Ingredients (for 15 crumpets)

360g plain flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
580ml warm milk (I used half milk, half water mixed)
1.5 teaspoons salt (I used only a pinch)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 heaped teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Method

1. Combine the yeast and sugar with 250ml of the warm milk (or milk/water mix) in a bowl. Make sure the milk is just warm, not hot. Cover and leave in a warm place to rest for about 10 minutes until frothy.

2. Sift the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda into another bowl then make a well in the centre and add the yeasty mix along with the rest of the warm milk. Mix this to a thick batter using a wooden spoon. Cover it with cling film and allow to rest in a warm place for about an hour. The film will rise up as gases build up inside.

3. Heat a wide pan over a medium heat then turn down fairly low. Use a piece of kitchen paper to wipe vegetable or groundnut oil over the base so it is coated in a nice film. Do the same to your crumpet rings and put them onto the pan to warm before you put the batter in them. Fill to just a few millimetres below the top as they do rise slightly. 

4. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes or so or until they are ‘dry’ on top, then flip them over to toast lightly for a minute on the other side. Ten minutes is only a guide, I turned mine down really low as the bottoms were burning before they could cook in the middle with the previous batch, and so they probably took between ten and fifteen minutes. Patience is the key. 

5. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Repeat as necessary. They can supposedly be eaten warm, straight from the pan but I found that they tasted more 'crumpety' once they had been toasted.

They were light and fluffy inside and tasted delicious. They definitely didn't have that rubbery texture that they bought ones have. The only thing missing was the holes that went all the way through. I cheated a bit and popped the bubbles on the top of the cooking crumpets with a fondue spike to help them along ( I don't feel too bad for doing that having seen the Hungry Bikers doing the same with theirs!). They really would have been perfect if I'd managed to get the holes right, never mind, I will be making them again, third time lucky?

My personal choice, with Marmite.

The crumpet rings I used were £10.99 for four from Lakeland. Having read around the subject you can use tuna cans (probably not many vegetarians with those!) or similar with both top and bottom removed or biscuit cutters. I would say make sure you oil them very well, wipe them off and oil and warm again between uses. Happy crumpet making!

Crumpet Disaster

I ordered the River Cottage Handbook No.3 and was desperately waiting for it to arrive last week. When it came I was too impatient to read through the fifty or so pages on bread before getting into the kitchen so I decided that I would skip the bread making and go straight to crumpets making instead.

The recipe is basically as follows:

450 g plain white flour
350 ml warm milk
350 ml warm water
5 g powdered yeast

Whisk up and leave for an hour until bubbly, then add...
10 g salt
1 tsp baking powder

Pour into ring and cook for about 5 mins until top is set and then flip over for 2-3 mins.

I am very upset at the results. I spent a sunny afternoon over a hot stove for no good reason it seems (boo hoo). Don't ask me why I decided to make crumpets on a sunny afternoon but I did.

First mistake was to fill the crumpet ring to the brim as you can see, the mixture went in OK but then bubbled over the top.

Secondly, I didn't wait until the top had actually set before flipping it over, as you can see from the photo above there were some bubbles but not lots as described in the book.

So it looked pretty good and I slathered it in butter and home made jam, drool (!), and cut it open only to find that it wasn't cooked inside. I ate it anyway and it wasn't unpleasant, the crumpet itself actually had a taste unlike the bland rubbery ones from the supermarket.

I read the instructions in the book and it said that if there weren't lots of bubbles then the batter was too thick and so add some water to thin it out. I added probably 100ml, didn't make any difference, added another couple of hundred mils and there were more bubbles but the batter was so runny that the bubbles just sealed over again.

No matter what I did the crumpets just didn't cook all the way through. I tried playing with the heat, the consistency of the batter, the amount of batter per crumpet and nothing worked. I repeat, I was VERY upset.

Array of disastrous crumpets 

Please leave any hints or tips for successful crumpet making. Has anyone else tried the River Cottage recipe?Please let me know how it went.

Crumpets

I had succumbed to buying a packet of biscuits on my way home from work on Friday. Caramel digestives with chocolate on top if you're interested. I had eaten most of them by about 6pm. The plan for Friday was to make some spinach pancakes with cheese sauce and jacket potatoes but I got a call out at 5.40pm (20 mins before the end of my 24hr duty session). After giving extensive telephone advice I decided I really needed to attend so I did. I got back at about 9pm. I definitely didn't feel like cooking or eating much then so I had a couple of crumpets. One with Nutella and one with peanut butter. The biscuits had kept me going for most of the evening.