Crumpets are a fun food. When I was little, I’d toast them, them butter them over and over until the holes were full of butter. It was great! Can’t eat quite that much butter now but it’s still very yummy. I never thought about how they were made when I was younger. Crumpets just were. They were one of those mysteries of the world, kind of like the caramel in a Caramilk bar; no one knows how it got in there, it just is. As I’ve gotten older, I’m not as convinced that these things are a complete mystery. I decided to look into how crumpets are made and the process isn’t as complicated as I thought. However, I believe there is or are techniques that I haven’t quite figured out yet. I did learn about crumpet rings. I know know crumpets get their perfect round shape! I always thought they were baked but no. They are fried! Who knew? This was my first attempt at making crumpets. It was a fun and interesting experience but more more to learn and improve upon.
This is the dough after it has risen twice. The first rise was with the yeast; the second rise with the baking soda. It was a very jiggly dough.
Here is the little crumpet sitting in the frying pan frying up. There are a few bubbles forming but this is definitely a skill I am going to have to perfect. The frying technique I’m thinking matters in bubble creation. Practice, practice, practice.
English crumpet
Notes
Reference:
Authentic English Crumpets Recipe, The Daring Gourmet, Oct 2018, URL: https://www.daringgourmet.com/traditional-english-crumpets/
Ingredients
- 2 c flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 c warm milk
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp sugar (cane or brown or white)
- 1 c warm water
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Warm the milk to about 37-38C. Stir in the sugar and yeast to the warm milk and let rest for 10 minutes or until it starts to activate and get frothy.
- Combine flour and salt in a bowl while waiting for the yeast mixture.
- Add the liquid to the flour mixture.
- Mix until a dough forms.
- Cover the bowl with plastic warm and leave in a warm place for at least an hour or more until the dough rises. The goal is for the dough to almost double in size.
- Dissolve the baking soda in warm water and add to the dough that has risen. (So, I mixed the water mixture into the dough. It's not clear to me if this is what was meant in the recipe below. But, who knows!)
- Cover the batter and let rest and rise in a warm place for at least 30 minutes (or longer). The batter will look bubbly once it has risen.
- Oil the crumpet rings or whatever you substitute for crumpet rings are.
- Place rings in frying pan over medium heat.
- Once rings are hot, pour batter into ring and cook. (This will take some time and monitoring. Check notes in description for more information, comment and description about this stage.))
- Once cooked on the one side, flip and lightly fry on the second side.
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