Crumpets

[rebelmulledwine72]

Does anyone have a good crumpet recipe? I've made them before, and they've been ok-ish, but I've never managed to get lots and lots of holes on top, which is ESSENTIAL for making sure as much butter as possible soaks into the crumpets after toasting

Would really appreciate any recipes or tips.

Thanks!!

PS Am forced to make crumpets as we live in Germany and they are not available here, and while I quite like them, ds has now decided they are the BEST THING EVER, so am really keen to learn how to do them properly!

PPS Does anyone else think that "crumpet" is one of the most fabulous words in the English language?

Yes, fabulous word!

I have to make my own too because I live in the US. I use Delia's recipe

Not quite like shop bought ones but pretty good - cook on very low heat for longer than she says for lots of holes. I think I use a bit more yeast than she suggests.

Well, the ones I made followed Delia's recipe, but with about 1 tsp of baking powder added (I keep reading that this helps with the holes).

How long do you cook for? I did notice it took longer than she said.

I still didn't get many holes on top, but the texture was lovely, really fluffy and spongey ifykwim. Ones I've made before have always been a bit stodgy.

Ds polished off 3 in one go, and I froze the rest to just pop in the toaster whenever we fancy crumpets again.

Do you have special crumpet rings to cook them in? I have egg rings which work just fine, if you grease them really well.

I haven't added baking powder. I do add more milke though because the batter is really thick.

I use a cookie cutter for mine. I should invest in egg rings really.

I might have to make some for supper now!

Was just promising DSs that I'd do crumpets and was going to do the Delia recipe, but I found a Dan Lepard recipe It's bicarb he uses, not baking powder. His bread recipes are brilliant so I have great hopes. Will someone try this and let me know?

I always thought the thick batter was the problem of the stodgy crumpets (ooh, does that sound like some sort of weird Indie band : "The Stodgy Crumpets"...or is it just me ), but I've found if I do leave it for 45 mins or so, it really does get fluffy and bubbly ie the batter "rises" because of the yeast, so I've only had to add a tiny bit more water maybe (I used mineral water this time).

Do you think slg it would make a difference using bicarb rather than baking powder? I shall be making another batch over the weekend, so I'll give it a go (not sure where I can get bicarb here actually...).
Are you in the UK and just like making your own crumpets? Or are you abroad like SuperBunny and me, and just missing a taste from home?

wtf is an egg cooking ring?

i'd like to make crumpets but fear out-buntied

ah I could use a cookie cutter, excellent

I have a perverse desire to try making crumpets, am not sure why. seems festive.

It's one of the rings for making perfect round fried eggs - another completely useless item from the back-of-the-kitchen-cupboard collection, unless of course you decide to use them for making crumpets

Fwiw, I don't think I even really needed the rings, my batter was so thick, it kept its shape very nicely.

Hadn't thought of using cookie cutters, but that would of course open up a whole new world of crumpet shape possibilities

I have a LOT of cookie cutters

gosh you could make festive crumpets, couldn't you?

Rebel - I'm in the UK and can get endless supply of crumpets! Don't even know why I want to try making my own crumpets ... Not sure if bicarb would make a difference, but baking powder is a mix of bicarb and cream of tartare so there must be a difference. I think one works immediately and one doesn't but don't ask me which is which! Also bicarb tastes funny if you add too much so watch it! Please report back after weekend trial batch.

The thing I really want to try to make is those funny little English muffins ...

at festive crumpets. Pictures please!

Ok, the idea of festive crumpets is just too tempting for me, so while ds is at his oma's right now and will be for a couple of hours, I am going to ignore the housework that needs doing and go make crumpets.

Will indeed report back re. bicarbonate of soda.

And unless they look hideous, I'll post pictures later

lol @ The Stodgy Crumpets!

FIllyjonk, you shoudl join us. DS (3) loves making them but won't eat them. he just licks the butter off.

Who's going to make muffins then? I'd like to do that too.

The Crumpet Report Recipe (slight variation on Delia's):

225g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp dried yeast
5g bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp sugar
275ml milk
55 - 75ml water

Method

Warmed the milk and mixed with sugar and yeast. Left to froth a bit. Sieved flour together with salt and bicarb.
Slowly mixed in milk mixture to form sticky batter. Added water until thick but not lumpy. Covered and left for...well, rather a long time, as I ended up having to go and pick up ds and do a bit of shopping. So let's call it 2 hours.

Came back to bowl practically overflowing with bubbly, yeasty froth

Heated lightly oiled frying pan and dropped about 1 large tbsp-ful of batter into well-oiled egg rings. Let cook and waited in anticipation for explosion of bubbles on top...and waited...and waited...

Promised bubbles did not appear, so was forced to flip over crumpet before getting burnt bottom [lewd-frankie-howerd-type ]

Worked way through all of batter (15 crumpets), but only about 2 had anything even remotely resembling holes on top

However, the taste was rather superb, being both fluffy and spongey, which is surely what you want in a crumpet.

Toasted this morning for breakfast, they were even better, as they got a lovely, slightly crisp outside, which constrasted beautifully with the aforementioned fluffy and spongey inside.

Conclusion

Not sure if it was the bicarb which made the difference ie no holes, or the leaving-too-long, so this wasn't really a very scientific experiment. It did convince me to keep trying, though, as they really did taste lovely; and the next batch is definitely going to be festive-shaped!

What a fabulous report. I shall try the other recipe soon and report back.

Thanks rebel

ok i need information here
i always thought something was done to crumpets to make them have holes on top - never knew what
then was at farm cafe other day and ordered what i thought was a muffin - was told "madam those are crumpets"
well it looked like a muffin
they split them and the holes were INSIDE - two crumpets were actually two halves of a whole crumpet! revelation!
so is this the case, you make them whole like muffins but they have holes INSIDE? please explain
i was flabbergasted
thank you all

Mine do have holes inside but some on the outside too. I don't cut then in half, but maybe I should. They don't look like muffins.

oh
these were holeless on outside
the mystery deepens

But they are not as holey as shop ones. Maybe they were very homemade?

i make muffins in rings. they need to be split of course. haven't tried crumpets but i should think the method is similar

Fishie, do you have a recipe?

Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery has a whole chapter on crumpets and muffins with many ancient recipes. This is the recipe she recommends (very much abridged and annotated by me):

450 gm mix of strong (bread making) plain flour and ordinary plain flour
15g yeast (she would mean fresh yeast, so you would probably need to work out how much that would be in dried yeast)
1 level tbs salt (seems like a lot)
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbs oil
550 ml Milk/water mixture

She warms the flour and salt in a bowl and separately warms the milk and water mixture, oil and sugar.
I expect you would use a dried easy blend yeast - but she would use some of the liquid to cream the fresh yeast.
She then stirs the batter vigorously until smooth and elastic, then covers the bowl and leaves the batter to rise at room temperature until the surface is covered with bubbles (1/5 - 2 hours)
She then knocks back the batter by beating it down with a wooden spoon and stirs in 1/2 tsp bicarb dissolved in 150 ml warm water.
Then there is a further resting period of 30 minutes where the covered bowl should be left in a warmer place than previously.
After that you cook on a greased griddle or frying pan very gently - there is a lot of detail about cooking which I am omitting!

Better still - buy the book which is very good reading!

i do indeed have a recipe but will have to type it out for you. comes from king arthur flour baker's companion. i've got elizabeth david's too but i rarely use it, will dig it out.

in yeast terms, 1tbsp is the most you could ever use.

This is most interesting. I shall definitely be trying the Elizabeth David recipe, as the bit about putting the bicarb in later makes sense to me regarding getting holes.

FrannyandZooey I cannot imagine what that was, but I don't think it sounds like a crumpet - apart from the difference in textures, muffins are something that you can (and should) split, whereas I would never even contemplate spitting a crumpet (does anyone else want to smirk every time "crumpet" is mentioned like this, or is it just me and my smutty schoolgirl humour?

Please report back, rebel. Maybe I'll have a go at some this afternoon but I already have a big batch of bread on the go and there is only so much we can eat.

Yes, I have smiled childishly to myself with each mention of crumpet. It's a great word though.

Hello all!

Had to(!) make crumpets this evening as forgot to bake bread. (Is that a good excuse?) Anyway, I did the Dan Lepard recipe - see picture in my profile. Do they count as holey? The rest are definitely NOT holey. My conclusion is that the trick is to cook it at very low heat, so that mixture is more or less set but bottom not burnt before you flip it, so the holes don't get obliterated. Will try again after I procure more egg rings...