Crumpets

Yes, I realise that some of you in the US may not even know what a crumpet is. I had heard of them but had no idea what they were when I arrived down here. They are SOOOOO tasty! I prefer them with just butter, but you can slather anything on them you can think of. Whatever you'd put on toast, waffles, or pancakes goes great on crumpets.

When a friend of ours visited in 2001, she had crumpets for the first time ever. Everyday she was here she had crumpets for brekkie. When she got back to Anchorage she tried in vain to find a place that sold crumpets, but to no avail. She had to wait 6 and a half years before having another crumpet (she visited recently).

Anyways, I thought I do a public service recipe for those of you starved for crumpets and are in a land where you can't get them. Even if you are in a land where you can buy them premade at the shops you definitely want to make them yourself. Much, much better than pre-packaged. My mum-in-law is from the land of crumpets and she says that mine are much better than store bought ones.

When I started to formulate my crumpet recipe, I did a bit of searching around on this internet doohickey (you may have heard of it) and found that most from scratch were yeast based. I didn't want that cus I wanted mine to be quick and easy.

So I did what any good kitchen bloke would do: Made it up as I went! And guess what? First time was a charm! Am I good or what? No, don't answer that.

You'll want some good quality cooking rings, 10 cm (4 inches) in diameter. I make mine on my big ole outdoor grill hotplate so I can make several at once. If you're doing them on the stovetop you'll want a good, thick, flat griddle pan (cast iron is best) and you should be able to make 2 to 4 at a time depending on your griddle size. Grease the rings and griddle surface well (I like to use bacon fat) unless your cooking rings are nonstick like mine :)

Dave's Quick Crumpets

What you need:
4 cooking rings
one good griddle surface
2 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
4 tbsp butter
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups of water

I know it seems like a lot of liquid for only 2 cups of flour, but the batter should be just runnier than pancake batter.


What you do:
Melt the butter, and then set aside to cool. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Beat the eggs and water. Chuck it all together (make sure the butter is cooled) and mix the heck out of it. You want it to be smooth, not lumpy like waffle or pancake batter. Don't be afraid to use a whisk.

Consistency: Thinner than pancake batter, that's for sure. I started with 1 1/2 cups water and added 1/4 at a time to the batter till it got as thin as needed.

Crank the heat on your hot plate or flat griddle. Grease your rings and the griddle and put the rings on the cooking surface (they get hot, careful!). Then turn the heat down as LOW as possible! These suckers will need 4 to 7  mins before flipping so you don't want the bottoms to burn.

Pour the batter into the rings till each ring is half full. They will rise all the way to the top during cooking, no worries. Holes and bubbles will form as they cook: that's supposed to happen! You'll know they are ready for the rings to come off cus the tops won't be "wet" when they are ready. This'll happen after 4 to 7 mins of cooking depending on your griddle temp. Carefully take the rings off (use tongs, they'll be hot) and flip the crumpets over to brown the top --takes about a minute.

Taadaa! Perfect, quick crumpets! Eat them hot with anything slathered on them or let them cool and pop them in the toaster when you're ready to eat them. They freeze great and can be toasted straight out of the freezer.

Aren't I so nice to share this with you?

Here's a pic of the finished product so you'll know I'm not pulling your leg:



The choice of toppings in the pic are butter, strawberry jam, and lemon butter.