Home-made authentic English crumpets. Wonderfully indulgent, they are quite time-consuming to make, but really worthwhile. Either serve them simply buttered, or covered with local runny honey or your favourite topping. Once the topping soaks through the holes in the crumpet, cut it in half, to see the crumpet oozing with utter deliciousness!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp active dried yeast
- 2 teaspoons white sugar
- 500 ml warm milk
- 800 g all-purpose flour
- 2 rounded teaspoons salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 400 ml warm water
Method
- Add the yeast and sugar to the milk and stir well. Allow to rest for 10 – 15 minutes, until it froths up.
- Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the yeast mix to the flour and knead well by hand for about 3 minutes (or with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer), until a thick dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic film and leave in a warm place for at least 2 hours, until the dough doubles in size.
- Mix the baking powder with the water, then add to the dough.
- Mix the batter for a couple of minutes. Small lumps are OK, as they will dissolve during the next stage.
- Once again, cover the batter and allow to rest in a warm place for an hour, until the mix becomes bubbly.
- Grease the top, bottom and insides of the crumpet rings. Add a small glug of olive oil to a (preferably heavy-based) frying pan, then place the rings in the pan on medium heat.
- Once the rings have heated up, spoon the thick batter into them, filling the rings about 2/3 full.
- Cook for about 10 – 15 minutes, until the tops of the mix have darkened a little with a light crust, and small holes have appeared in the mix.
- The crumpets need only to be cooked on one side, as they will be toasted later.
- Remove the crumpets gently with a knife or spatula. If cooking in batches, clean the rings well before reusing them.
- When ready, toast the crumpets in a toaster, to give that perfectly crunchy base, slightly less crunchy top and fluffy, moist interior.
- Serve with your favourite topping of jam, butter, syrup, honey or whatever you like!
- Enjoy your authentic English crumpets!
If you like this recipe, why not take a look at our fruit and nut cookie recipe.
