Crumpets - Classic British Teatime Treat

Hot buttered crumpets ... mmm ... one of my favorite comfort foods! A recent request from Lana at Life at Wildberry Cottage for crumpets (a yeasted griddle cake) had me digging into my recipes. I knew it had been "a while" since I made them, but found out it has been seven years! Now that I've devoured nearly the whole batch, I can't imagine why I waited so long! 

Crumpets are entirely different from English muffins, though they are made very similarly with pretty much the same ingredients. Crumpets have a spongier texture and are never split. 

The first side is cooked about 8 minutes (or even 10, if your heat is as low as it should be) until well browned; the second side is cooked just 2 or 3 minutes until pale golden (which explains the photo with half the crumpets showing their brown first side and half showing their pale golden second side). 

Crumpets may sound like a lot of work, but they really aren't. The yeast batter is very easy to make, and they are cooked on a griddle. They're really no more trouble than making pancakes.

I know there are people who would have you spray the griddle and rings with cooking spray or oil them with vegetable oil, but why? The whole point of crumpets is to enjoy them slathered with butter, so why not get the party started with butter on the griddle and rings?  

They're great with butter alone, but you might want to also top them with honey, golden syrup, jam or marmalade. More adventurous types might even try Marmite, cream cheese or a nut butter. Needless to say, the mandatory beverage is tea!

This is to show you both sides of the crumpet. The dark ones are the well-cooked first sides, and the pale ones are the lightly-cooked second sides. 

And be sure to put them on the wire rack dark-side down to avoid the wire marks you'll get on the softer lightly-cooked sides.

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Crumpets 

(Makes 12 3.5-inch/9-cm crumpets) 

2 dip-and-sweep cups (10 ounces/283 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant (rapid rise) yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 fluid ounces/236 ml) milk
3/4 cup (6 fluid ounces/177 ml) and 2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce/30ml) water
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons (1.5 ounces/43 grams) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled, for greasing rings and pan 

1 In bowl of stand mixer fitted with flat paddle, combine flour, yeast, sugar and salt; mix on low speed for 30 seconds to "sift" ingredients.

2 In 2-cup glass measure, heat milk and 3/4 cup water to very warm (120 to 130 degrees). Add to flour mixture. Beat on medium speed for 5 minutes. Cover and let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled and very bubbly.

Note: You can do this with a hand mixer, or even by hand, but I'm having a bit of a problem with my beating arm just now.

3 Stir together 2 tablespoons water and baking soda; stir it gently into the batter. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. 

4 Brush some of the melted and cooled butter on a griddle, and heat the griddle over quite low heat for 3 minutes. Brush 4 crumpet rings with the butter. Place them on the griddle and heat for 2 minutes. Pour 1/3 cup of batter* into each ring. Cook for about 8 minutes until the tops are set and full of holes. Remove the rings with tongs, turn and cook for 2 or 3 minutes until pale golden.

* If your crumpet rings are 3.5 inches (9 cm) in diameter, as mine are, a level 1/3 cup of batter fills them halfway. If yours are a different size, you will need to figure out what measure fills them halfway. 

5 Remove to wire rack (putting the well-browned side down). Grease the griddle and crumpet rings again. Repeat as for first batch. To serve, toast crumpets (unsplit) and spread with butter.

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Jean

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