English Crumpets

I seem to have gone all nostalgic lately for old English fare, this trip down memory lane I will blame on Nigel Slater since I am currently reading his book ‘Eating For England’. For all those people who grew up in England, love their food and are over thirty, I can dearly recommend this book, Nigel’s ‘tongue in cheek’ homage to English food had me smiling with every turn of the page.

It isn’t a  recipe book but after reading his section on English crumpets I decided that I would search for a recipe and make them for Sunday breakfast. It is an easy pancake style mix which uses yeast as the raising agent, so you do need to plan ahead to allow for the ‘proving’ time. We enjoyed them hot out of the pan soaked in butter!

Ingredients

Makes approximately 12 depending on ring mould size

• 200g plain flour, sifted
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp fast-action dried yeast
• 200ml warm milk
• 150ml warm water
• vegetable oil
• 4 crumpet rings or 7.5cm/3in plain pastry cutters, greased

Method

1. Place flour and salt into a large bowl and stir in the sugar and yeast making a well in the centre.
2. Pour in the warm milk and water and beat until combined to give quite a thick batter. Cover bowl with a tea towel.
3. Leave in a warm place to rise for about an hour, it should double in volume.
4. Stir to knock out any air and pour into a large jug.
5. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a very low heat with a drop of oil. Wipe the pan with kitchen paper to remove excess oil.
6. Sit the greased crumpet rings in the pan and leave to heat up for a couple of minutes.
7. Pour in enough mixture to fill the rings just over halfway up the sides. Leave to cook until plenty of small holes appear on the surface and the batter has just dried out. This will take about 8-10 minutes.
8. Remove the rings and turn over the crumpets to cook for a further 2 minutes on the other side.
9. Rest the first batch of crumpets on a wire rack while continuing to cook the remaining mixture.