Nothing is more comforting on a cold winter day than a hot freshly made crumpet dripping with melted butter. Not as difficult to make as you may think - just a simple yeast batter with added bicarbonate of soda which gives the baked crumpets their characteristic holes. You'll need a flat cast-iron griddle pan to cook the crumpets on and metal crumpet rings about 2.5cm deep. If you can't find crumpet rings round metal cookie cutters can be used instead.
Ingredients
150g strong plain white flour
100g plain flour
1tsp caster sugar
½
tsp salt
7g sachet easy-blend or fast-action dried yeast
300ml milk, warmed
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
150ml warm water
Butter, for greasing
WEIGHT CONVERTER
grams
to
cups
Method
Sift the flours into a large mixing bowl and stir in the sugar, salt and yeast. Make a well in the centre and pour in the warm milk. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon to make a batter then beat vigorously for 3-4 mins until smooth and elastic.
Cover the bowl with cling film and leave in a warm place for 1-1 ½ hrs until the batter has doubled in size.
Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the warm water and beat into the risen batter. Cover and leave for a further 30 mins until the mixture is full of tiny bubbles.
Heat a cast-iron flat griddle and grease lightly with butter. Grease 4 x 9cm round metal crumpet rings or cookie cutters and place on the griddle to heat. Spoon the batter into the crumpet rings to come up about 1cm. Cook gently for 8-10 mins or until the surface sets and is full of tiny holes. Carefully ease off the rings, flip the crumpets over and cook for a 1-2 mins until golden.
Keep the crumpets warm while cooking the rest of the batter, wiping and re-greasing the rings for each batch. Serve warm buttered or leave to cool and toast when required.
Top Tip for making Crumpet
If you toast the crumpets under a grill, toast the smooth side first and then the top, so the butter will melt into the holes!
Easy tomato chutney
