Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Crumpets



Back when my now young adult children were flaxen-haired wee tots, I bought a box of English Muffin/Crumpet Rings at a yard sale. I used them a few times soon after buying them to make English muffins for the kids -and they were a big hit with them- but I haven't used them since. I recently have been pondering the different possible ways for making breads without an oven. On the heels of my (relative) success with cooking pita breads on a griddle, and remembering my dusty box o' rings, I decided to take a bash at making crumpets. If anyone reading this KNOWS HOW TO DO IT PROPER, if you learned to make crumpets from a mother or grandmother, I'd sincerely love to hear from you. As it was, armed only with my good intentions, a box of rings, and a crumpet recipe in James Beard's Beard on Bread, but lacking grandmotherly guidance or ANY actual experience in the crumpet arena, I forged/fumbled ahead. What does a proper crumpet really look like? Well, I actually don't know. These may or may not be real crumpets, but they were real good, and they disappeared in a flash.



James Beard's Crumpets

Mix:
1/2 c. boiling water
1/2 c. milk
Add:
1 T. yeast
1 t. sugar
Allow to get bubbly. Add:
1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 t. salt
Beat several minutes with a spoon, then allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk -about an hour.

Mix and beat into dough:
1/4 t. baking soda
1 T. warm water
Allow again to rise until doubled.

Butter rings, place on medium hot griddle (350 degrees) and ladle in batter to 1/2 inch thickness. Cook until bubbly and dryish. Remove ring, turn and cook on second side until browned.



Lacking genuine yard sale crumpet rings, tuna cans with both ends cut out will work perfectly instead. I either did something a bit WRONG or my rings are a bit oversized, as I only got six crumpets when James' recipe said it should make 8-10. I used bread flour instead of AP (oops!), which may have changed the texture of the batter a bit and explain the difference.



Even if these weren't proper crumpets, they were pretty 'yummy little griddle cooked bread things' and next time I make them I'll be more careful about which flour jar I scoop from, and I'll double the recipe.

7 comments:

  1. Your crumpets look great. A few years ago my mother sent us crumpets from some fancy pants company. They were really good and I have been meaning to make them since. I did however give English Muffins a try last year and I'm pretty sure I'll never buy them from the store again.
    I love the light in your second photo. I'm a big fan of wooden spoons and yours looks beautiful in that photo.

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  2. They look like pretty good crumpets to me, I have never made them, but I have eaten lots of bought ones. They used to be my favourite saturday evening snack as a child. My Grandmother used to call them Pikelets, but I think pikelets are thinner crumpets. The bought ones have lots of holes in them from the air made from the yeast, I think. They are also pretty springy, delicious toasted then spread with butter and golden syrup, in my opinion. Again I am impressed! Homemade crumpets, whatever next? :)

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  3. I've only had store bought and wasn't impressed enough to try them a second time...

    I bet yours would be delicious with a dollop of the Apricot-Pineapple Jam that we opened this morning (a gift from a certain someone I know!) ~ which was hands down even better than the Kiwi, which is now gone!

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  4. Nicole -These were super easy to make -do take a bash at them. I think the key is not making the batter too thick and eat them warm. Also, if you'd e-mail me your address, I have a little something I'd like to send you. And I too love wooden spoons. And wooden rolling pins. And wooden clothes pins...

    Inthesky -Thanks for telling me that these look close to what a crumpet should! I really wasn't sure. I'm going to do this again soon and I will try to get more holes -I thought they were a bit too solid.

    Melissa -I am happy to hear you are enjoying the jams! Apricot-Pineapple is my son's favorite. Can you guess what kind of jam I put on my crumpet? Hint: It's the kind I want to share with you next!

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  5. oh, my goodness Tamra, if you tell me Pear Vanilla I may just cry ;)

    I've spent the day scrubbing garage sale canning jars clean ~ my father-in-law accumulated 4 milk crates full over the last few months for Kelli and I

    I've done 2 crates so far (51 jars) ~ I'm having so much fun! I also got an antique jar lifter from him last weekend ;)

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  6. This pancake looks so good....

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