Crumpets

Once in a while, wasting time on random YouTube channels teaches you something useful.  In all the many teas I've gone to or hosted, I've never had crumpets.  Someone said they're sold at Trader Joe's, but I rarely go there.  So I watched a video of how they made them in the 1700s.  The video was actually of pikelets, which are crumpets made without rings.  At that point, they're yeast-raised pancakes.

Crumpets are halfway between pancakes and English muffins.  They contain yeast like an English muffin, but have a batter consistency like a pancake.  And that batter relentlessly keeps rising while you're frying the batches.  The recipe out of the Tea book said it made 8.  I ended up with twice that.  Part of the problem might have been that I was using wide-mouth jar rims.  I have no idea how big a proper crumpet ring is.  The photo in the cookbook does look like they hold quite a bit more batter than the quarter cup I got in the rim.

The real question is, are they awesome enough to go out and invest in crumpet rings or matching cookie cutters?  I wasn't overly impressed.  They taste like whatever you put on them.  In this case, it was a lot of butter and the last jar of orange marmalade.  I'll probably just go back to buying grocery store English muffins.

2 cups bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp yeast (double the whole recipe for a packet)
*1-1/4 C 100º milk
1/3 C 100º water
butter or oil for cooking
butter and jam to serve

1.  Stir sugar and yeast into warmed milk and water.  Let sit until it starts to foam, about 5 minutes.

2.  Stir together salt and flour.  Make a well and pour in milk mixture.  Stir into a batter, getting out as many large lumps as possible.  The small ones will dissolve.  Cover and set in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

3.  Get out a skillet or griddle and as many rings as comfortably fit on it.  Start preheating the skillet over medium-low heat.  Grease the rings and set aside.

4.  Stir down the batter so you don't get any big air pockets as you scoop.  Lightly grease the skillet and arrange the rings on it.  Pour the batter halfway up crumpet rings or 1/4 C into a wide-mouth mason jar ring.

5.  Cook for about 10 minutes.  When the tops are just barely dry, remove the rings.  If you cook these over too high a heat, the bottom will get dark before they're cooked all the way through.  Low and slow is the way to get them done evenly.

6.  I flipped mine to brown the other side.  Apparently there's a big controversy over whether or not to flip a crumpet.  Some purists say you should just cook them until set and pull them off the griddle.  I like things like this crispy on both sides and gave them a few minutes.

7.  Re-grease pan and rings and repeat until all of the batter is used.  Can be served hot off the griddle, but also freeze well and can be crisped up in the toaster oven on another day.

Makes 8 in crumpet rings

Difficulty rating  :)