dduane

For those (Twitterers & others) who were inquiring — the recipe is over here at The Foppish Baker. If I want crumpets, I have to make them myself: the local supermarket doesn’t carry them. This is okay, though, because there’s no way a store-bought crumpet can compare with one just baked.

There are a lot of crumpet recipes out there that don’t work. Either the batters come out too thick — so the bubbles can’t break and leave the necessary holes on top — or they’re too sloppy, and the bubbles either come out too small to let the melted butter in, or break too soon, so that again you wind up with a “blind” bake with no holes. This batter works perfectly, though.

My only alteration to this recipe: I add two packages of yeast instead of one. It seems to improve the flavor. Also, you don’t really need the two kinds of flour for this recipe — they’re preferable, but not absolutely necessary. Just make sure you beat the batter the full two minutes the first time. You want to make sure the gluten develops enough.

BTW, there’s no need for special crumpet rings: I use regular-size tuna cans with the tops and bottoms taken off (we have one of those can openers that mills the edges smooth). Butter them well inside between each batch. It’s pretty easy to use a flat knife to knock the rings up and off the crumpets as soon as the outsides are solid: that way you can set them aside to cool so you can handle them as soon as the crumpets in the pan or on the griddle or bakestone are done. (Yeah, there’s a crumpet recipe on that page. It’s not as good as the Foppish Baker one: I’m going to replace it. The English muffin recipe, though, is terrific.)

When you toast these, do it under the grill / broiler, or in a toaster oven that lets you do just one side. Then… the butter.

NOM NOM NOM NOM. :)