Victoria from The Style Journal tries out a crumpet recipe from Jamie magazine and shares the results with us...
I have had a long standing on-off love affair with my kitchen (mostly off), and this year I set myself the challenge of learning to appreciate the simple pleasures that can come from time creating good food, simply made.
When Jamie magazine landed on my door mat I couldn’t quite believe my luck. Spring time means the luxury of lazy Sunday mornings with hot tea and soft crumpets glistening with melting butter, and tucked away in the pages was a recipe for homemade crumpets. Perfect timing.
Not being one for complicated recipes, but a great lover of slow mornings, this recipe is perfect. There’s a couple of times for letting the mixture rest, which in my mind equates to time for curling up with a good book while the recipe comes to life.
I hope you enjoy this simple pleasure just as much as I did...
What you need:
- 300g strong white flour
- 1 tbsp dried yeast (I used fast action)
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 400ml warm milk
- Vegetable oil for greasing the pan
- Butter for spreading
What you do:
In a bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm milk and 100ml of tepid water. Leave in a warm place for 15 minutes, until frothy.
Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the yeast mixture. Whisk from the centre outwards until the consistency of double cream - this will take a few minutes. Add a splash more water if needed. Cover with a damp tea towel and set aside for 45 minutes or until little bubbles form on the surface.
To cook the crumpets, grease some 10cm egg rings with vegetable oil. Wipe a little oil around a large frying pan or iron skillet and place over a medium-high heat. Arrange the rings in the frying pan and, once hot, spoon 4 tablespoons of the batter into each ring. Cook for 5 minutes, until little bubbles appear on the surface. Once the bubbles have burst, leaving little holes, use tongs to carefully lift off the rings and flip over the crumpets. Cook for 1 minute on the other side.
Re-grease and reheat the rings and pan before cooking the next batch.
Serve the crumpets warm, with a slather of butter. If making them in advance, just toast lightly on both sides when you come to serve them.
This recipe is repeated here as it is shown in Jamie magazine, but I actually used silicon rings instead. They were ok, but if you can get metal ones it will be much easier when it comes to the time of flipping them in the cooking process. I imagine you’ll keep a more sharp edge to them too.
After playing with the individual crumpets, I couldn’t resist making one giant luscious crumpet - and oh my goodness, what a success! I will definitely be doing that again!
Have a play and tell me you haven’t fallen back in love with the childhood memory of tea and crumpets on the sofa watching cartoons and wondering what adventures lay ahead . . . x
Has Victoria’s post whet your appetite for more delicious food? Subscribe to one of our food magazines and get inspiring recipes sent to you every month.
