English Crumpets

You will need 4 to 6 crumpet rings/moulds for this recipe.

Add the sugar and yeast to the warm water, mix well and allow the yeast to activate for 10 minutes until it foams up.

Add the now active yeast mixture to a bowl.

Add the flour and salt to the bowl, and sift in the baking powder, push any lumps through with your fingers.

Using a hand whisk, beat the mixture together for 2 minutes.

Halfway through the whisking, scrape down the sides of the bowl, then continue whisking for the rest of the 2 minutes.

If you are using an electric whisk, beat for only 1 minute.

Scrape down the sides again, cover the bowl, and rest it in a warm spot for 45 minutes.

Near the end of the 45 minutes, heat up a large non stick frying pan to a temperature of 190°C.

Using a pastry brush, coat the inside of one of the rings with the butter.

Place the ring into the hot pan.

Your crumpet mix should now be active and bubbly.

Spoon the mixture into the hot ring to about halfway up.

Do the same for 3 more rings, don’t overcrowd the pan, you need space to move the rings around.

It is very important to keep the temperature correct and constant at 190°C, any hotter the bottoms will burn before the tops are cooked.

After 5 minutes the classic crumpet bubbles will start to appear from the edges of the crumpets.

You can use a small pointy knife to pop any stubborn bubbles.

Once the mixture has dried out around the edges, use your oven mitts to lift off the rings.

Once you see that the middles are less gooey, you can carefully turn them over to brown off the tops.

Once golden brown, remove them from the pan and onto a wire rack to cool.

Once completely cool, you can freeze these or keep them in your fridge until needed.

To serve these wonderful crumpets, toast them for 3 minutes, serve with butter and jam whilst still piping hot.