Crumpets

 1 October 2020

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2020

What is more British than crumpets? Not being British, I can't remember ever eating a crumpet. I am much more familiar with, ironically, English muffins, which are similar. Both are made with a yeasted batter that is cooked on the stovetop. This recipe in a recent magazine provided an opportunity to try making these at home, and then eating them.

The technique used to cook these is easy but unique, and a little persnickety, and it took a few tries to figure it out. Fortunately the recipe makes three large crumpets so there was an opportunity to practice. All-purpose flour, cake flour, yeast, baking powder, and salt were whisked together in an 8-cup measuring cup. Warm water was added and the mixture whisked until smooth. It was covered and set aside to rise until doubled. Then, an 8-inch nonstick skillet was prepared by heating over low heat with a little oil. Some additional warm water was whisked into the batter. The heat under the skillet was increased to medium for one minute and the oil was wiped out leaving a thin film. One third of the batter was poured into the skillet and cooked for 45 seconds on high heat. The heat was reduced to medium low and the crumpet cooked until the edges were set. Off heat a flat spatula is used to lift any uncooked batter off the top of the crumpet to expose the holes. (Unusual, to say the least.) The crumpet was flipped over and cooked on high heat until the second side was lightly browned. The process was repeated with the second and third thirds of the batter. The large crumpets, after cooling, were cut into four wedges each yielding a total of 12 crumpets. Total time was about 80 minutes with 45 minutes of that hands off.

I enjoyed having the crumpets for breakfast over the next few weeks. They were toasted on a very high setting and then festooned with butter and jam or peanut butter. They test a little like the interior of English muffins, soft and yeasty. They kept well in the freezer. I don't know how they compare to other crumpets, but they do compare favorably with English muffins. I don't know that I will make them at home again, I do like my store-bought English muffins, but I am eager to try crumpets from the supermarket or a restaurant when I next get a chance to see how they compare.\