“Tea and Crumpets – Love ’em Hot and Cold” – The Mad Hatter – Alice in Wonderland
He might have had slightly questionable millinery sense, but I think the Mad Hatter had pretty good culinary taste judging by the comment above. Although I disagree with him about the cold part – crumpets are definitely best enjoyed hot (and as with most home baking they are best enjoyed within 24 hours of production – not that any lasts that long in our house!)…
I warn you now though, this recipe isn’t perhaps the most straight forward! As I discovered, they can be a little bit fiddly what with all the temperature and consistency adjustments! But, give an English Expat a sudden need for tea and crumpets on a cold and wet Sunday afternoon in her temporary land of residence, and nothing will stand in her way of at least attempting to recreate a little taste of home!
The humble crumpet is quite the iconic British tea-time treat, along with the magnificent scone and the odd cucumber sandwich (not all that common in our house, but if you’re making them, do so with white bread, lots of butter and crusts off please!). They can also cause much confusion amongst non-Brits as to what they actually are… All you need to know is that if Downton Abbey were in fact real, the entire mansion would be eating these on a regular basis both above and below stairs!
Originating in the 16th century, we have the Victorians to thank for how we know crumpets today thanks to their addition of baking soda to the batter, which created the famous sponge like holes – so perfect for soaking up all that melted butter (and Golden Syrup when we have any!)…
This recipe is one slightly adapted from The Great British Book of Baking (what else?) – which I would heartily recommend by the way. It calls for a special crumpet cooking ring, but as we have no such thing – a 4″ round biscuit cutter had to suffice (and worked perfectly well!), make sure you butter it each time though! It also calls for Cream of Tartar – which again if you don’t have, any don’t panic – there is a solution below!
Ingredients – Makes 8-12 (follow this recipe if you are using dried yeast and actually have cream of tartar!)
225g strong white bread flour;
225g plain white flour;
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar*
1 x 7g dried yeast;
500ml lukewarm water;
1 teaspoon salt;
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda;
150ml lukewarm milk.
Sift the flours together with the cream of tartar. Add the dried yeast, then the lukewarm water and mix to make a batter, beating well for a couple of minutes. Cover the bowl with a damp clean tea-towel and leave in a warm place for an hour. After that time, sprinkle the salt over the batter and beat for a further minute. Cover up the bowl again and leave for a further 20 minutes. Add the bicarb to the warm milk and gently stir in to the bowl. Heat a un-greased heavy (and reliable in that you know it doesn’t normally stick!) frying pan, and when it’s very hot, place in the buttered biscuit cutter(!)…
Prepare for your first sacrificial crumpet (there might be a couple!) whilst you get the temperature and the consistency right! Add enough batter to half fill the mould. If bubbles don’t form straight away, add a little more warm milk, but if the batter is too thin, add a little more flour… Leave the crumpet for 7-8 minutes before taking off the mould (with a tea-towel I might suggest!) and flipping over and cooking for another couple of minutes. The crumpet should be golden brown on one side and lightly coloured on the other. Leave to cool (or eat straight from the pan!) and toast.
Ingredients – Makes 8-12 (follow this recipe if you are using Fresh Yeast and have no cream of tartar!)
225g strong white bread flour;
225g plain white flour;
3 tsp Baking Powder;
21g fresh yeast;
500ml lukewarm water;
1 teaspoon of salt;
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda;
150ml lukewarm milk.
Sift the flours into a mixing bowl together with the baking powder. In a jug, dissolve the yeast into 100mls of lukewarm milk. Add the water to the flour and mix to a batter. Add the yeast/milk solution, beating well for a couple of minutes. Cover the bowl with a damp clean tea-towel and leave in a warm place for an hour. After that time, sprinkle the salt over the batter and beat for a further minute. Cover up the bowl again and leave for a further 20 minutes. Add the bicarb to the remainder of the warm milk, and then add to the mixture. Follow the rest of the steps in recipe 1 above.
And do you know what, if you only have the one biscuit cutter (like we have) the chances are you will get a bit sick of standing around making crumpets, so once you have at least 6 might I suggest you chuck the mould away and use the rest of the batter to make pikelets without the burning hot mould (she says looking at her scarred little finger!) Add tablespoons of batter to the frying pan, and cook for 3 minutes each side. These flat little pancakes are perfect toasted, buttered and eaten with just about anything! A veritable teatime selection!
I love this article from my fellow Expat Essentials expert Deanna at Castles to Casinos, entitled 5 Things I Would Never Have Eaten Without Going to Germany… I concur my friend, I concur! I think my life has been made a little richer since having discovered the delectable dampfnudel! :)
Kris says
Hi, I know I’m late, but here in the Bavarian Forest we have something similar called Levanzi or Rivanzerl, made from pancake-dough with yeast, than fried in a pan. It’s originally bohemian and not widely known, but tasty. I like your Blog, by the way.
bavaria says
Thanks so much, and I will look out for those, they sound delicious! :)
Emily @amummytoo says
They look perfect. As it happens, I’ve tried the recipe you mentioned from the GBBO book and mine kept collapsing once cool. Not sure what I was doing wrong but I’ll try your tweaked recipe and hopefully I’ll have more luck! Thanks for linking up with #recipeoftheweek. I’ve pinned and tweeted this post, and there’s a fresh linky live now for this week. I would love you to pop over and join in :) x
bavaria says
This is the second time I have tried it. The first time I used a fluted edged biscuit cutter upside down which was a nightmare, and I found the fresh yeast was definitely easier to work with. Thanks Emily, will be back soon! :) x
Franglaise Cooking says
I absolutely love crumpets and missed them so much when I was living abroad in France, if only I’d had this recipe then! Must be served hot with butter and syrup, yum!
Popping over from #recipeoftheweek
(Sophie commenting)
bavaria says
Definitely definitely best served hot with butter and syrup!! Thank you Sophie! :)
Steph @MisplacedBrit says
DELICIOUS! I’ve never made my own crumpets… and I MISS them!!! Will have to give it a go; your’s look fantastic!
bavaria says
Thank you Steph! Hope you have fun making them, they are definitely worth the effort! :)
Honest Mum says
Wow incredible, fluffy crumpets, fab post. Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays. Please link back or add my badge if you can x
bavaria says
Thank you… Will do! Slightly ever so behind this week! :D x
Frau Dietz (Eating Wiesbaden) says
I can guarantee I would fail 100% at trying to make these gluten-free so I am just going to gaze mournfully at these lovely, lovely photos for a bit ;) They look fabulous! :D
bavaria says
I think if you could find decent gluten free flour, they would definitely be worth a try?!?!? Thank you xx
Alison says
These look perfect, pass the butter
bavaria says
And the golden syrup or the jam?? Thank you! :)
MummyTries says
Oh wow these look great! I’ve always wondered how to make crumpets, and now I know :) #recipeoftheweek
bavaria says
Thank you! :)
older mum in a muddle says
You are such a great cook….. and those look delicious, lathered in tonnes of butter. X
bavaria says
Sometimes! :D Thank you! :) xx
Mary Keynko says
Hmmmmmm! Crumpet heaven, butter and marmite in this house!
Thank you for adding to my 52 cook books link up! x x
bavaria says
No problem Mary, thank you! :)
Otilia says
Oh my god! I miss crumpets so much! I need to make some for the girls!
bavaria says
Thanks Otilia! Enjoy! :)
Boo Roo and Tigger Too says
Roo loves crumpets, she would definitely need to learn this recipe if she ever moves away
bavaria says
Definitely! I have had to learn to make so many things! :D Thank you! :)
Cass@frugalfamily says
Oh I love crumpets – cant wait to try these x x
bavaria says
Thank you Cass! :)
Sally Sellwood (@Recipejunkie27) says
Well done you – I have been thinking of having a go at crumpets for ages, and was also contemplating the use of a biscuit cutter in place of a special crumpet ring, Mine have fluted edges though :-(
Anyway, I’m inspired – and I think I also have cream of tartar somewhere in the cupboard!
bavaria says
Do not try the fluted edges cutter, I speak from experience on this one. :D Thank you! :) xx
Trish says
As you might imagine, I buy my crumpets but I did discover a forgotten jar of raspberry jam I had made in the summer – so that went on my buttered crumpets this week. Yummy.
bavaria says
home made raspberry jam and crumpets? Nothing could be finer! :D
Funky Wellies says
Definitely have to try and make them. The whole family loves them and up to now we had to rely on the kindness of friends to send them over or buy a lot when in the UK!! xx
bavaria says
They are definitely well worth an attempt! And they are definitely good when they turn out well, and better than nothing when they don’t! Thank you! :) xx
Emma says
Oh Emma, they look great. I’m definitely going to try them. I always wondered how the holes appeared :-)
bavaria says
A great kitchen science experiment! :D Thanks Emma xx
Cakesphotoslife (Angie) says
Oh my word I do love crumpets and I agree eaten Hot and crispy with lots of butter (bad I know but MmmmMmmmm so good)
bavaria says
Thank you Angie! :)
Louisa says
You can’t beat a good crumpet! I want one now. : )
bavaria says
I will get working on another batch! :)
Jazzygal says
I quite like crumpets too and those ‘Pikelets’ look yummy. The idea of dripping butter, the real butter, is simply divine.
Don’t think I have the culinary capabilities to attempt that recipe though!
xx Jazzy
bavaria says
If I can make them J, I am sure you can too! Thank you! :) xx
Midlife Singlemum says
How clever of you. They look just like the ones we used to buy in Sainsbury’s when I was a child. We ate them hot with butter on Saturday afternoon while watching Doctor Who. (Usually followed by e.g. HR Puff&Stuff, and The Cliff Richard/Cilla Black/Morcombe and Wise Show). Ah those were days.
bavaria says
Glad I bought back happy memories for you! :) Thank you! :)
Christine says
I made crumpets on a bread making course recently and it’s amazing just how different they taste to shop bought ones! (Bit of a faf though!)
bavaria says
They are certainly a bit of a faff, but they do taste good! Thank you! :)
Kelloggsvile says
Used to love these, soaking so much butter in it can out the bottom like little worms! Then I couldn’t eat butter anymore and jam replaced it but, to be honest, they never quite felt the same again! You have trouble getting golden syrup?! The humanity! That’s almost worse the the marmite travesty.
bavaria says
Haha… I bet they are totally not the same without butter though, sorry you can’t have it anymore! :( You can find it here occasionally, but you have to go on a kind of hunt first! :D
A Mum in London says
These look delicious & love the food styling of your pictures. I enjoy reading all the historical youu give with the recipes, it’s like the Great British Bake Off in a blog :)
bavaria says
Thanks so much! :)
Sim @ Sims Life says
Ohhhhh how I love crumpets!! I would quite happily eat them for breakfast every single day!! :)
bavaria says
Me too, me too! :D Thank you!
Susanna says
I don’t think I will attempt them, with Waitrose just down the road, but those are lovely. When we lived in La Jolla for a couple year, I missed quite a few British foods, including crumpets and chocolate hob nobs. x
bavaria says
You don’t know how jealous that makes me! One day I will have that again though, and I mustn’t lose sight of that! :D Thank you! xx
A Patchwork Life says
fiddly maybe, but they look perfect xx
bavaria says
Thanks so much! :D xx
Steph (@imcountingufoz) says
Your crumpets look absolutely divine, and now I have a huge crumpet craving!
bavaria says
Thank you Steph! Sorry about that! :D
Grace says
Mmmm they look delicious – to save you all that work I will fill my case with them next time I come over! xx
bavaria says
Yes please Mum, and some golden syrup too. Oh, and some creme eggs, some real tea, some marmite… I could go on and on and on and on… :D xxxx
Deanna says
Aww, thanks Emma for linking to me! Very kind of you! And I would so love to make this, but I’m not sure I’m up for the challenge. Plus, which one here in Germany is the strong white bread flour?
bavaria says
812 is apparently best for white bread (but I am not sure I have seen it)… In this case I used 1050! Likewise, thank you! :)