BB: Crumpets

I'd been thinking about making crumpets, even before noticing they are the recipe for the Alpha Bakers this week. It started as I was weeding my cookbooks a bit, deciding that the old Time-Life Good Cook volume on Bread is headed out the door. AS I was flipping through it, I spotted the photo layout that led me to make my first crumpets--I think to that point crumpets were something from British stories I'd read, but never seen in my part of the world. The Good Cook version is Jane Grigson's, from English Food.

So, I made them, found them good, and eventually crumpets appeared in the refrigerated section of the grocery stores here and looked much like my homemade version. I don't think I've made them at home since the grocery store version appeared, though homemade area certainly superior.

Now, The Baking Bible version: this is a fast recipe for one involving yeast, and as it's a small batch (1 cup of flour) it doesn't even need to dirty more than a bowl and some measuring spoons. I mixed my flour, yeast, touch of sugar, and salt with a whisk, added the warm water, beat the mixture for a bit with the whisk, then (in nostalgia for the Good Cook technique) slapped the batter around with my hand for a bit. My first rise was done after an hour, in went baking soda in a bit of almond milk, then the batter got a further 30 minutes to bubble away some more.

I used my electric griddle for the baking, and found the recommended temperature was too high--my crumpets got a bit too brown before they cooked through, even though they were thinner than I really like them. Next time, I'll add more batter to my shallow crumpet rings and try to hit that balance between full and running over.

Details aside, I now have 5 holey crumpets for future toasting-- the 6th having been eating off the griddle with a bit of butter.