I haven’t inherited much in terms of features from my dad, but using all the kitchen equipment for one meal seems to be genetic trait. Gaylord will be the first to tell you that I am a messy cook. According to him, when he’s faced with the washing up which I always insist ‘really isn’t that much’, I have somehow managed to use every pan that we own to make breakfast. In my defence, Turkish eggs needs two saucepans (and a frying pan if we eat bacon on the side). But, then I made some easy crumpets, and what can I say, the kitchen was spotless.
The reason why? Well, there’s a frying pan involved – non-stick naturally, to make life easier for myself – a bowl in which I mix the batter, and a jug to prepare the slurry of yeast and water. There’s a whisk, a ladle. And there’s the crumpet rings. Of which I own one.
When I get down to it, that one crumpet ring is probably why the kitchen clean up is so easy. Watching one crumpet cook at a time can be only a little bit more fascinating than watching water boil or paint dry, so to occupy myself, I tend to wash up. Each crumpet takes around 10 minutes to cook. So, can you imagine how spotless the kitchen was by the end?
My food bucket list
Crumpets have been on my ‘to-cook list’ for years. When I was younger, my parents would buy them in packets from the supermarket which I would eat with lots of butter and honey, melting through the holes in runnels and pooling all over my hands.
I first made them during my first chef job (that baptism by fire is here) where they were served with herby garlic butter on the side of crystal-clear tomato consommé. I was the chef in charge of the pastry section (because it was the easiest station where the least went wrong (I’m not even joking)) so it was my responsibility at the end of each day – closing around 10pm to 12am – to make the crumpet batter.
This required crumbled fresh yeast, flour, water, and other ingredients which, thanks to exhaustion and general despondency towards a job I did not suit in the slightest, I have forgotten.
Occasionally since then, I’ve tried to repeat the recipe from memory and they were stocky little sponges most of the time, sponges without the essential holes though.
So, I put ‘easy crumpets’ on my food bucket list for 2022 in the hope I would conquer this long sought-after stodgy carb – and, now, I can say, I have. And where’s the fun in glory if I can’t share the recipe?!
So, how do you make easy crumpets?
All you need are ingredients from your cupboards:
- Combine flour, salt and warm water in a bowl and whisk enthusiastically for 5 minutes.
- Dissolve dried yeast in a splash of warm water.
- Add the yeast liquid, along with baking powder and sugar, to the first bowl and beat again for 30 seconds, maybe less enthusiastically now because you’re tired.
- Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise for 20 minutes or so.
- Once bubbles appear on the surface, grease your rings and frying pan, turn up the heat and gently cook spoonfuls of batter in the rings until golden, set and riddled with holes.
- Flip to toast the top.
And there’s nothing more to easy crumpets than that!
I was delighted! They are so springy and taste just like the crumpets of my childhood (except these have none of that long-life preservative flavour). And who doesn’t love an easy recipe now and then? (A nice contrast to last week anyway…)
But then, because I like to make my life complicated and I’m never satisfied, I transformed these easy crumpets into bacon crumpets. And served them as eggs benedict with more bacon, poached eggs and hollandaise.
They really are just as easy as the ‘easy crumpets’, they just need a little bacon. Bacon crumpets have been a revelation – pieces of crisp salty bacon were added to the batter as I filled the crumpet ring (crumpet ring in the singular), and the crumpet rose up around the bacon like a bubbly bouncy castle. Served with all that hollandaise and the poached eggs, each bite was salty and chewy yet crispy, plus not only do crumpets look like little edible sponges, but that’s their main objective as they soak up hollandaise very efficiently.
Although, thanks to the hollandaise, poached eggs, bacon and crumpets, there’s quite a lot of washing up for Gaylord to do… At least there’s only one crumpet ring to wash.
Crumpets (with optional bacon!)
Equipment
- 3 or more crumpet rings
Ingredients
- 150 g flour
- 200 ml warm water cool enough for you to put your finger in but not too cool that the yeast won't react
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried yeast
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 slices of streaky smoked bacon optional
- Neutral flavoured oil and melted butter for greasing or just oil for vegan crumpets
Instructions
- Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the salt and warm water. Using a whisk, beat the batter for 5 minutes – or if you're feeling lazy, use an electric whisk for half the time – and keep it up!
- In a jug or small bowl, mix together 1 tbsp warm water with the yeast.
- Add the yeast mixture to the batter, along with the sugar and baking powder. Once again whisk to combine, this time for around 30 seconds.
- Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and set aside in a warm place for 15-20 minutes until there are bubbles on the surface of the batter.
- If you would like to make bacon crumpets, chop the bacon into bite-sized pieces and fry until lightly crisp. Set aside.
- Grease the crumpet rings with melted butter and warm a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Grease the pan with a little butter and flavourless oil. Once hot add a ladleful of batter to each ring, reaching around halfway up the ring. It will sizzle on impact and bubbles will form.
- If you would like to add bacon, now is the time. Sprinkle a pinch of the cooked bacon pieces over the crumpet batter. Top with a little extra batter.
- Keep your eye on the crumpets, and lower the temperature to medium and then to medium-low if you think the pan is getting too hot – you don't want the bases to burn.
- Cook for 5 to 10 minutes depending on the heat of the pan. Slowly a skin will form over the surface and bubbles will burst. The centre will take the longest but move the crumpets around a bit so they share the heat and so the bases don't burn.
- Once the liquid on the surface has sealed and all the bubbles have formed, you can remove the rings and flip the crumpets to toast the tops. Cook the tops for 30 seconds until lightly golden.
- Remove the crumpets from the pan and keep warm in a low oven as you cook the rest of the batter. Serve with your preferred toppings or as an eggs Benedict with poached eggs and hollandaise.
Notes
To make the hollandaise, I used Jamie Oliver’s recipe: if its becomes too thick, add a splash of warm water, and if it’s too thin add extra butter. I kept it warm over a pan of steaming water but turned the stove ring off in case the hollandaise overheated and scrambled.
When it comes to poaching eggs, we all have our preferred methods. For me, poaching eggs in boiling vinegared water is the answer, but I can completely understand if that appals many!
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