Crumpets 101

Why make a crumpet? For starters, the result is mind-numbingly delicious. With lots of springy holes for butter to ooze and melt into, this quintessential British food is positively wonderful. Top it with some jam and you’ve gotten something to moan about. Now, consider the fact that crumpets are ridiculously easy to make, there isn’t really any excuse for anyone to NOT make them.  Think of how impressed everyone will be around the breakfast table when you bring in the plate from the kitchen piled high with yeasty, fragrant crumpets and amid the accolades you demurely admit that Yes, you made the heavenly delights.

There are two kitchen items you will need but don’t fear…they are very easy to procure and more than likely you’ve already got one of them in your cupboard. First you need a griddle to cook the crumpets. I’ve got a large one that fits across two burners but if you have a smaller one, no worries; it’ll just take you a bit longer to get them all made. The second thing you’ll need are crumpet rings. Back in the day, I took tuna tins and removed the tops and the bottom of the can (and the tuna!) and it made a perfect ring. But nowadays tuna cans have a rounded bottom and you can’t get a can opener to get the bottom off. (Maybe this was a deliberate attempt by tuna can manufactures to foil the ingenuity of the home cook and to increase sales of crumpet rings. I smell a conspiracy theory.) At one time you could get rings at kitchen stores or places like Cost Plus but I don’t know anymore. I bought a new set on Amazon.com…if you order $25 worth of stuff you get free shipping. 




Here's a half with olallieberry jam

 

I mix the batter up in the mixer but it is easy enough to mix by hand. The batter is left in the bowl for the first rise, and then a tablespoon of water with a little baking soda is beaten in and the batter rises a second time. Once it’s risen twice, you’ve got this yeasty, bubbly living sponge ready to cook. I’ve tried several recipes. The one from my 1977 Sunset cookbook of Breads is awful: nothing springy about the leaden, chalky disc that sat on my plate. The recipe I’ve had the most success with is from the James Beard cookbook on bread. According to British cooks, the batter should pour into the rings. Beard’s recipe doesn’t really pour as it is a bit thicker. But what I like is that it makes a very tall crumpet (well, I more than likely overfill the ring…the recipe makes 8-10 crumpets and I get 5. My bad!) Split in half and toasted, the eater then doesn’t have to decide which jam to eat…marmalade on one half, olallieberry jam on the other. 

My 9-year-old niece Sophia came for a visit and we learned (Lord love a duck!) that she had never had a crumpet before. I whipped out the griddle and rings and before long we had cobbled together a rather respectable tea. The verdict? Sophia loved the crumpets and more than likely, being the good young cook that she is, she will have soon mastered the art of crumpet making. I bet I know what Santa will put in her stocking this Christmas!!

Want to read more? Here’s a great website on the history of the crumpet along with a recipe and tips on how to make.

From the Beard on Bread cookbook by James Beard:

Crumpets

½ cup milk

½ cup boiling water

1 package active dry yeast

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 ½ teaspoons salt (I found this amount too salty; I only use 1 tsp.)

1 ¾ cups sifted all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking soda, dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water

Combine the milk and boiling water and cool to lukewarm. Add the yeast and sugar and allow to proof. Blend the salt and the sifted flour, combine the yeast mixture, and beat thoroughly for several minutes with a wooden spoon or with your hand. (I use the mixer on a lower speed.) Let the batter rise in a warm place until almost doubled in bulk and rather bubbly. Add the dissolved soda and beat into the batter. (I do this by hand.) Allow to rise again until doubled in bulk.

 Spoon the batter into buttered rings placed on a moderately hot griddle to a depth of about ½ inch. Cook until dry and bubbly on top. Remove the ring, turn the crumpets, and brown lightly on the other side. Let cool. To serve, toast and flood with butter.

Makes 8-10 crumpets (HA! Unless you make them really tall like I do and then you’ll only get 5)

A ton of goodness in one little pea

I have no desire to be vegan. I love eggs, cheese and a roasted chicken is a lovely thing. But you’ve got to admire anyone who manages to eat well and live healthy and not take advantage of those main ingredients that are the foundational building blocks for most all cooking that we know and love. Back in the day, I thought vegan cooking meant bland, boring and repetitive meals. I mean come on…just how many tofu scrambles can one person eat in a week?  (That being said, I must admit I have an egg every single morning for breakfast and will never, ever tire of it!) But over the last few years, I’ve discovered that vegan cooking can be pretty amazing. Vegan cooking more than likely will include some ingredients you’re not familiar with. No worries. Most are rather tame and easy to find and work with.

Picture from Sunset Magazine

I found a recipe in Sunset magazine that featured chickpea flour. I love chickpeas (or garbanzo beans) but really have only had them in a salad or when making hummus. Chickpea flour I’ve never used before.  (Apparently chickpea flour is high in protein and is gluten free.) The recipe is for chickpea cakes made by Chef Sean Baker at Gather Restaurant in Berkeley. He serves his cakes with an arugula salad tossed with a fennel dressing. I clipped the recipe and posted it on the fridge door. I assembled all the ingredients including the flour (Bob’s Red Mill’s is nice) and the nutritional yeast (bulk @ Whole Foods). I made a few substitutions: instead of vegetable broth I used chicken (yea, I know, it’s not vegan anymore but it’s what I had on hand), baby spinach for the fava leaves (I looked at the farmer’s market for fava leaves but they were nowhere to be found; be sure to note the additional flour needed if spinach is used), romaine lettuce and pea shoots for the arugula (it’s a little too bitter for my taste), added goat cheese to the salad because it sounded good, white wine vinegar for the Champagne vinegar (couldn’t justify spending money on yet another condiment in the cupboard), left out the cayenne and saffron in the dressing (too spicy and too expensive).  Oh, and I added some orange supremes to the salad.



Picture of my chickpea cakes



I followed the instructions faithfully (except for all of my changes!) and served up the most delicious cakes ever. Crusty sweet on the outside, creamy on the inside. It made enough for leftovers and I’m so glad about that!  I have no illusions of one day being vegan. But when a great recipe comes along, I’m all in favor of cooking it up no matter which school of thought it hails from!