We're all shivering in the office today, and along with the thick scarves and woolly jumpers out come our favourite recipes for comfort foods to warm body and soul!
Crumpets are a classic winter warmer and a great British speciality, but you haven't lived until you've tried the home-made variety: there is simply nothing as good as the light, fluffy, warm batter melting in the mouth or the fun of spooning the mixture on to a hot pan and watching it bubble up, turning into the distinctive holes that are so great at trapping your butter or jam.
Best of all, home-made crumpets don't have that rubbery quality that often spoils the shop-bought sort, and you can even freeze them once you've made a batch! So how do you make crumpets? It's a wonderfully simple process but one that requires patience...
Ingredients:
350ml whole milk
225g strong white flour
125g plain flour
1 x 7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp caster sugar
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
150ml/5¼fl oz warm water
butter for greasing
Tools:
Cling film
Milk Pan
Mixing bowl
Measuring bowl and scales
Griddle plate or large, heavy based, non-stick frying pan
Cookie cutters or crumpet rings
Method
First, make sure you've got a clear 2-3 hours handy to complete the job. Much of this is just proofing time for the yeast so you won't have your hands completely full - but you'll need to be within dashing-distance from the kitchen.
1. Warm all the milk in a saucepan but don't let it get too hot: tepid is fine.
2. Sift both flours together in a mixing bowl and stir in the yeast, sugar and salt. Combine well.
3. Create a small 'well' in the centre of the mixed powders then pour in the warm milk. Beat with a wooden spoon for around 3-4 minutes until the mixture is thick and elastic.
4. Cover the bowl with cling film and put aside in a warm place for an hour, or until the batter has doubled in size.
5. Once the batter has fully risen, mix the bicarbonate of
soda with the warm water and beat the mixture into the batter for a
couple of minutes. Set it aside to rest in a warm place for a further 30
minutes. By this time the mixture should have risen and be covered with
tiny bubbles.
6. Warm up your frying pan or griddle plate on a medium heat, and add a knob of butter for each crumpet to fry in
7. Place your cookie cutters or crumpet rings on the pan and let them heat for a minute or two.
8. Here comes the fun part! Using a desert spoon, drop three generous helpings of the batter into the rings, until the mixture sits evenly inside the ring at a depth of about 1.5cm. You'll soon see the tiny bubbles begin to form and rise to the surface: let them cook for 10-12 minutes.
9. Carefully lift off the rings wearing an oven glove: the warm crumpets should come off easily as the batter has set.
10. Once removed from their rings, flip the crumpets over and cook them on the other side for a further minute or so until golden brown. Use a spatula to remove them from the hot plate.
11. Your crumpets are ready to eat! Serve them immediately for best effects, with a little more butter and any additional toppings of your choice. Freeze what you don't eat...you won't regret it next time the weather turns bad!
[Recipe courtesy of The Hairy Bikers]
