Home Made Crumpet With Melting Butter and photo by Trevor Sharot, photographer. Copyright Trevor Sharot.
Problem
How do you make the holes in crumpets? Where should I cook them? This has puzzled us for years. Trevor, who is a keen cook, sent me a photo of a ciabatta he had made. I had just read about crumpets. I complimented him on his expertise in making the ciabatta and asked him, "Could you make a crumpet?
Answer
When I set my husband, Trevor Sharot, this task, I knew he could do it. He can do anything. His major skill is research. He is also very practical. He prefers maths to English, because you can get 100% in a maths exam. He is good at research and also practical, a good combination of qualities.
You can see we are different types by the way we write. I would say, "It tastes delicious, yummy, the butter melts into the holes, it is soft on the inside and crisp on the edges and chewable."
He said:
'The holes are due to the raising agents. I used every available raising agent, yeast and baking powder."
So baking powder had the power. (I got that nice bit of alliteration from a typo. This proves there's a silver lining in every cloud.)
Ingredients
Flour
milk
water
a little butter
raising agents: yeast and baking powder
The sequence is
batter after raising for a couple of hours
3 tbsp of batter in the ring
after the 10 minutes cooking
flipped over to show the base and for another 5 minutes upside down
flipped back when done
cross-section
Where to buy
Crumpets are made in the UK by Wharburtons. You can buy crumpets in supermarkets such as Tescos. Or chat to your friendly home baker, or make your own.
Author
Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and phtographer
Author and speaker
Interesting websites:
