Homemade crumpets recipe

An easy recipe for fluffy and delicious crumpets – perfect with a pot of tea.

Makes 10 cakes

Published: May 13, 2019 at 8:47 am

Made with a yeast batter and cooked quickly in metal rings on a griddle, crumpets are a particularly traditional English teatime food with an unusual dense and spongy texture. They are best served fresh and hot, with plenty of good butter and perhaps some jam.

Crumpets, like muffins and teacakes, freeze beautifully, and if you aren’t going to eat them on the day of making it is a good idea to freeze them as soon as they are cool and then toast them straight from the freezer on a defrost setting.

This recipe is an extract from The Perfect Afternoon Tea Recipe Book by Antony Wild and Carol Pastor (ISBN: 9780754834519, Lorenz Books, £15).

Ingredients

225g Plain flour
A pinch of salt
½tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1tsp Easy-blend dried yeast
150ml Milk
200ml Lukewarm water

Method

Step 1
Sift the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and stir in the yeast. Make a well in the centre.
Step 2
Heat the milk with the measured water in a small pan or in the microwave until lukewarm. Pour the milk into the well and beat or whisk vigorously to make a thick, smooth batter.
Step 3
Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour, until the mixture has a spongy texture.
Step 4
Heat a griddle or heavy frying pan. Lightly oil the hot surface and the inside of three or four metal rings, each measuring about 8cm/3½in in diameter. Place the rings on the hot surface and leave for 1–2 minutes until hot.
Step 5
Spoon the batter into the rings to a depth of about 1cm/½ in. Cook over medium-high heat for 6 minutes, until the surface is set and holes have appeared.
Step 6
When set, carefully lift off the metal rings and flip the crumpets over, cooking the second side for just 1 minute until lightly browned.
Step 7
Lift off the griddle and leave to cool on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining crumpet mixture.
Step 8
Just before serving, toast the crumpets on both sides so that the surface is quite hard. Butter and serve as they are or top with a spread or jam of your choice.

Discover more perfect afternoon tea recipes

This recipe is an extract from The Perfect Afternoon Tea Recipe Book by Antony Wild and Carol Pastor (ISBN: 9780754834519, Lorenz Books, £15).

Crumpets, like muffins and teacakes, freeze beautifully

Polly Webster

Homemade crumpets recipe

Ingredients

Method

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Discover more perfect afternoon tea recipes

Share this article