Crumpets

It is coming up to the end of financial year here and since part of my job is bookkeeper it is a rather busy time for me and will probably involve a bit of overtime for the next few days. I am also planning on working Wednesday, on what is my usual day off. Although, I do have a few other things that I need to do as well, including a trip to the vet with one of my dear cats for her annual check up. Despite all of this and the extra hours on the computer at work I have really felt like blogging lately and it is so easy to sit down and write a few posts in a row and schedule them to post over 2 or 3 days. I still have a bunch of recipes to blog so hopefully I don't lose my blogging mojo any time soon.

I do love cooking breakfast however yeasty things are usually beyond me for breakfast as, to be completely honest, I am not keen on getting up early enough to make things that involve yeast. I have attempted to make crumpets twice before. The first I used a recipe of Delia's which involved leaving the batter overnight. It was an unmitigated disaster. The second time was a Jamie Oliver recipe, which didn't turn out much better. I had heard that homemade crumpets are so much better than the bought ones so I was keen to see if I could actually get something edible with Bill's recipe. They were edible and not bad but I just don't think that it was worth the effort. I didn't make the blackberry butter to go with them serving instead with butter and honey. I would really like to conquer crumpets but I think it will be a while before I attempt them again.

Crumpets 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c milk
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 7g  sachet of instant yeast
• 375 g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 200 ml water
• pinch of salt

Method:

• Heat milk over a low heat until blood temperature. Pour into a bowl and sprinkle over the sugar and dried yeast and stir. Allow to stand for 10 minutes, until the milk starts to froth and bubble.
• Combine flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in the yeast mixture and beat with electric beaters until smooth. 
• Cover in clingfilm and stand in a warm place until doubled in volume (about 1 1/2 hours). 
• Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the water. Pour into the batter and beat. 
• Place a pan over a low heat and brush with butter. Grease metal rings and place in the pan.
• Spoon 2 - 3 tablespoons of batter inside each ring and cook over a low heat for 5-6 minutes. Cook the other side. Keep warm while cooking remaining batter.