Crumpets (savory)

I spent some good quality time with my parents last week, they visited us from Kuwait and it was so wonderful! My family has this trend, almost like a ritual of drinking a few cups of tea in the morning while discussing random topics varying from world politics to recipes on my blog. My tea intake triples whenever I am with them!

Well, tea was the inspiration behind today’s recipe. I made these savory crumpets - they are a perfect snack for tea time. Crumpets are a British delicacy. They are basically griddle cakes made with a batter of flour and yeast. The yeast gives them a very porous texture which makes them absorb any topping - butter, preserves, cheeses, sauce etc. They are super versatile when it comes to pairing with different flavors. Crumpet, I feel is definitely a relative of pancake - therefore can be paired with sweet or savory flavors.

I made this recipe savory with a little variation - I added some gram flour to twist the flavor a bit and added some fresh thyme while cooking these crumpets. Later I paired them with some home made tomato sauce.

They could also be turned into little pizzas - all you need to do is smear some tomato sauce, grated cheese and basil and pop them in the oven for a few minutes - till the cheese melts. There are many other possibilities and variations that can be tried with these little cakes…you just have to be experimental!

Serving 8 crumpets

cooking time 30 minutes plus 2 hour for fermentation

Things you will need:

1 cup warm milk

1/4 cup warm water

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup gram flour {optional, (if not using gram flour just replace the measurement with A.P flour)}

2 tsp dried yeast

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

few thyme sprigs

vegetable oil for cooking

  1. Dissolve yeast in water let it rest till it becomes bubbly.
  2. In a large bowl, sift together flour and gram flour. Add sugar to the mixture, keep aside.
  3. Add the yeast & milk to the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon till it forms a smooth (lump free) mixture. It will resemble the consistency of thick cream.
  4. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and leave for about 2 hours in a warm spot. After 2 hours the mixture will be very bubbly and would have doubled in volume.
  5. Mix in the salt and baking powder into the batter.
  6. Heat a non-stick pan or an electric griddle and wipe the surface generously with some vegetable oil. Use a paper towel for this step.
  7. To give a perfect round shape to the crumpets – use a biscuit cutter.
  8. Place the biscuit cutter in the center of the pan/griddle and ladle about 2 tablespoon full of batter inside the biscuit cutter. Place a few sprigs of thyme on the exposed surface. Cook the crumpet on low for about 3 minutes on one side. Run a knife through the edge of the crumpet (so that it detaches from the biscuit cutter). Flip the crumpet and cook for another minute or two on the other side. Cool on a rack.
  9. If not using biscuit cutter – just do the same thing. In this case the crumpet will look more like a pancake but will taste the same.
  10. Serve warm with tea - plain or smear some tomato sauce or your favorite cheese spread.
Category : Appetizer, Eggless
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