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We’ve been blessed with recipes for the steak bake from Greggs and dough balls from Pizza Express, and so we all thought we had it pretty good in lockdown. But that was until the baked goods gods went one further. Warburtons has decided to share the secret to making its iconic crumpets.
The bakery titan based in the north of England whips up loaves of all sizes, but it’s probably best known for its packets of crumpets. And now it’s decided to unveil the magic that goes into making one (well, six actually, according to this recipe), so that those bored at home can have a go.
The list of ingredients and method have come to us just before the bank holiday weekend, with Warburtons asking its fans to ‘rise to the challenge’ in their own kitchens. It produces 700 million of these bad boys annually and has been perfecting the formula for 30 years, but you should have a bit of time on your hands over the long weekend to get just as good at making them.
So, get the butter locked and loaded and ready to slather, and then read on for a lesson in spongy, disc-shaped deliciousness.
Ingredients (makes six crumpets):
- 150g plain white flour
- 200ml water
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp dried yeast
Method:
1. Add flour, water and salt to a mixing bowl. Mix vigorously with a whisk for at least five minutes to create your crumpet batter.
2. Mix a few millilitres of water into to your dried yeast.
3. Add sugar, baking powder and yeast mixture to the bowl and mix for another 30 seconds until you have a clear batter.
4. Cover mixing bowl and put in a warm place for 15 minutes.
5. Place a greased metal biscuit cutter (any shape cutter you have to hand will do the trick) into the middle of a non-stick frying pan. Pre-heat your frying pan on a hob on a medium-high heat setting.
6. Before you start, give your batter a stir to remove any large air bubbles. Use a ladle to drop approximately 60g of batter into the cutter inside the pan. Wait for approximately four minutes, then carefully lift the ring off the crumpet.
7. Remove the baked crumpet from the pan (if the top looks a bit gooey flip over in the pan for a few seconds). Then cool.
8. Repeat the above to make as many as you can eat.
Then toast and whack on that butter. Who knew lockdown could be so lavish?
Check out what happened when we went behind the scenes at the Warburtons factory in London.
In the mood for more baking? Why not send us your sourdough pics for our new Rate My Bake competition?
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