Lulu's SW England foodie notes

[mudbug]

lulu, I always confuse crumpets and scones. sounds like they are not the same at all.

recipe, please.

[lulu]

No mudbug, they are not the same at all (although in a huge array of British teatime breads I can see where confusion can arise!)

Scones take a very short time to throw together and should be eaten on the day of baking. In my opinion they are best served just before hitting room temerature (breaking open further cools them to room temperature anyway. stale scones are a travesty, especially as they really are quick and easy to prpare fresh.

Crmpets take a little longer (as they are yeasted and have to have rise time) but hey also keep better and freeze well. Crumpets are always served warm and toasted so the butter (and any meltable topping) can ooze into the little spongey holes.

OK, ingrediants:

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 cups unbleached white bread flour
2 teaspoons of salt
1 and 1/2 cup of milk*
1 cup water *
2 teaspoons sunflower oil
1 tablespoon caster/superfine sugar
1/ oz of FRESH yeast
1/2 a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/2 a cup of lukewarm water

* the recipe I have says 2.5 cups water/milk mixed I tend to divide it as given above.

Heat the milk and water mixture with oil and sugar until luke warm, mix the yeast with about 2/3 of this liquid.

Sift the flours and salt together into a large bowl, make a well in the middle add the yeasty liquid (and the rest of that same liquid) into the well an bat, with gusto for five minutes or so till the dough is elastic. Cover with oiled clingfilm and set aside somewhere warm for about an hour and a half. Its ready when the dough is really bubbly and about to fall back.

Dissolve the soa in the warm water and stir this into the batter then you must recover and let rise for half an hour or so.

Grease a heavy fryingpan/griddle and heat to a medium heat. Also grease some round cookie cutters (don't see why they couldn't be less tradtional shapes though) and put them in the frying pan and then fill the cutters to about 1/2 inch deep.

They take about 7 minuts on medium, then you should have dry tops and load of tiny holes. Remove cutters, flip crumpets and cook other side till a light gold, a couple of minutes.

Like this you can eat them straight away, hot, if you are preparing them in advance you will need to serve them toasted.

I found a wikipedia entry, which has a good picure so you know what you are aiming for ;)
Crumpet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[lulu]

On other tea time breads, and there must be hundreds!, a New Yorker colleague of Dh recently emailed to ask me what an American equivalent of the Chelsea bun might be. well, I just can think of any equivalent, but I thought it would be more likely that you guy might have done!

Is it possible to get Chelsea Buns in NYC I wonder........

[mudbug]

thanks, lulu! will try this soon.