{"id":8096,"date":"2024-06-09T19:36:52","date_gmt":"2024-06-09T23:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/recipephany.com\/?p=8096"},"modified":"2025-02-08T01:26:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T06:26:29","slug":"paul-hollywoods-crumpets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/recipephany.com\/?p=8096","title":{"rendered":"Paul Hollywood’s Crumpets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On a recent trip to England, we fell hard for the hot, buttery crumpets served on the 10:03 train from London\u2019s King\u2019s Cross Station to Leeds. We\u2019d splurged on first class with meal service\u2014well worth it just to experience these soft, griddled treats that soaked up butter like sponges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make these beauties for breakfast, brunch or tea, and you too will understand why Brits love their crumpets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not English Muffins<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While crumpets are English and muffins, they are not English muffins. If you crossed English muffins with pancakes, you\u2019d get something like crumpets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crumpets start with a bubbly yeasted batter, not a dough like English muffins. The batter cooks in rings on a griddle or in a heavy skillet. As it heats, its bubbles pop into a myriad of tiny holes\u2014the crumpet\u2019s trademark. The crumpet ends up with a crispy bottom, a delicate and spongy middle, and a hole-studded top.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Crumpet<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Unlike English muffins, which get split and toasted, crumpets are usually served uncut and only lightly toasted on top. So when you slather butter onto a hot crumpet, it soaks way down into all those lovely little pores. As with English muffins, crumpets make an excellent butter delivery system. And a perfect base for jam, marmalade, or Marmite if you\u2019re brave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crumpet Challenge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the menu, the train served us Warburtons, UK\u2019s most popular and beloved commercial crumpet. So we just needed a copycat recipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, Warburtons had revealed their secret family recipe<\/a> during the pandemic to show compassion for house-bound crumpet-lovers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We followed the recipe and cranked out Warburtons crumpets. Batches and batches of them. They looked gorgeous, with perfect little signature holes. But they always came out a little gummy. Their texture reminded us of an underdone pancake. The crumpets we enjoyed on the train were higher, lighter and had a better chew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like pancakes, crumpets take some practice. So we tried adjusting beating time, proofing time, cooking time, cooking surface, size of crumpet ring, cooking temperature, and even types of flour. But we just couldn\u2019t get it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now who would we trust to tell us how to make better crumpets? Paul Hollywood, the iconic baker and judge from The Great British Baking Show, <\/em>of course. He once said, \u201cI love crumpets. You can\u2019t beat a good homemade crumpet.\u201d What he really meant was, \u201cYou can\u2019t beat my<\/em> homemade crumpets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we had to put his recipe through our technical challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While his recipe takes more time than Warburtons, it\u2019s worth it. In batch after batch it consistently produced lovely hole-studded crumpets with more structure and flavor than Warburtons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, we could imagine Paul Hollywood pinching off a piece of a Warburtons crumpet, rolling it into a little ball, and declaring it \u201cgoomey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wrote Warburtons for advice on solving this gumminess problem, but we haven\u2019t heard back. We suspect their secret to great crumpets lies somewhere in a proprietary manufacturing process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, we crown Paul Hollywood the Crumpet King. And thank him with a hearty handshake.<\/p>\n\n\n

Paul Hollywood’s Crumpets<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Adapted from <\/em>Paul Hollywood\u2019s Bread by Paul Hollywood<\/em><\/p>\n

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Necessary equipment: <\/em>
At least four 4-inch metal nonstick crumpet rings (such as those by Datanya <\/a>); heavy large frying pan or griddle<\/em>
Recommended: <\/em>
Kitchen scale, large ice cream scoop<\/em>
Weigh ingredients for the best results.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Makes about 10 crumpets<\/em><\/p>\n

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