I'm makin' crumpets

[trashpony]

Yeah no I haven't got one of them.

Mind you, my marmite supply has just run out quite recently, so until I poach/smuggle/steal/import some more, it's useless,as, as any civilised person will tell you, only savages eat crumpets with jam (and other barbaric spreads) thereupon. The connoisseur eats them with marmite on them.

That's a shame

There's a pic of what I thought was a chinese supermarket on the cover of the grauniad mag today with a big stack of marmite jars. But it turns out a) it's japanese and b) it's in the UK and the photo was posed by said jars of marmite.

But tesco have opened a supermarket in china this week so try there

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Thing is though, when they (supermarket chains) open branches abroad they still largely aim it at the local tastes, only with an 'import section' the size of a shelf, (with sky high prices) and that is invariably north american-orientated (muggins ere was stupid enough to choose a country of residence largely favoured by Yanks/Cannucks rather than Britons/Aussies - I should have gone for Japan or Thailand all things considered), so no marmite

Mind you, one friend did say there is somewhere in shanghai that has it for an extortionate 3.50 (a lot for here) for the smallest jar sizes...

 

[sojourner]

The connoisseur eats them with marmite on them.

True

But in times of need, I find some dirty processed squeezy cheese in a tube such as Primula a good substitute

missfran - how come they didn't have holes in them?

 

[mrsfran]

I dunno. It just didn't happen. The insides were just as a crumpet should be, and they did have a few holes in but it felt like the crumpet cooked before the holes formed, or it wasn't hot enough, or I made them too big, or the mixture was too dry. Not sure. I will need to experiment further.

We've eaten them all now. My in-laws were suitably impressed.

I had mine with marmite, as any god-fearing woman would.

 

[sojourner]

I dunno. It just didn't happen. The insides were just as a crumpet should be, and they did have a few holes in but it felt like the crumpet cooked before the holes formed, or it wasn't hot enough, or I made them too big, or the mixture was too dry. Not sure. I will need to experiment further.

Ok, so you don't poke holes with a skewer or anything? They're meant to cook with holes in them? How does that work then?

 

[mrsfran]

They have more yeast in than normal dough - 1 and a half sachets for 225g flour. When the dough was proving it went encouragingly fluffy and had holes in, due to the yeast action.

 

[sojourner]

So was it a lack of yeast then?

 

[mrsfran]

No, I'm fairly sure it wasn't a lack of yeast since it bubbled up nicely during the proving stage and the crumpets rose fine during the cooking. I think the mixture may have been too dry as the bubbles seem to have trouble getting to the top before it cooked, if you get what I mean. Next time I'll make it a little wetter.

 

[sojourner]

No, I'm fairly sure it wasn't a lack of yeast since it bubbled up nicely during the proving stage and the crumpets rose fine during the cooking. I think the mixture may have been too dry as the bubbles seem to have trouble getting to the top before it cooked, if you get what I mean. Next time I'll make it a little wetter.

Right

So, it's the bubbles that make the holes then?

 

[mrsfran]

Yeah. Bubbles.

 

[RubyToogood]

Yes there's a knack to getting holes in them. Unfortunately I can't remember what it is. But definitely don't turn them over before the tops have dried out, or any holes you've made will just get covered over. This was one issue I always had with the rings, they made the crumpets so thick that they took ages to cook.