Simple prep photo. (doing this also for myself so i remember)

sleevendog, I've made English Muffins, but like you, I don't eat them often. My girls used to like to put pizza sauce and cheese on them for mini-pizzas. When I was working I had one toasted with peanut butter every single day for about 3 years, LOL, funny how I seldom eat them now.

I have a Danish Dough Whisk just like that, but my "rings" are actually old tuna fish cans with the bottoms cut out. Now I have to guard them, they've changed the cans so the bottoms don't come out like they used to.

I like the idea of a bigger one with blueberries and maple syrup. Heck, I like the idea of anything with blueberries and maple syrup. (grin)

Annie

I like English muffins okay but do not buy or make them. I bought crumpet rings about ten years or so ago, and hated the crumpets that I made, and so the rings have just been taking up space. I did not like the texture (or taste) of them at all, and no amount of toasting helped. I used a yeast batter and cooked them on a griddle, but that's about all I remember except how much I hated them.

If you have a good recipe for crumpets, I would give it a try again, since I already have the rings. By the time I wanted to make crumpets, the tuna cans had already changed, but my crumpet rings are quite a bit bigger than tuna cans, although that may not make much difference.

So far, I have not understood the appeal of crumpets. I very much prefer waffles and pancakes.

Lars

We love English Muffins and crumpets both.....but like puff pastry I just don't find my results worth the effort.

Mind you yours look mighty fine.

My favorite recipe was "Honey Whole-Wheat English Muffins" from Stonyfield Farm Yogurt Cookbook. I baked them on a large electric griddle and the recipe has you cover the muffins while baking the first side. I happen to have a lid for my large stainless steel roaster that fits perfectly on my electric griddle. Ta-da! I also cut he recipe in half and made the dough in the Zo to keep it simple. The recipe made so many English Muffins you had to retard part of the cut muffins in the refrigerator to prevent them being over-proofed.

English Muffin tips:

-The traditional holey crumb is caused by having a wet dough, and a somewhat over-worked dough.

-Cut them into squares using a pizza cutter instead of cutting them into rounds. This will prevent the need for "second cuts" (made with the leftover dough from cutting rounds). Second cuts tend to be tough.

My favorite crumpet recipe is made with sourdough starter from a King Arthur Flour recipe. If you have 1-cup of starter you don't know what to use it for, try this recipe - found at the link below. Add some cheese, crumbled bacon, sausage or bits of deli ham for Brunch Crumpets or for a light lunch. Add some orange flavoring or Fiori di Sicilia for a new taste.

Helpful tips:
1. Don't stack them after you make them because they will stick together. Place them in a single layer on a cooling rack.
2. This recipe makes 8 crumpets and my griddle will hold the 4 crumpet rings nicely. Spray the rings generously with non-stick spray (PAM, etc.) . I would place the batter in the rings and bake the first four, then I would flip the rings over and bake the next 4. The crumpets wouldn't stick to the rings when I flipped them.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: King Arthur Flour - Sourdough Crumpets

I think the appeal of crumpets is all the holes which you fill with melted butter and possibly honey as well :-)

oOo I have crumps in the freezer that my daughter brought from England a couple of weeks ago. Might have to toast a couple!

For easter, in England you can get them in the shape of rabbit ears ;)

I used to like Wolferman's - when I was single (25 yrs ago) I actually splurged. Does anybody have a recipe?

How do you bake them and cut them into squares if you don't have rings? In an 8x8 baking dish? Seems like they'd spread too much on a griddle.

ajsmama-

English Muffin dough is more like bread dough, and the dough is cut into circles (or squares) like you would cut biscuits (using any size cutter you'd like your muffins to be - 3-4 inches is a normal size). BTW - I also cut biscuits into squares using a pizza cutter - once again, to avoid those tough second cuts.

Crumpet batter is "slippery" and pourable and the rings are used to support the batter.

You can use the crumpet rings for cutting the English Muffin dough, but I don't bake English Muffins in the rings because the English Muffins don't require the support. Crumpets DO require the support and you bake the first side of crumpets with the ring on. Remove the ring before you flip the crumpet (you won't need to use the ring for the second side).

Crumpets are a cross between a pancake and an English Muffin. They are made like a pancake (supported by the crumpet ring), but you toast them to serve them like you would an English Muffin.

Crumpets are never split and are much thinner than English Muffins. You fill the crumpet rings with about 1/4-inch of batter, while the dough for English Muffins is rolled to about 1/2-inch.

If you happen to have some small cans (tuna, pineapple) that you can cut both ends out of (hard to find anymore), they will make a fairly good substitute ring - something between 3 and 4 inches. Round cookie cutters can be used, but crumpet rings work best.

I'll post recipes later. It's time to go grocery shopping.

-Grainlady

Traditional crumpet recipes, but not nearly as tasty, or as quick and easy to make as sourdough crumpets (I linked above).

CRUMPETS

1/2 c. warm
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 t. sugar
1 c. milk
2 T. butter
1/2 t. salt
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1 T. tepid water

In a large mixing bowl combine warm water and yeast. Add sugar and stir to dissolve yeast. Set aside. In a small saucepan heat 1/2 c. of the milk and the butter until the butter melts. Remove from heat and stir in salt and remaining 1/2 c. milk. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Add milk mixture to yeast mixture and stir to blend. Mix in flour with wooden spoon. The batter will be very lumpy. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and secure with an elastic band. Set aside to rise for 1-1/2 hours or until the bubbling action slows and the mixture begins to collapse in on itself.

Place 4 crumpet rings on a griddle, allowing the sides to touch. Set over medium heat and spray all surfaces lightly with vegetable oil. Dissolve the baking soda in the tepid water and stir into the batter. The batter will be moist and ropy. When the griddle is hot, take up by scant quarter-cupfuls and pour into the rings. Spread to the sides with the back of a spoon. As the batter begins to set, carefully rotate the rings to ensure even cooking.

When the surface of the crumpets is covered with holes and no longer looks wet (about 3 minutes), remove the rings with tongs. Turn the crumpets over and continue cooking for about 1-minute, until the surface is lightly browned. Repeat with the remaining batter, spraying the rings and griddle before each batch. Cool crumpets on a wire rack. Toast to serve. Makes 10

HONEY WHOLE-WHEAT ENGLISH MUFFINS
(source: Stonyfield Farm Yogurt Cookbook)

1/4 c. honey
1-1/2 c. warm water
2 T. active dry yeast
1-1/2 c. plain yogurt
1/2 c. water
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
7-8 c. whole wheat flour (you can use 50/50 whole wheat and unbleached/bleached all-purpose flour for a less-hearty English muffin)
1/2 c. cornmeal (I omit this and use semolina instead)

In a tall glass, dissolve the honey in the warm water. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the warm water/honey; stir to dissolve. Set the yeast and water mixture aside to proof for about 10-minutes, or until the yeast begins to bubble.

Combine the yogurt with 1/2 c. water and warm slightly to remove any chill. Pour the yeast/water mixture into a large mixing bowl and add the yogurt-water mixture, salt, and soda. Beat in as much of the flour as possible, 1 cup at a time, until the dough is stiff.

Turn the dough onto a floured board and knead in more flour, a little at a time, until the dough is no longer sticky. Form the dough into a ball. Cover it with a bowl and allow it to rise at room temperature for about 1 hours, until doubled in bulk.

Punch down the dough and roll it out to a thickness of about 1/2-inch. cut the dough into rounds about 3-inches in diameter. Sprinkle several cookie sheets with cornmeal and place the cut-out rounds on top of the cornmeal. Sprinkle the tops with additional cornmeal and cover the rounds with wax paper or a clean towel [Grainlady note: use plastic wrap that has been sprayed with PAM. It works much better than wax paper or towel - this dough likes to stick to whatever covers it.] Allow the dough to rise about 45-minutes. [Grainlady note: I retard about half of the cut muffins in the refrigerator on cookie sheets because I can't get them baked in good order before the last of the batch over-proofs. Even using my large electric griddle.]

Lightly grease an electric skillet and preheat it to 300-degrees F. (If you don't have an electric skillet, e a lightly greased cast-iron skillet over medium heat on top of the stove.) Cook bout 6-8 muffins at a time, COVERED, for about 8-minutes on each side or until golden brown. FORK-split [don't use a knife, use an English Muffin Fork, or table fork, to split the muffins) before serving them, fresh OR toasted. Allow the English muffins to cool on racks before storing them in plastic bags.

Variations:
I. Before allowing the dough to rise the first time, add 2 t. cinnamon and 1 to 1-1/2 c. raisins, knead, and place under a bowl on a floured surface. continue with the recipe as above.

II. For lighter muffins, use unbleached all-purpose flour in place of half the whole-wheat flour.

Makes 24-36 muffins - depending on size.

[Grainlady note: Cut the recipe in half and make it in a bread machine on the dough cycle. Remove from the bread machine AS SOON AS the machine has finished kneading the dough and then proceed as above from the point where the dough is proofed after kneading.]

Thanks, I did look at the KA Sourdough Crumpet link, I thought that E. muffins were the same but thicker. Was wondering how you'd cut the dough if it was more like batter! I do have biscuit cutters but I'd probably just cut the dough in squares as you suggested.

I will have to try that some time - I loved the W's muffins way back when, I think blueberry was the best. We don't really like Thomas's though I do buy them to eat homemade lemon marmalade on. But DD likes scrambled eggs, and I saw DS put half his omelette on his toast Easter Sunday to eat it like a sandwich so I think they'd eat them if they were homemade (though DD said she didn't want homemade bread for sandwiches any more b/c it was too chewy with a loose tooth - which she lost yesterday but DH bought bread last night since we only had 2 slices left and I didn't bother to bake yesterday after she told me that in the AM).

Would a no-knead bread dough work, since you say the muffins should be a wet dough? I do have a big electric griddle that gets used 2-3x/mo for pancakes and that's it. No cast iron (smoothtop range).

The recipe i came up with...

in the mixing bowl,

one cup hot water
one tbsp sugar, i used maple syrup
1/2 cup powdered milk, i used buttermilk powder
one tbsp non-fat greek yogurt
one tsp salt
one tbsp oil/shortening/butter, i used coconut oil
-stir to dissolve and blend, then let rest to cool down

in the in the pyrex cup,

1/3rd cup warm water
one packet yeast, or about 2.5 tsp
pinch of sugar
-stir to dissolve

-add dissolved yeast to the milk when the milk is under 90 temp and stir

Add 2 cups of flour, i used white whole wheat, (all i had)

Stir with wooden spoon or dough whisk for fifty vigorous beats in the same direction.
Cover with saran and let rest to double in size. This may take 30 minutes to an hour depending on kitchen temp.

pre-heat your griddle on low heat. I used my cast iron stove-top. Oil your muffin rings and the griddle surface and dust with corn flour. I don't use pam so i just rubbed the rings with coconut oil and a bit on the griddle surface.

(my griddle runs hot so i keep it on low)

Just before scooping into the rings on the griddle, stir in,
one tsp salt
one tsp baking soda

-It will be a very wet gluey dough. Alton Brown uses an ice cream scoop. I used a serving spoon and filled 3/4 full and covered with my domed stir-fry lid. Some use a cookie sheet but mine stuck, even oiled. Maybe a non-stick surface would work but not necessary.

Turn after about 5 min or until loose from the griddle so you can check with tongs, then flip. At this point you can remove the rings. Mine just needed 3 min on the other side.

I only have the 4 rings so i added 1/3 cup water and a pinch of baking soda to the rest of the batter and made a blueberry crumpet pancake in my 8inch cast iron skillet.

I think the best recipe is one that gives you what you want. My recipe coddled together from a few is a very loose dough like a thick pancake batter. No kneading, no forming. It needs a ring to hold its shape. Cooked on a cast iron griddle, covered. The batter is just like the crumpet recipes i saw, but the crumpet batter is thinner.
This is the first recipe that got me going in the right direction...

I used white whole wheat, maple syrup as the sugar, etc.
Important to not use hot water, or let it cool to under 90 so you don't kill the yeast.

Here is a link that might be useful: english muffins

While we're on the subject of British breads, has anyone ever made baps? I never got around to it before going gluten-free. I did make pikelets, another British bread, because of a discussion on the subject here at the GW.

Some information I have says a pikelet is just another name for crumpet, but a pikelet is cooked straight on the griddle - free form - like a small pancake without rings, and the batter is a little thinner than crumpet batter. It also has the holey characteristics like a crumpet.

-Grainlady

A pikelet isn't like a crumpet - it's a small sweet pancake.Ingredients

Serves: 10

200g / 7 oz of plain flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon of baking powder
4 tablespoons of caster sugar
210ml / 7 fluid oz of milk
30g / 1½ oz of butter
A pinch of salt
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Method

Prep:10min › Cook:5min › Ready in:15min

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the egg, milk, sugar and salt.
In a large bowl sift the flour and baking powder. Melt the butter. Pour the egg mixture and butter into the flour and stir quickly until the dry ingredients are moist but still slightly lumpy. Take care not to overmix the batter.
Heat a greased griddle or heavy bottomed frying pan. It is important that you have lots of space in the pan as you may need to move the pikelets about while you're cooking them to stop them burning.
Drop dessert spoons of mixture from the tip of the spoon onto the pan. Cook over a medium heat - too little heat gives heavy and pale pikelets, too much heat is likely to burn. Turn the pikelets as soon as bubbles appear. The pikelets should be nicely golden on both sides.

Baps are lovely, soft, floury rolls that make the BEST bacon rolls on the planet IMHO ;) Hee's a recipe for a bread machin that I think I'll try.http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/1054/bread-machine-baps.aspx

Love love love Wolferman's crumpets. The best ever. All those delicious bubble holes to hold sweet jams and butter.

I've got some bap dough going at the moment. If they're any good, I'll post the recipe.