The Best Crumpets Ever (Really)

One of the joys of cooking with a wood stove is being able to cook directly on the hob.

We do this whenever we can. Toast of course. Pikelets and pancakes (not crepes, though I suppose you could) and any kind of fritter. And vegieburgers. Maybe not hamburgers in case the mince is a bit fatty (though we mince our own meat and cut as much fat off as we can, so we probably could).

One of my persistent failures, however, was crumpets. I tried several recipes, asked Chef Google for help, but to no avail. They just didn't taste right. Farmdoc ate them of course and swore they were the best things he'd ever tasted, but they weren't. I knew. He was just utilising one of the tools that has brought us to our 45th wedding anniversary later this month, a kind of husbandly chivalry.

So on to the best crumpet recipe ever. Seriously foolproof and delicious.

About 15 years ago, when Farmdoc first became interested in bread making, he attended a series of cooking classes run by Simply No Knead in Melbourne. I found this recipe amongst his pages from those classes and it really is the best.

First you will need:

450 gms of bread flour
3 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
285 mls of warm water
285 mls of warm milk

Later you will need:

1/2 teaspoon bicarb
150 mls of water

Mix all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and then stir in the liquids.

Beat with an electric beater at first on low (or it will splash like crazy) and then on high for 3 minutes until a batter forms.

Cover the bowl tightly and place in a warm place for about an hour and a half until the batter doubles in size and then begins to collapse.

Dissolve the bicarb in the extra water and whisk into the batter until it is well blended.

Place greased crumpet rings onto a medium to hot preheated pan - or of course on the hob of a wood stove. If you do cook directly on the hob, you'll need to make sure it's not too hot, otherwise the bottoms will burn before the crumpets are ready. Pour batter into the rings until they are half full. Don't overfill or the mixture will overflow. They take around a third of a cup.

Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes until the surface bubbles and the top is firm. Remove the rings and turn the crumpets over. Cook for a minute or two. Repeat until all the remaining batter is used up. If it thickens while it stands you can thin it by adding a couple of teaspoons of warm water and mixing well.

Cool on a wire rack and toast to reheat. They freeze well.  

Sour Cherry Jam

I have just made my best batch of sour cherry jam ever! Some years I have overcooked it so it tasted like toffee and sat in lumps on the toast; last year I undercooked it so it ran down your fingers when you tried to eat it.

A couple of days ago we picked several ice cream containers full of cherries. That's the best part of the process: working in the shade of gnarled old trees, admiring the contrast of red against brown and green.

Then I waited until I had the time to complete the project. Yesterday afternoon I decided that the time and the cherries were both ripe. I have a stiff neck at the moment, perhaps because I am reading Hilary Mantel's Booker Prize winning book, Wolf Hall, and though I'm enjoying it a lot, it is a very heavy book. To avoid any neck strain I sat myself up on a high stool and decided I would only make a few jars. Maybe because I never seem to get it right or maybe because it's not the sweetest jam I make, I'm really my best customer for it anyway.

First I had to pit the fruit. I couldn't get any volunteers to help with the work so I plugged my iPod into my ears and listened to podcasts while I got the wood stove nice and hot. I use an unbent paper clip because I find it much more effective than my store-bought cherry pipper.

Because whole cherries tend to fall off the toast I cut all the fruit into small pieces before putting them into a pot to soften on a slow heat. At this time I added the juice and grated rind of one and a half lemons. Why that number? Because that's what I had and because last year I had a lot of trouble getting the jam to set, and I think it's because one lemon isn't quite enough. I was also very patient softening the cherries because although I hate to see them lose their shape, they do make better jam if they are really soft. This took about half an hour.

Then I measured the quantity I had in the pot, including the juice, and asked Farmdoc to work out how much three-quarters of that amount would be (because I am innumerate), and that's how much sugar I added. I stirred the cherries until the sugar dissolved and then cooked it over high heat. While this was happening I put the small white saucer that I call my jam plate into the freezer. This was pretty hot work because I managed to get the stove's temperature up quite high and I had to stand over it and stir the fruit pretty constantly.

When the bubbles subsided somewhat and the jam began to thicken a little, I took it off the stove and put a spoonful of jam on the cold plate and put it back in the freezer. After a couple of minutes I pushed the blob with my finger and when it didn't wrinkle, I returned the pot to the stove to cook some more. I actually had to do this a couple of times, each time removing the pot while I waited to see if the jam was cooked. I think this is where I usually go wrong. I was nervous about overcooking it and caramelising the sugar, but I was also anxious to make sure it was jam and not syrup. Once I felt it was done I poured it into my sterilised jars and covered them tightly.

This morning I couldn't wait to try some on my breakfast Weetbix. It was perfect! Yay!