Cast Iron Pan Crumpets

By Natalie

Today we are going to take a look at a rustic pantry dish that makes a great snack or breakfast served hot with butter or jam. Homemade crumpets cooked in a cast iron pan are fun and tasty.

Batter Ingredients: 

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 TB dried yeast
1/2 TSP baking soda
1 TSP salt
1 TSP sugar
1 cup warm milk
1 cup warm water
vegetable oil/canola oil to grease the cooking rings.

In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients except the yeast.

In a different bowl mix together the warm milk and water separately from the dry ingredients and add the dry yeast. Be sure to dissolve the yeast.

Add the wet to the dry ingredients.

This will bubble up, mix together in the bowl until fully combined.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a tea towel.

Allow to proof for 1 hour at which point the mix is ready to make crumpets with, or if you like, refrigerate until needed and use within a couple of days.

Heat a cast-iron pan on medium high until nice and hot -- not smoking hot but heated enough to cook pancakes.

Lightly grease your pan with veg or canola oil, and grease any baking rings if using. Otherwise drop the raw mixture by the spoonful and smooth out slightly to create a wider but not too thick shape so it will cook evenly. They may  be wonky or cloud shaped, which  is fine. This is part of the charm of a homemade crumpet.

Or you can spoon some of the mix into your cooking rings til about half full. Cook approx 2-3  mins on one side and they should be bubbly on top and ready to flip. Cook 2-3 minutes on the other side.

I couldn't find cooking  rings among my jumble of kitchen things so I just used a mason jar ring, a bit awkward but it does the trick.

I find that opening any thicker crumpets while cooking, down the middle with a fork (butterflying them)  smearing a dab of butter in the pan and cooking them inside helps to expedite the process.

A small stack of crumpets should begin to appear as long as one doesn't eat them all as soon as  they are cooked. Hah!

Eat while hot with butter and/or topped with either sweet or savoury toppings.

Enjoy!