Sluttishly Simple: A Nice Bit Of Crumpet

It's still too cold and rainy to venture out to a local café for breakfast, but at the weekends I want something more substantial than toast that doesn't take all day to make. My latest discovery, the simple crumpet, satisfies on both scores. It's suspiciously easy to make and versatile enough to either smother with jam or balance a fried egg on. The crispy outside combined with a soft, bouncy inside is just heavenly.

To make them properly you need crumpet rings. Now, not even in my wildest Lakeland binges have I bought crumpet rings, so I improvised with a small tin of tuna. Remove both the lid and the base so you're left with a metal ring, wash well, and ta-dah: you've got your own crumpet ring. And some tuna for your tea.

Crumpets - makes 12

Recipe taken from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

You will need:

• 450g plain flour
• 350ml milk
• 350ml hot water
• 5g dried yeast
• 10g salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
  
• Sunflower or vegetable oil

Make it!

1. Put the flour and yeast in a bowl. Mix the hot water and cold milk in a jug to make a warm liquid, and whisk it in. You should end up with a batter as runny as single cream. Cover with cling film and leave for about an hour.
   
2. When the mixture is bubbly, whisk in the salt and baking powder.
3. Heat a frying pan over a medium heat with just a drop of oil. Lightly grease the crumpet ring and sit it in the pan to heat it.
4. Fill the crumpet ring to just below the top. If you're using a tin of tuna, fill to about halfway. The batter should stay in the ring and lots of holes should form on top. (If it dribbles out, it's too thin, so add some flour. If you don't get lots of holes, it's too thick, so add some water.)
5. After about five minutes, when the top is just set, flip it over. If it's in a proper ring, just flip the whole thing. If not, gently tap the crumpet out before flipping it.
6. Cook for another two or three minutes until golden. Wrap it in a clean tea towel to keep it warm while you're cooking up the rest of the batch.
   

Eat straight away, or cool on a wire rack and toast later.

Too mal-coordinated to faff with tin openers before your coffee? Then make pikelets by adding 50g of flour to the batter to thicken it. Dollop tablespoonfuls into a frying pan and cook for a couple of minutes each side.