(Makes 6)
6.3 oz (180g) All-purpose flour
1 cup (235g) Lukewarm water 104°F
1 tsp (4g) Dry active yeast
½ tsp (4g) Salt
1 tsp (4g) Baking powder
1 tsp (6g) Sugar
1 tblsp Olive oil and 1 oz soft butter, for greasing the crumpet rings
Add the sugar and yeast to the warm water, mix well and allow the yeast to "proof" for 10 minutes until it foams up.
After proofing the yeast add the yeast mixture to a bowl. Add the flour and salt to the bowl, and sift in the baking powder, pushing any lumps through with your fingers.
Whisk the mixture for 2 minutes making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl down while whisking.
(If you are using an electric whisk, beat for only 1 minute.)
A final scraping down of the sides of the bowl again then cover the bowl with a tea towel, put it in a warm spot and let it rest for 45 minutes.
At the end of the 45 minutes, heat up a large non stick frying pan to 375°F.
Then add the olive oil and soft butter to a bowl, using a pastry brush coat the inside of one of the rings with the mixture, place the ring into the hot pan.
Your crumpet mix should now be active and bubbly. Spoon the mixture into the hot ring halfway up. Do the same for 3 more rings but don’t overcrowd the pan, you need space to move the rings around.
It is very important to keep the temperature constant at 375°F, any hotter the bottoms will burn before the tops get cooked. After 5 minutes you'll see the classic crumpet bubbles start to appear around the edges of the crumpets. Using a small pointy knife to pop any stubborn bubbles.
Once the mixture has dried out around the edges, use an oven mitt to lift off the rings. Once you see that the middles are less gooey, you can carefully turn them over to brown the tops.
When they're golden brown and delicious remove them from the pan and onto a wire rack to cool.
To serve these crumpets, toast them for 3 minutes and top with your favorite topping(s) like butter or jam or butter and jam!