Kirbie's Cravings

Crumpets. An unsuccessful first attempt.

I was introduced to crumpets on my trip to Seattle when I visited The Crumpet Shop.  BF and I completely fell in love with these crumpets, a taste which I would describe as being a cross between an English muffin and pancakes.  The fluffy, chewy English treats can be eaten sweet with some homemade jam or honey.  They can also be eaten savory with something like pesto or eggs.

Since coming back from Seattle, I've been wanting to recreate our crumpet experience. I purchased some crumpet molds . I found a few crumpet recipes, all claiming to be quite easy. Of course once I saw yeast in the ingredient list, I was a bit worried.

I chose a recipe I found on Test with Skewer. She posted two recipes, but I chose the chewy one because that was the texture I was looking for. My first attempt ended up being a complete disaster.  I don't think it is the recipe, but rather my own personal issues with working with yeast. After letting the dough sit, it became very thick and sticky, like bread dough. I think the dough was supposed to be more liquid like pancake batter, but mine wasn't. The sticky dough was really hard to put into my crumpet molds.

Once put in, the dough simply would not cook. Only the bottom of the crumpets cooked, but I couldn't get the middle to cook. I had to slice each in half and cook both sides. They ended up tasty crispy and not at all fluffy and chewy. They were edible, but they tasted more like toasted english muffins rather than crumpets.

I'm not quite sure where I went wrong, I'll have to try this again. Advice anyone?

Crumpets (found on Test with Skewer, who adapted from a recipe by Dead Man Espresso café, published in September 2010 issue of Delicious magazine)

Ingredients

450g plain flour
7g sachet active dry yeast
300 ml milk
250 ml hot water
Melted butter (unsalted) for greasing

Directions
1. Combine the flour and yeast in a large bowl. Mix the milk and hot water together. Make sure it’s not too hot or it can kill the yeast.

2. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in  the milk mixture, while mixing all the time. Mix until well combined. 

3. Cover the batter and leave in a warm place for an hour or until doubled in size.

4. Heat a frying pan (preferably non-stick) over medium heat, then grease the crumpet rings. Place the rings in the pan to heat gently, then very carefully, without deflating the batter, pop about 2 tablespoons in each egg-ring. Fry very gently until the top is set (about 6-7 minutes), then turn over and cook the other side. Make sure the top is set or it will get very messy, and try to keep the egg rings on when turning, it helps the crumpet keep its shape.

Red Velvet Pancakes

Since I'm in San Diego, I have to live vicariously through my favorite LA food bloggers when it comes to food trucks. While San Diego is slowly getting into the craze, it doesn't even come close to matching the amount of different food trucks available in LA.

Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to sample red velvet pancakes from the Buttermilk truck. They tasted delicious. Soft, fluffy, with a slight bit of cocoa. It was like red velvet cakes in a pancake form.

I decided to try to replicate the red velvet pancakes since the Buttermilk truck isn't close by. I found a couple of recipes, but ended up choosing one by The Kitchy Kitchen.

My siblings were a bit put-off by the red color. I normally don't like using food dyes, but red velvet cakes are an exception. They just aren't the same if they aren't red.

The recipe was pretty easy to follow. These had more of a pancake texture rather than a cake texture like the ones by the Buttermilk truck and are less sweet, making them more appropriate for breakfast.  I'll probably try out a few more recipes to see if I can get something closer to the Buttermilk truck ones.

These would make a great treat for Christmas or Valentine's Day.

 Red Velvet Pancakes (from The Kitchy Kitchen)

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons white sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3/4 buttermilk

1/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon red food coloring

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, buttermilk, and creme fraiche/sour cream,melted butter, red food coloring, and vanilla extract. Add them together and whisk just until combined. A little lumpy is fine.

2. Heat a frying pan or griddle over medium high heat. When hot add butter or oil to grease, followed by a small scoop of the batter. Wait for the pancakes to bubble (2-3 minutes), flip and cook for a minute or two more.

Homemade bagels

Keeping with my goal, I chose another recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  This time I chose to make bagels.

As you can see, my bagels need some work. The recipe didn't say that I needed to roll or knead the dough, but I think I needed to smoothe out the dough more before dipping it in the water for a quick boil because as soon as I dropped the dough in the water, the dough became very wrinkly. Since I chose to skip out on decorating the tops with sesame seeds (I like my bagels plain), I couldn't even hide the wrinkly texture.

I'l probably read some more bagel recipes to get more tips before attempting this again.

So far, my experience with Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a day has been so-so. They have definitely simplified bread recipes and eased my fear of yeast recipes. I'm always so surprised at how quickly I'm done with mixing my dough. I basically just throw all the ingredients together and then let it sit. I could use it right away after a few hours or I can let it sit in the fridge for up to two weeks. I haven't loved the recipes I've made so far, but I'm not sure if that's because I've never been good with yeast recipes before this or because of the recipes themselves.  The other recipe I've attempted so far is chocolate bread.

The bagels tasted better than they look. The outside was nice and crispy when these were fresh out of the oven, thanks to the use of a pizza stone. My first time using one! The inside dough had a bit of sour dough taste, which I wasn't expecting.

You can view step by step photos of how to make these bagels here. The recipe can be found on the site as well. The only difference is that the master recipe calls for all purpose flour, but the bagel recipe in the book requires bread flour.