crumpets

as a vehicle for butter

What I’m reading: Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon. Kindly loaned to me by my sister, this is a really innovative novel set in Ancient Greece but written in Dublin vernacular. I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I did - it’s fast-paced and witty and I think would appeal to most ancient history fans even if it’s a bit quirky in its delivery.

What I’m listening to: Róisín Ingle on the Irish Times’ The Women’s Podcast

What I’m eating: a very good scone at Little Bird Dublin (below), which is a cafe and also a yoga studio, which, the more I think about it, is a really appealing business model

I’ve been thinking a lot about crumpets lately. I don’t think I ate enough of them in my childhood to have a firm nostalgic association with them, but I still consider them a comfort food - but I think that may be because of their ability to act as a vehicle for butter.

I made crumpets a couple of years ago with my sourdough starter, which was a very useful way of using up the part of the starter that you often discard when making sourdough bread. I think in the back of my mind, I thought that I couldn’t make crumpets anymore because I no longer have an active starter - until I realised that you can use yeast (dried or fresh) to achieve pretty much the same result.

It’s kind of like a pancake batter, but without eggs - so it’s a lot less rich, and a bit more bread-like in texture. In my opinion, the fact that these crumpets are only slightly enriched and sweetened makes them the perfect vehicle for butter - or whatever your heart desires (although I do think that butter should feature at least slightly). Some of my New Zealand friends like to eat crumpets with butter and Marmite, while I like to eat mine with butter and maple syrup or jam. Since these only have a tiny amount of sugar in them, you could also go the savoury route - eggs, cheese, bacon etc. I do think, though, that simpler is better here, to allow the lovely texutre of the crumpets to shine through: they’re slightly chewier and sturdier than your average fluffy pancake, and the little holes in the top allow just the right amount of butter to sink in, making them the perfect choice for breakfast, or better yet, for an afternoon snack.

You’ll need some sort of ring to achieve the right shape and the little holes in the top that appear when the bottom has finished frying. We have these metal rings in my house that I think are quite similar to these ones - but anything of a similar shape and size will work. The main thing is to get the pan nice and hot so that you can get a dark golden colour on the bottom, to the point where bubbles start to appear in the top. Then you’ll flip them and fry them on the other side, before serving them hot and with lots of butter.

recipe: crumpets