Crumpets with Honeyed Ricotta and Berries

So... I made crumpets! This was my Valentine's Day brunch... but I don't think you need to wait for a "special" occasion to make them.

A Mountain of Crumpets

I'd been meaning to make crumpets for ages - Sandra had gifted me some crumpet rings over a year (!) ago, which were gathering dust on our cake tin shelf - but it was seeing Cara's blog post about CH James cafe in Fairfield that spurred me into action. On her second visit there, Cara ordered crumpets with whipped ricotta and berries, which looked nice but were... um... a little sparse with the toppings! (If I counted correctly, each crumpet had exactly four and a half blueberries and three eighths of a single strawberry on top). Despite the meanness of the toppings, the ricotta and berries seemed like a great flavour combination, and I thought that if I made them myself at home, I could go totally nuts with the toppings! All the berries! Lashings of ricotta!

I used a recipe from Gourmet Traveller for the crumpets, changing the proving time so that I could get to my freshly cooked crumpets faster in the morning! I made the dough the night before, and let it have a slow rise in the fridge overnight, rather than the ninety minutes in a warm spot that the original recipe suggested.

Here is the dough after the proving time. I love working with yeast! It's aliiiiiive!

Crumpet dough after overnight proving

To make the mixture even more bubbly, you stir in a mixture of bicarb and warm water and let it stand for half an hour. (This gave me time to prepare all the toppings and fixings).

With the bicarb mixture mixed in

After half an hour bubbling time

The mixture rises quite a bit when it cooks, so make sure not to fill the rings beyond three-quarters full. I loved the smell of the cooking crumpets - essentially it's just a plain yeasted dough (no sugar or other flavourings added), so it smells incredible when it hits the hot pan, like pizza (or blinis!)

Cooking crumpets

I only have four crumpet rings, so to save time I had two frying pans on the go - once the crumpets had set in the rings and were nice and bubbly, I removed the rings, flipped the crumpets, and moved the rings to the second pan before filling them with more batter. It went like this, back and forth, back and forth, until all the crumpet batter was used up.

It took me ages to cook all the crumpets! I forgot to read how many the recipe serves before I made the batter. It serves 12. It serves 12. Whoops. Anyway, check out my crumpets! (Not a euphemism).

Warm crumpets

I put out lots of toppings - butter, nutella, honey, berries, and of course the honeyed ricotta. The honeyed ricotta is one of my favourite recipes from one of my favourite books: Megan Gordon's Whole-Grain Mornings. (You may remember I served it with her fabulous whole-grain buttermilk pancakes last time - yum). To make it, you simply stir together ricotta with some honey, lemon zest and vanilla extract.

Crumpets with all the fixins

Crumpet, piccolo latte

Side note: I totally love this cup that I bought in Cambodia at the Shinta Mani "Well Made in Cambodia Market" - so pretty, and the perfect size for a mini flat white. It's even got little finger and thumb dents in it to make it easier to pick up. Love!

Homemade crumpets with honeyed ricotta and berries

Chomp!

Look how fluffy they are! They were also quite a bit more substantial than supermarket crumpets - two crumpets definitely make a decent, filling breakfast. Of course, we didn't finish all of them - I've packed up all the leftover crumpets in the freezer for future breakfasts. Yay!

Crumpets with Honeyed Ricotta and Berries
Crumpet recipe adapted from Gourmet Traveller, Honeyed Ricotta recipe adapted from Megan Gordon's Whole-Grain Mornings

Ingredients
Berries of your choice, to serve
For the Honeyed Ricotta
250 grams ricotta
1.5 tablespoons honey, plus extra for drizzling
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of half a lemon
For the Crumpets
800 millilitres milk
40 grams butter, plus extra for greasing the pan and crumpet rings
2 teaspoons caster sugar
1 sachet (7 grams) dried yeast
500 grams plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Method
For the Honeyed Ricotta
Whisk all the ingredients together. Loosen with a little milk if the ricotta is especially dry and crumbly. Place in a serving bowl and drizzle with a little extra honey.
For the Crumpets
Place the milk and butter in a saucepan and heat over a low heat until the butter is melted. Allow to cool until it is lukewarm.
Whisk together the caster sugar and yeast in a small bowl. Add 200 millilitres of the milk and butter mixture, whisk to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes or until the mixture is foamy.
Place the flour in a large bowl with a pinch of salt. Make a well in the centre, then pour in the yeast mixture, stirring to bring in a little of the flour.
Pour in the remaining milk and butter mixture, stirring well until you have a smooth mixture. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight.
Whisk the bicarbonate of soda in 50 millilitres of warm water until dissolved, then pour the mixture into the batter, and whisk until combined. Cover and stand at room temperature until bubbling, approximately 30 minutes.
Heat a non stick frying pan over a low-medium heat. Grease the bottom with a little butter. Butter the inside of your crumpet rings (mine were 10cm in diametre and 2.5 centimetres deep) and place in the pan. Fill each ring to three-quarters full with batter. Cook for about 5 minutes, until bubbles appear on the surface and a skin has formed on top. Remove the rings, flip the crumpets over and cook for another minute or so, until the batter is cooked through and lightly golden brown on top.
Keep the crumpets warm under a clean tea towel while you cook the remaining batter. (This also keeps them nice and soft).
Serve warm with honeyed ricotta and berries.
Makes approximately 25 crumpets, serves 12