Nans Classic Crumpets

There's something deeply satisfying about crumpets with lashings of butter and a nice big mug of tea, they're even more satisfying if those crumpets are freshly made by your own hands. This is a recipe I found (and only recently reminded of its existence, thanks to a large pack of Mr Warburtons finest), hand written on a piece of paper, tucked in between the pages of one of my Nans old cook books. I've roughly converted it to grams and millilitres and attempted to interpret and re-write my Nans extremely basic notes into a fairly basic recipe. This recipe should make about 12 crumpets, mine mostly turned out to be very rustic looking but still tasted awesome.

You will need:
12 fl oz (340ml) warm whole milk
6 fl oz (170ml) warm water
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tbsp bakers yeast (I tend to use 2 sachets of instant yeast)
12 oz (340g) plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil (rapeseed oil) for greasing

Method:
1. In a bowl, dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm milk and water. Once dissolved set the bowl aside, somewhere fairly warm, until the mixture starts to froth, this usually takes about 10 minutes.
2. Sift the flour, salt and bicarb into a large bowl and mix together.
3. Form a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour the yeast mixture into the middle.
4. Pull the flour from around the outside of the bowl into the middle using a wooden spoon, continue to mix this way until the mixture is smooth and free of lumps.
5. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and set aside, somewhere fairly warm, until the mixture starts to form bubbles on the surface, this usually takes about 30 - 45 minutes.
6. Heat a cast iron pan or heavy based frying pan over a medium heat, lightly grease the inside of several metal rings (roughly 80mm internal diameter), grease the bottom of the pan and place the rings in the pan.
7. Spoon 2 tbsp of the mixture into each ring and cook for about 5 minutes, until bubbles have appeared and the surface is set.
8. Gently remove the crumpets from their rings, flip them over and cook on the other side for a further 2 minutes.

Notes:
Serve still warm with plenty of butter or allow them to cool for toasting later. This recipe can be modified slightly to make pyclets, simply add an extra 50g of flour to stiffen the mix and cook without the rings.