16.—Crumpets.
Crumpets are generally made by muffin-makers, the most modern formula being the following:—Take 4 lbs. of good English flour, 2 ozs. of good yeast, and 2 ozs. of salt. The flour and salt may be sifted together. Take 1 quart of milk, and 1½ quarts of water, at about 100° Fahr.; dissolve your yeast in the water, then mix in your flour and salt; make all into a thin liquid paste, giving it a thoroughly good mixing; let it stand for one hour, when you may again give it a thoroughly good beat; let it stand for another hour, when it will be ready to bake off. In the meantime thoroughly clean your stove or hot plate before it gets hot, and give it a rub over with a greasy cloth; then have your rings of the size required (they should be half an inch in depth); slightly grease them, and see that they are greased for each round of the hot plate; have a cup in one hand and a saucer in the other to prevent the batter dropping; pour half a cup of the batter into the rings and spread them with a palette knife to a level surface, putting what comes off (if any) back into your pan. Then, when the bottom part is of a nice golden colour, turn them over with your palette knife, turning the ring at the same time, and bake off a nice colour. Remove them from the stove or hot plate, and lay them on clean boards for a couple of minutes, when with a gentle tap your rings will come clear; and so on till finished. Nothing but careful practice, and particular attention to the whys and wherefores of both hot plates and batter, will make a good muffin or crumpet-maker.