PIKELETS (FREEFORM CRUMPETS) - CHEAP AND CHEERFUL!

June 2010.

Placed in the frying pan, a dessertspoon at a time

Oops, seems to be one missing!

There are few things easier than making pikelets (free-form crumpets).  It’s a good way into breadmaking for a beginner.

100ml lukewarm water

1/2 teaspoon yeast – any kind 

Enough strong (breadmaking) flour - around 50g - to make a thickish batter

(Check here for a gluten-free version.)

Start by making a thick paste, then gradually stir in more water to the water/yeast/flour mixture, to make a batter. 

When you're ready to go, lightly oil a frying pan and place over a medium heat.

When the pan is warm enough, place a spoonful of batter in the frying pan to see if the batter is the right consistency. If they spread across your frying pan the batter is too thin and you’ll need to add some more flour to thicken it. Cook them until the top has turned pale and is set in a mass of tiny holes.

As soon as the top is dry – and not before – turn them over to cook on the other side. They should be nicely brown on both sides.

Keep them warm in a folded cloth until they are all done.

For fruit pikelets, as in the pic, add a handful of sultanas after you’ve mixed the batter.

I made these last night and had half the batter left over for this morning’s breakfast. The fruit plumps up lovely.

Note:
These can also be made with self raising flour - in which case, simply mix the batter and go straight ahead.

Tuesday 22nd October 2019

Deciding to go a little bit healthier, I thought I'd make these with wholemeal flour (Doves organic - very tasty).  What stops me making these more often is just laziness - after dinner I generally can't be bothered, but there really is nothing to it. And if I have everything prepped beforehand, I've no excuse.

So this morning, I mixed 4 heaped dsps of w/m flour + 1 dsp sugar (optional, hence the 'almost' above), with enough water to make a thickish batter and a handful of sultanas. I added half a teaspoon of fresh yeast - but half a tsp of baking powder would serve just as well, added just before cooking - stirred it and left it for this evening.

Saturday 28th January 2017

Been making ginger pikelets, recently. Instead of sultanas, I've used chrystallised ginger, chopped into small pieces - and I've added a teaspoon of ground ginger to the batter. Simply wonderful!

Monday 23rd January 2012

Following a discussion on the BBC Food board last night, I made a batch of these, some of which I had last night, and another batch of which I've just eaten for breakfast. 

(When starting a sourdough culture, you're asked to discard part of it regularly during the early stages. However, this discard makes excellent pikelets.)

In the light of this I've updated the recipe (see below) - and I took several more pics:

The first two were cooked on top and the rest are just drying from the sides 

The third one turned over and the others continuing to dry from the edges 

All done - perhaps a little on top...

...and covered with marmalade. Breakfast is ready!

Have to admit I found it hard to resist eating these just as soon as they come out of the frying pan. Had some for my pudding tonight, made some for my wife and made enough for tomorrow's breakfast.