Nancy Young wrote:
> "Andy" <q> wrote
>
>>"Nancy Young" > wrote
>
>>>Seems to me after all this time they'd have figured
>>>out a way to fork split them so that the halves are just
>>>a teensy bit more even, not like 70/30?
>
>>Write them. It's mad science. Has been for decades.
>>
>
> (laugh) But then what kind of nonsense could I amuse myself
> with? I need lopsided breakfast bread.

If you make your own, you could cut them vertically and just imagine how
much fun that would be. A column I wrote back in the last century about
them. And a variant that's utterly decadent. Enjoy.

Pastorio
-----------------------------
English muffins explained
I never had an English muffin in England. At least, not one I
recognized. I did have crumpets, though and they seemed like distant
cousins to what I had had in this country. I liked theirs better.
Think about this for a minute. What is bread like when it’s been in a
package for a week or more? Right. At least starting to get stale, what
with all the magical chemistry going on inside the plastic wrap. Same
for the muffins. They are not, how you say, at the peak of flavor and
texture.
English muffins are a kind of yeast bread and they should prove to be
fairly easy. There are two distinct techniques for shaping English
muffins. Take your choice. And we’ll look at a variation that produces
the most luxuriously sensuous texture you’ve ever seen in a baked product.
And we’ll see about crumpets. What are crumpets, anyway? We’ll see
that, too.
To bake them, you’ll need a griddle and I prefer cast iron. Even heat
is the most important question and however you get there is fine.
We’re going to make a sponge and let it rise until it collapses by
itself. Whoa, Bob. How about a little explanation of the technical
terms? Right. Mix everything together holding back part of the flour so
that the resulting batter is thickly liquid. That’s a sponge. While it
rises, big bubbles form and it looks like, all together now, a sponge.
You thought this was going to be hard.
Since it’s thinner than the usual bread dough, it will rise for a while
and then simply collapse under its own weight. Then we’ll put the rest
of the flour in. In answer to the question of that fellow over there, I
don’t know if it can be started in a bread machine.
ENGLISH MUFFINS
Makes about a dozen 4-inch or a dozen and a half 3-inch muffins
1/8 cup warm water to dissolve yeast (105 - 120 degrees)
1 packet dry yeast (or equivalent in other forms)
1 cup water, room temperature
1/2 cup scalded milk, cooled to about 120 degrees
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter at room temp
extra flour or cornmeal
extra butter
In a bowl large enough to handle the risen dough (maybe 4 quarts or so),
combine water and yeast, stir and let dissolve for a couple minutes. Add
water, milk, sugar and salt to yeast. Gradually add half of the flour
and mix well. Cover and put aside until the sponge has risen and
collapsed, at least an hour and up to two hours. Mix in the soft butter
then add the rest of the flour and mix in well. Here’s where the two
different methods of shaping the muffins comes in.
Shaping with rings: Muffin rings (or flan rings or tuna fish cans or
cat food cans or whatever) or any other kind of metal rings have been
traditional in shaping the muffins. They’re metal rings about two inches
tall and look like cans with both ends open. Grease the rings and put
them on prepared cookie sheets for the final rising. The cookie sheets
may be greased or floured or have a thin layer of corn meal on them to
keep the muffin dough from sticking. Put rounds of dough in them that
fit snugly against the sides from 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep. Let them rise
until they’re doubled.
Shaping without rings: On a floured board, shape the dough into a sheet
about 1/2 inch deep. Use a well-floured rolling pin and work gently. Cut
the dough into 3- or 4-inch circles and put on prepared cookie sheets to
rise until doubled.
To bake the muffins: When the muffins are fully risen, heat a buttered
griddle until hot but not smoking. Gently slide a spatula under the
muffins and put them on the griddle. Remove the rings. Turn muffins once
after the first side is a light-medium brown. That’s it.
*The impossibly smooth variant is, of course, based on fat. I sometimes
make English Muffins using cream instead of the water and milk called
for in the recipe. When you toast and eat them, they don’t need butter.*
Split the muffins for toasting with a scallop-bladed knife or use two
forks back to back. The former gives you nice even surfaces to butter
(or jelly). The latter gives you the famous "nooks and crannies" of
advertising fame a few years back. Your call.
Crumpets are like English muffins except they’re different. To the
above recipe, add another cup of milk at the beginning, maybe a cup and
1/8 to get a more liquid batter. You have to use the rings because the
dough will be more loose. Otherwise, it’s the same technique. The
texture of the crumpets will be denser and the crumb will be smaller and
more elegant. Marmalade seems to be made for crumpets.

"Bob (this one)" > wrote in message
...
> Nancy Young wrote:
> > "Andy" <q> wrote
> >
> >>"Nancy Young" > wrote
> >
> >>>Seems to me after all this time they'd have figured
> >>>out a way to fork split them so that the halves are just
> >>>a teensy bit more even, not like 70/30?
> >
> >>Write them. It's mad science. Has been for decades.
> >>
> >
> > (laugh) But then what kind of nonsense could I amuse myself
> > with? I need lopsided breakfast bread.
>
> If you make your own, you could cut them vertically and just imagine how
> much fun that would be. A column I wrote back in the last century about
> them. And a variant that's utterly decadent. Enjoy.
>
> Pastorio
> -----------------------------
> English muffins explained
> I never had an English muffin in England. At least, not one I
> recognized. I did have crumpets, though and they seemed like distant
> cousins to what I had had in this country. I liked theirs better.
> Think about this for a minute. What is bread like when it’s been in a
> package for a week or more? Right. At least starting to get stale, what
> with all the magical chemistry going on inside the plastic wrap. Same
> for the muffins. They are not, how you say, at the peak of flavor and
> texture.
> English muffins are a kind of yeast bread and they should prove to be
> fairly easy. There are two distinct techniques for shaping English
> muffins. Take your choice. And we’ll look at a variation that produces
> the most luxuriously sensuous texture you’ve ever seen in a baked product.
> And we’ll see about crumpets. What are crumpets, anyway? We’ll see
> that, too.
> To bake them, you’ll need a griddle and I prefer cast iron. Even heat
> is the most important question and however you get there is fine.
> We’re going to make a sponge and let it rise until it collapses by
> itself. Whoa, Bob. How about a little explanation of the technical
> terms? Right. Mix everything together holding back part of the flour so
> that the resulting batter is thickly liquid. That’s a sponge. While it
> rises, big bubbles form and it looks like, all together now, a sponge.
> You thought this was going to be hard.
> Since it’s thinner than the usual bread dough, it will rise for a while
> and then simply collapse under its own weight. Then we’ll put the rest
> of the flour in. In answer to the question of that fellow over there, I
> don’t know if it can be started in a bread machine.
> ENGLISH MUFFINS
> Makes about a dozen 4-inch or a dozen and a half 3-inch muffins
> 1/8 cup warm water to dissolve yeast (105 - 120 degrees)
> 1 packet dry yeast (or equivalent in other forms)
> 1 cup water, room temperature
> 1/2 cup scalded milk, cooled to about 120 degrees
> 1 tablespoon sugar
> 1 teaspoon salt
> 4 cups all-purpose flour
> 3 tablespoons butter at room temp
> extra flour or cornmeal
> extra butter
> In a bowl large enough to handle the risen dough (maybe 4 quarts or so),
> combine water and yeast, stir and let dissolve for a couple minutes. Add
> water, milk, sugar and salt to yeast. Gradually add half of the flour
> and mix well. Cover and put aside until the sponge has risen and
> collapsed, at least an hour and up to two hours. Mix in the soft butter
> then add the rest of the flour and mix in well. Here’s where the two
> different methods of shaping the muffins comes in.
> Shaping with rings: Muffin rings (or flan rings or tuna fish cans or
> cat food cans or whatever) or any other kind of metal rings have been
> traditional in shaping the muffins. They’re metal rings about two inches
> tall and look like cans with both ends open. Grease the rings and put
> them on prepared cookie sheets for the final rising. The cookie sheets
> may be greased or floured or have a thin layer of corn meal on them to
> keep the muffin dough from sticking. Put rounds of dough in them that
> fit snugly against the sides from 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep. Let them rise
> until they’re doubled.
> Shaping without rings: On a floured board, shape the dough into a sheet
> about 1/2 inch deep. Use a well-floured rolling pin and work gently. Cut
> the dough into 3- or 4-inch circles and put on prepared cookie sheets to
> rise until doubled.
> To bake the muffins: When the muffins are fully risen, heat a buttered
> griddle until hot but not smoking. Gently slide a spatula under the
> muffins and put them on the griddle. Remove the rings. Turn muffins once
> after the first side is a light-medium brown. That’s it.
> *The impossibly smooth variant is, of course, based on fat. I sometimes
> make English Muffins using cream instead of the water and milk called
> for in the recipe. When you toast and eat them, they don’t need butter.*
> Split the muffins for toasting with a scallop-bladed knife or use two
> forks back to back. The former gives you nice even surfaces to butter
> (or jelly). The latter gives you the famous "nooks and crannies" of
> advertising fame a few years back. Your call.
> Crumpets are like English muffins except they’re different. To the
> above recipe, add another cup of milk at the beginning, maybe a cup and
> 1/8 to get a more liquid batter. You have to use the rings because the
> dough will be more loose. Otherwise, it’s the same technique. The
> texture of the crumpets will be denser and the crumb will be smaller and
> more elegant. Marmalade seems to be made for crumpets.

Crumpets - you mean the round things with kinda, open at the top vertical
tubular holes running right through, right? Kinda somewhat rubbery/elastic
texture in the middle? That's what we call crumpets. If they are thinner and
square, called pieklets (sp?!?) by some here. Marmalade would be sacrilege
on those! Toast them (no one slices these things BTW!) butter, and heaps of
it. You want it to start oozing out, dripping out of the crusty base, then a
nice slice of cheese on top before it cools, so it wilts a little, would go
well. I'd dust mine with powdered chiles too, of course.

Hmmmm, crumpet...


Shaun aRe - Marmalade, pah, heheheheh...

"Shaun aRe" > wrote

> Crumpets - you mean the round things with kinda, open at the top vertical
> tubular holes running right through, right? Kinda somewhat rubbery/elastic
> texture in the middle? That's what we call crumpets. If they are thinner
> and
> square, called pieklets (sp?!?) by some here.

Are you talking about a bialy?

nancy

Nancy Young wrote:
>
> "Shaun aRe" > wrote
>
> > Crumpets - you mean the round things with kinda, open at the top vertical
> > tubular holes running right through, right? Kinda somewhat rubbery/elastic
> > texture in the middle? That's what we call crumpets. If they are thinner
> > and
> > square, called pieklets (sp?!?) by some here.
>
> Are you talking about a bialy?
>
> nancy

Not even close. True crumpet is made with batter rather than dough and
cooked in crumpet rings (aka fried egg rings).

And definitely not rubbery/elastic!

"Arri London" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Nancy Young wrote:
>>
>> "Shaun aRe" > wrote
>>
>> > Crumpets - you mean the round things with kinda, open at the top
>> > vertical
>> > tubular holes running right through, right? Kinda somewhat
>> > rubbery/elastic
>> > texture in the middle? That's what we call crumpets. If they are
>> > thinner
>> > and
>> > square, called pieklets (sp?!?) by some here.
>>
>> Are you talking about a bialy?
>>
>> nancy
>
> Not even close. True crumpet is made with batter rather than dough and
> cooked in crumpet rings (aka fried egg rings).
>
> And definitely not rubbery/elastic!

Oh, no ... I thought what he was describing sounded more like
a bialy than a crumpet.

While we're on the subject, anyone else ever buy the
Wolfermann's english muffins or crumpets? I stopped
buying because I'd get too many and kinda get sick
of looking at them filling up my freezer. They were good.

nancy

Arri London wrote:
>
> Nancy Young wrote:
>
>>"Shaun aRe" > wrote
>>
>>
>>>Crumpets - you mean the round things with kinda, open at the top vertical
>>>tubular holes running right through, right? Kinda somewhat rubbery/elastic
>>>texture in the middle? That's what we call crumpets. If they are thinner
>>>and
>>>square, called pieklets (sp?!?) by some here.
>>
>>Are you talking about a bialy?
>>
>>nancy
>
> Not even close. True crumpet is made with batter rather than dough and
> cooked in crumpet rings (aka fried egg rings).
>
> And definitely not rubbery/elastic!

A workable recipe for crumpets was included in my post about English
muffins, back upthread.

Pastorio

"Bob (this one)" > wrote

> A workable recipe for crumpets was included in my post about English
> muffins, back upthread.

I did see your recipes, I forgot to say thanks, I might try
to make them. I'd just have to find a long enough fork to
split them.

(just kidding) nancy

Nancy Young wrote on 19 Jan 2006 in rec.food.cooking

>
> "Bob (this one)" > wrote
>
> > A workable recipe for crumpets was included in my post about English
> > muffins, back upthread.
>
> I did see your recipes, I forgot to say thanks, I might try
> to make them. I'd just have to find a long enough fork to
> split them.
>
> (just kidding) nancy
>
>
>

Pikelet pronounced pike let. Somebody was searching for this in this
thread...and the name just came to me...I must be physcocic or
something...

--
The eyes are the mirrors....
But the ears...Ah the ears.
The ears keep the hat up.

On Thu 19 Jan 2006 07:35:55p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Nancy Young?

>
> "Bob (this one)" > wrote
>
>> A workable recipe for crumpets was included in my post about English
>> muffins, back upthread.
>
> I did see your recipes, I forgot to say thanks, I might try
> to make them. I'd just have to find a long enough fork to
> split them.

Nancy, I use an old angel food cake server. I don't know if they're made any
longer, but if you don't have one, you might find one at a thrift shop or
antique shop. It does the whole muffin at once. I push it in twice, first
once and then again at a right angle to the first.

http://tinypic.com/m8px0m.jpg

--
Wayne Boatwright Õ¿Õ¬
________________________________________

Okay, okay, I take it back! UnScrew you!

Nancy Young wrote:
>
> "Bob (this one)" > wrote
>
> > A workable recipe for crumpets was included in my post about English
> > muffins, back upthread.
>
> I did see your recipes, I forgot to say thanks, I might try
> to make them. I'd just have to find a long enough fork to
> split them.
>
> (just kidding) nancy

LOL crumpets don't need to be split. They are toasted or grilled as is.

"Arri London" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Nancy Young wrote:
> >
> > "Shaun aRe" > wrote
> >
> > > Crumpets - you mean the round things with kinda, open at the top
vertical
> > > tubular holes running right through, right? Kinda somewhat
rubbery/elastic
> > > texture in the middle? That's what we call crumpets. If they are
thinner
> > > and
> > > square, called pieklets (sp?!?) by some here.
> >
> > Are you talking about a bialy?
> >
> > nancy
>
> Not even close. True crumpet is made with batter rather than dough and
> cooked in crumpet rings (aka fried egg rings).
>
> And definitely not rubbery/elastic!

Yes they are. Best way to describe them. You push down on the top of one, it
springs back quickly. Drop one on its edge, it will bounce some. Yes they
are made with batter though! Lovely things!



Shaun aRe

Shaun aRe wrote:
>
> "Arri London" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> >
> > Nancy Young wrote:
> > >
> > > "Shaun aRe" > wrote
> > >
> > > > Crumpets - you mean the round things with kinda, open at the top
> vertical
> > > > tubular holes running right through, right? Kinda somewhat
> rubbery/elastic
> > > > texture in the middle? That's what we call crumpets. If they are
> thinner
> > > > and
> > > > square, called pieklets (sp?!?) by some here.
> > >
> > > Are you talking about a bialy?
> > >
> > > nancy
> >
> > Not even close. True crumpet is made with batter rather than dough and
> > cooked in crumpet rings (aka fried egg rings).
> >
> > And definitely not rubbery/elastic!
>
> Yes they are. Best way to describe them. You push down on the top of one, it
> springs back quickly. Drop one on its edge, it will bounce some. Yes they
> are made with batter though! Lovely things!
>
> Shaun aRe

Wow! Perhaps you've had some awful crumpets.

"Arri London" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Shaun aRe wrote:
> >
> > "Arri London" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > >
> > >
> > > Nancy Young wrote:
> > > >
> > > > "Shaun aRe" > wrote
> > > >
> > > > > Crumpets - you mean the round things with kinda, open at the top
> > vertical
> > > > > tubular holes running right through, right? Kinda somewhat
> > rubbery/elastic
> > > > > texture in the middle? That's what we call crumpets. If they are
> > thinner
> > > > > and
> > > > > square, called pieklets (sp?!?) by some here.
> > > >
> > > > Are you talking about a bialy?
> > > >
> > > > nancy
> > >
> > > Not even close. True crumpet is made with batter rather than dough and
> > > cooked in crumpet rings (aka fried egg rings).
> > >
> > > And definitely not rubbery/elastic!
> >
> > Yes they are. Best way to describe them. You push down on the top of
one, it
> > springs back quickly. Drop one on its edge, it will bounce some. Yes
they
> > are made with batter though! Lovely things!
> >
> > Shaun aRe
>
> Wow! Perhaps you've had some awful crumpets.

Maybe we just assign different values to 'elastic'? I've had hand made
English ones and just about every main brand at one time or another - I've
always loved them! ',;~}~


Shaun aRe