Cheese crumpets

Method

• step 1

  Melt the soft cheese and milk together in a pan, whisking until the milk is steaming. Take the milk off the heat and stir in 250ml of cold water. Leave until the milk is just warm.

• step 2

  Mix the flour, sugar, yeast, mustard powder and 1 tsp salt in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Stir in the warm milk, gradually, with a wooden spoon – beating until the batter is really smooth.

• step 3

  Cover with a tea towel and leave to stand (in a warm place) for about 45 minutes until the batter is bubbly.

• step 4

  Mix in the bicarb with the grated cheddar and red leicester, cover again and leave for 15 minutes.

• step 5

  Grease the insides of 4 crumpet rings and a non-stick frying pan generously with butter. Heat the frying pan over a medium heat, then sit the rings in it and quickly ladle enough batter into each to come a third of the way up the sides of the rings. As soon as the batter hits the pan it should sizzle, if it doesn’t, turn up the heat slightly. Try not to disturb the batter too much when scooping from the bowl. You want to keep all the bubbles when ladling the batter into the crumpet rings.

• step 6

  Cook for 8-12 minutes until the surface of each crumpet is bubbly and looks completely set (otherwise they will remain raw in the middle). The bottoms should be very deep golden.

• step 7

  Lift off the rings with a couple of forks to help, and turn the crumpets over. Cook for just a minute more until the tops are brown, then lift out, and repeat to use up all the batter. Keep the crumpets on a tray while you cook the rest, then reheat them in a low oven for a few minutes if you want to eat them all at the same time. Eat freshly cooked, or save and toast later.