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We'll have these for breakfast in the next couple of days!

So I’m still procrastinating from my paper, and I’m still quite poor. We’re basically working our way through the cupboards, fridge and freezer at the moment. One slightly random thing I decided to make, because I had all the ingredients was something called Welsh Crumpets or yeast pancakes (I’m not sure what they’re called in Welsh…).

The recipe is from Annette Yates’s Welsh Heritage: Food and Cooking. Now I’m not Welsh myself but there is a reason why I have this cookbook. Basically, my parents used to live in a small hamlet called Aberbeeg in Blaenau Gwent, which is the South East of Wales. I can’t say either of my parents picked up any Welsh recipes while they were there, although my Mum did once make me faggots in gravy, something which I would quite like to make one day. I can imagine it’s a messy process though! Anyway, my Mum was given this book as a leaving present and as she never cooks from a recipe book a year later I asked if I could have it. Cheeky I know… 😉

Anyway, I’m not quite sure how authentic these recipes are, but there are certainly a few that I would like to try in the future. These pancakes/crumpets are however something definitely worth making – they’re not only cheap, but tasty, and good toasted as well. We’ve had them with butter, jam, maple syrup and even a little leftover Boursin!

Recipe adapted (only a very little bit) from Annette Yates’s Welsh Heritage: Food and Cooking (makes about 10 crumpets).

Ingredients:

225g/8oz Strong bread flour (the last of the Shipton Mill flour… sniff)

1tsp of sea salt

2 tsp of quick acting/instant yeast

150ml milk

150ml water

15g/1/2 ounce of butter

1 egg

Olive oil spray

3 or 4 metal rings (measuring about 9cm)

Sift salt and flour into a bowl and mix in the yeast. Then combine the milk and water and butter and heat gently on the hob until the liquid is blood-hot – probably by the time the butter has melted. Take off the heat and whisk in an egg. I was worried something might go horribly wrong here, but as long as the mixture is not too hot, this should go absolutely fine. Then stir this mixture into the flour so that you have a batter.

Heat a frying pan and spray the surface a few times. Also spray the metal rings with olive oil (or melted butter – but I was trying to be good!). Put the rings onto the frying pan and add 2-3 tablespoons of batter into each one. We did this in batches and did about 3-4 crumpets each time. You cook the batter for about a minute or two until the bottom is golden brown. Then remove the rings and turn the crumpets over. This can be a bit fiddly but gets easier with practice! Then brown the crumpets on the other side for a minute or two as well. Remove from the frying pan – voila! We’ve eaten them hot, but they’re absolutely fine stored and then toasted the next day.

Two that I made earlier in the week.