The Crumpet Loaf

October 18, 2023

The Crumpet Loaf

Welcome to another step-by-step recipe from BreadClub20. Why not drop by our main Facebook page by clicking here.... If you like what you see and enjoy the recipe, we hope you join us by 'Liking' and 'Subscribing'.

A crumpet Loaf? A cross between a crumpet and a loaf?

Is this possible?

Well, yes. It was invented in Melbourne, Australia, apparently, and has been exported to other countries but, as yet, is not widely available.

Actually, the crumpet originated in Wales and was part of the Anglo-Saxon diet. They weren't the soda-leavened ones you buy these days, but the crymped was popular throughout Wales, baked on a griddle. As the Welsh word for bread is bara, perhaps we should call this bara crymped?

It's certainly not a sandwich loaf - it's very much a loaf for toasting. All the benefits of a sliced loaf but with the texture of a crumpet. Sounds interesting?

Why not try it?

However, this is not a standard bicarbonate of soda-leavened dough. It can't be if it is to work as a loaf, so it will be made and baked as one would if it were a loaf but has the interior of a crumpet.

INGREDIENTS (for two loaves)

500 gms of strong bread flour

50 gms of semolina flour

500 gms warm water

6 gms instant yeast

5 gms crushed sea salt

10 gms bicarbonate of soda

10 gms creme of tartar

5 gms baking powder / mixed with 75 gms warm water

Two prepared 2lb loaf tins.

METHOD

Stage 1

Mix everything in Stage 1 together. Cover and place in a warm spot until it doubles in volume.

Stage 2

Take the doubled mixture and whip into it the ingredients from Stage 2.

Pour into prepared loaf tins until they are half full and return them to the warm spot until they have doubled in volume and filled the tins. You may need to cover them very loosely but make sure that the cover doesn't come into contact with the sticky batter. Check them every 20 minutes to catch them at the right time.

These took 40 minutes 23⁰C.

Preheat the oven to 190⁰C and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes until golden.

Lower the temperature to 170⁰C and bake for a further 15 minutes or so or until they're baked and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom. You can check them with a skewer like one does with a cake, it should come out clean if it's baked through.