BREAD RINGS RECIPES

Steps:

• Scald milk (bring just to a boil and remove from heat immediately).
• Stir in sugar, salt, and butter. Set aside and allow to cool to lukewarm.
• In a large bowl mix warm water and yeast. Stir until dissolved.
• Stir in lukewarm milk mixture.
• Add beaten eggs.
• Stir in half the flour. Beat until smooth. Add remaining flour gradually, mixing as you go. You may need a bit more or less than the total 4 1/2 cups called for in the recipe, depending on the humidity and other factors.
• Your dough should be elastic and slightly stiff but not dry.
• Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead until smooth and very elastic. This usually takes 8-10 minutes.
• Butter the inside of a large mixing bowl. Put dough in bowl and turn dough over a couple of times to coat it all with the butter.
• Cover bowl and place in a warm place so it can rise.
• It will take about 1 hour to double in bulk.
• At that time punch dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured board to shape.
• At this point, you can shape and fill as desired. To make dinner rolls, pinch off about 2-3 tablespoons of dough and shape into a ball. Place each one in a buttered muffin tin or baking pan, barely touching each other, do not crowd rolls.
• Cover prepared rolls and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, again about 1 hour.
• Rolls should now touch each other. (A little more rising will occur during baking.)
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees when rolls are about 10 minutes from being ready for baking. When ready to bake place rolls in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. They should be browned nicely and smell so good and yeasty!
• Brush tops of rolls with melted butter immediately when removed from the oven.
• Allow rolls to sit for at least 10-15 minutes before eating.

Steps:

• 1. Gently warm the milk. In a bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm milk and 100ml of tepid water. Leave in a warm place for 15 minutes, or until frothy.
  2. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the yeast mixture.
  3. Whisk from the centre outwards until the consistency of double cream – this will take a few minutes. Add a splash more water, if needed.
  4. Cover with a damp tea towel and set aside for 45 minutes or until little bubbles form on the surface.
  5. For the butter, pour the cream into a freestanding mixer. Whisk on high for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the cream splits into solids and liquid.
  6. Drain through a sieve, discard the liquid, then rinse the solids thoroughly with cold water. Place in muslin and squeeze out any excess liquid. Mix ½ a teaspoon of sea salt through and wrap in greaseproof paper.
  7. Grease four 10cm egg rings with vegetable oil. Wipe a little oil around a large frying pan or iron skillet and place over a medium-high heat.
  8. Arrange the rings in the frying pan and, once hot, spoon 4 tablespoons of the batter into each ring. Cook for 5 minutes, or until little bubbles appear on the surface.
  9. Once the bubbles have burst, leaving little holes, use tongs to carefully lift off the rings and flip over the crumpets, then cook for 1 minute on the other side. Re-grease and reheat the rings and pan before cooking the next batch.
  10. Serve the crumpets warm, with a slather of butter. If making them in advance, just toast lightly on both sides when you come to serve them.