Re: crumpets

Two nations separated by a common language.

I take it we are talking about crumpets as round white 1/2" thick and ~3" diameter made out of a very holey dough full of big bubbles? Made on a hot griddle in a ring mould and then toastable whole from a packet.

You can DIY them if you are so inclined. Recipe for major brand is here:

As opposed to toasting muffins which are basically more round flat bread bun like and sliced in two before toasting.

My first American pancakes were a bit of a shock - I was expecting a couple of thin crepes but I got a huge stack of 8" diameter 1cm thick pan cakes. It did what it said on the tin (just not what I expected).

I doubt there is too much of a limitation on voltage. If it will toast bread then it should toast crumpets too (if they will fit in the toasting gap). The problem is that some (many?) bread toasters cannot accept the thicker crumpets without application of a steam roller or mallet to them which somewhat damages the shape and integrity!

Or coffee - since continental mains is 240v too.

Japan has similarly feeble electricity and slow kettles that are essentially thermos flasks with a heating element inside it.

On 2024-02-22 18:08, Martin Brown wrote:> Or coffee - since continental mains is 240v too.

No, 230V. It was a compromise between UK (240) and EU (220). We just kept it that way after the Brexit.

Arie

That's what we get here. They are very dense and moist and hard to toast.

Baking is such a mess; I'd rather buy. I do make excellent biscuits, which isn't a lot of work. I don't know if brits make biscuits, which are different from scones.

Good with pecans or blueberries or banana slices.

We boil water over a natural gas flame, which is probably a lot more heat than an electric outlet can supply. Our central burner, the biggest of five, is probably in the 5 KW equivalent sort of range.

and most of of that ends up heating the room instead of the water

people have tried, an 1800W induction cook top will boil a pot of water just as fast as a 5000W gas burner

Nope. Europe is 230V, UK is 240V.

That's fine; we leave the house heat on all the time.

I guess that needs optimized cookware. And the gas works if the electricity goes out, like after an earthquake.

OK So the same thing as I think of as a crumpet (which was breakfast today). The main problem with them is that about half the toasters made even in the UK do not have an aperture wide enough to accept them.

Newer cool wall toasters are even worse in that respect occupying a huge volume of space and dry the bread into submission rather than toast it!