CRUMPET TOPPING IDEAS FROM GOOD & PROPER TEA

Smashed avocado and chilli flakes Marmite and melted cheese Ham, cheese and mustard Tomato and melted mozzarella Smoked salmon and cream cheese the heat causes bubbles to form and burst. Cooked correctly, this creates a honeycomb structure with a sturdy base that traps butter – or whatever topping you fancy – beautifully.

Good & Proper Tea has been serving crumpets with inventive toppings for several years at its tea bar in east London and at music festivals around the UK from a mobile tea and crumpets van. “While coffee goes well with pastries, crumpets felt like the right choice to go with a cup of tea,” says Isabelle Wilkinson. The firm makes all its crumpets in-house with a sourdough starter, a raising agent that also delivers extra flavour and perfect bubbles.

Wilkinson says the crumpets go down particularly well at music festivals when the weather is miserable. “There’s nothing else you really want but a delicious crumpet when you’re in a wet and soggy field,” she says. “A buttery crumpet just does the job every time. It’s comforting and makes them feel good.” Each month, the company collaborates with a different chef and comes up with a new topping. Past creations include mascarpone and jam; fig and salted labneh; and salted-caramel peanut butter.

But is it really worth the trouble to make crumpets from scratch when they’re so easy to buy at the shops? Absolutely yes, says Olivia Potts, a patisserie chef and food writer. However, she says, there is a knack to getting them right. Theoretically, crumpets are just simple yeasted tea cakes cooked on a griddle or heavy frying pan, but creating that essential labyrinth of holes requires a degree of perseverance.

“The trick to a good crumpet is getting the heat right,” she says. “You want it just hot enough so you can see the batter visibly rising, and then patience while the raising agents do their thing. Consider your first crumpet a trial run, and adjust the heat accordingly if you need to.” This means cooking the crumpets longer than you might think, and a surprisingly small amount of batter in each ring.

The only other requirement is an indecent quantity of butter to slather on top. And, of course, someone special to cook them for.