Despite this past weekend’s heat at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, my assistants and I made some beautiful wood-fired crumpets, lemon curd and clotted cream. They are all fairly easy to make, but require some patience and time.
Crumpets
4 cups of white bread flour
1 tsp of salt
2 oz of butter
1 cup of milk, warmed
1 tbsp of dried yeast
Corneal or flour
2 tbsp sugar
Put the flour and salt into a large bowl and rub in the butter. In a separate bowl, stir in the warmed milk and yeast and add the sugar. Wait two minutes before adding the yeasted milk into the flour. Mix together to form a soft dough. Need for 10 minutes until soft and silky.
Put the dough in a large clean bowl and cover with a damp cloth and let it rise for two hours until it has doubled in size.
After the dough has risen, roll it out until 2.5 cm thick and cut out the dough in
2 -3 inch circles. Cover with a damp cloth for another 30 minutes and bake at 350 degrees.
These should only bake for 350 degrees. First side bakes for 3 minutes. They are flipped and baked for another 4-5 minutes until they are golden brown. Serve warm.
Lemon Curd:
3 eggs
1 cup of white sugar
1/3 cup of lemon juice
¼ cup of butter
2 tsp of lemon zest
Whisk eggs, sugar, and lemon juice in a double boiler over simmering water until mixed well, then continue to stir until thick, 7 to 10 minutes.
Drain through a mesh sieve to get rid of lumps. Fold in butter until well incorporated. Mix in lemon zest. Cover curd and chill in the refrigerator until it has thickened, about 4 hours.
Clotted cream:
1 cup heavy cream, room temperature
1/3 cup of sour cream, room temperature
2 tbsp powdered sugar
Using a whisk attachment on the mixer, whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Remove from mixer, and hand whisk in the sour cream and confectioners’ sugar until just joined. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.