this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2023

65 points (95.8% liked)

Shitty Food Porn

2782 readers

3 users here now

This community is for shitty pictures of food and pictures of shitty food.

For pictures of good food, check out [email protected]

Related Communities

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

65

First Time Making Crumpets (pawb.social)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/shittyfoodporn

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So I added the whole packet of instant yeast when the recipe called for less than half and now they have this horrible yeasty almost bitter after taste :(

top 14 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

A good first attempt! Crumpets are a right fuck on, my first try they were burnt on the outside and very, very, raw on the inside.

Agreed with less yeast if you don't like the taste, I'd also be tempted to cheat and put some (more?) baking soda in to make more bubbles.

Keep playing with it, bread baking is never consistent and you only get experience through doing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Thanks! I'm excited to try again a few days. I flipped mine too soon. The top layer was still uncooked so it smooched into the bubbles and ruined most of them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Keep playing with it, bread baking is never consistent and you only get experience through doing.

Being as consistent as you can will only help, though. As the saying goes: cooking is art, baking is science.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I don't disagree - however I don't think that's the best line to take when someone is trying something new.

In your home it's very unlikely that you'll be able to control all the variables - temperature is fairly easy, but depending on where you live humidity can be surprisingly problematic - so at the start I think it's better to just do it, see what happens, tweak some stuff, try it again, see what happens, and learn from that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It's not an attempt at being a hardass or purist or anything, it's just simpler and easier to be accurate. If you've made a bunch of stuff, you know how things work and when/how you can "cheat". If it's your first time making something, it's safer to assume everything in a recipe is that way for a reason, and in baking slight differences are more likely to throw off the whole thing.

I'm not saying you need to be obsessively precise, just don't randomly change a bunch of stuff. The point is you can fudge a lot of things in cooking - if you skip some spices it's unlikely to completely ruin the dish. Baking has to do with more finicky chemical reactions and so you'd at least know exactly what and how to tamper with, or you might end up with something completely different. (Of course, any recipes will vary in how forgiving they are)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

As I said, I don't disagree with the need for precision and repeatability - and respectfully, and without wanting to directly appeal to authority, I've been home baking for over 15 years and professionally for about half of that - but just repeating the same recipe every time is not going to teach you what the changes you make cause precisely because you will always be dealing with the inconsistencies which occurs within your kitchen.

My standard loaf recipe - because I live neat the coast at approx 55deg North - varies greatly across the year depending on time of year. In the summer everything is quicker - especially if sourdough or misc yeasts - even if all quantifies are literally identical. This is because of different temperatures during autolyse of, or quantities of lime/impurities, etc in, the water. This can lead to a good 5cm lower rise across hours in winter compared to summer.

My point is simply, these differences are not a problem or something to be worried about. They are a fact of life because, as you say, baking is a science.

Enjoy doing it, and most of all enjoy eating it. That is all that matters.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

That's my point. You've done this a lot, so you know what lines you can cross when. OP fucked up their first ever crumpets and should probably have paid attention to the recipe. Enjoying cooking and eating is easier when you're not fucking it up, I can say from experience.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I would hardly call what Op made a fuck up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

OK, well, OP and I disagree. Have a nice day, goodbye.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Flavor aside, they look great! Nice shape and bubbles

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Thanks! The extra yeast tasted bad but it smelled amazing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I always like me a bit of crumpet.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

So is a crumpet like an English slang for a cookie?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

It's more like a cross between an English muffin and a pancake.