Baking powder doesn't really do the job these need for ultimate holes and flavor. British recipes for crumpets use baking soda, not powder. Try eliminating the baking powder, and instead stir 1 tsp of baking soda dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water into the yeast batter after it has risen and just before cooking them. The baking powder is likely the problem with undercooked/uncooked/hard crumpets. Partly just because of the nature of baking powder, and also possibly due to old and no longer active baking powder. Baking powder and baking soda are not interchangeable. Try baking chocolate chip cookies with baking powder, you'll get a hard, crisp cookie. Bake them with baking soda instead, and you get a lovely, soft, chewy cookie. Try them with baking soda instead of baking powder. You'll have lots of bigger holes that come to the surface and open more easily, creating even better pockets for all that lovely butter to melt into. Betty, as you said, baking powder and baking soda aren't interchangeable. The recipe has to complement the leavening; if you're going to use just baking soda, you need some acidic ingredients in the rest of the recipe to make it work, and to take away its "soapy" flavor. I'm just cautioning people not to simply exchange one for the other, without being aware of how they work and adjustments that would need to be made. For instance, you might want to substitute some buttermilk for at least part of the milk in the crumpets. And you'd want to be sure to use brown sugar in the chocolate chip cookies. Thanks for you input here. PJH

• Reply