Delia Smith Basic Crumble Topping

For Delia Smith crumble topping, you need just flour, butter and soft brown sugar, rubbed together until they look like fine crumbs. Scatter it over about 900g of fruit, enough for 6 people, then bake it at 180°C until the top turns light brown. From start to finish it needs about 55 minutes, and most of that is baking time.

Delia calls it her Basic Crumble Topping, and it comes from her Complete Cookery Course, first printed in 1983 and revised in 1992. She sees crumble as an all-round family pudding that changes with the fruit in season. It is also a safe choice if pastry worries you, because there is no resting or rolling out.

That is the real strength of this mix, since one recipe works for almost any fruit. It is plainer and softer than the almond, pressed-down topping on her best-known crumble recipe, the apple one.

Once you know the basic mix, you can change it with oats, muesli or chopped nuts, and the FAQs below give her amounts. For one person, her book One is Fun! makes a small version with 40g of self-raising flour, 20g of butter and 25g of light soft brown sugar, baked in a 10cm ramekin.

FAQs

What is the ratio of flour, butter and sugar in crumble topping?

Her ratio is 225g of flour to 75g of butter and 75g to 110g of sugar. That makes roughly three parts flour to one part butter and one part sugar. It is less butter and sugar than the two-to-one mix often quoted online, so the topping stays dry and crumbly.

Her first printing of the Complete Cookery Course in 1983 was sweeter, with 150g of soft brown sugar and a level teaspoon of baking powder. By 1992 the baking powder had gone, and the sugar was down to 75g to 110g, to taste.

Can I use oats in crumble topping?

Yes, and her own oat version simply swaps half the flour for oats. Use 110g of wholewheat flour and 110g of jumbo or porridge oats in place of the 225g of flour.

The butter and sugar stay just as they are in the basic mix. Unsweetened muesli works the same way, 110g of it with the wholewheat flour, and either version makes a good apple crumble with oats.

Which flour is best for crumble topping?

Plain flour and wholewheat flour both work, and in 1983 she wrote that she prefers wholewheat. Wholewheat gives a browner, nuttier crumble, while plain flour bakes paler and a little softer.

Her almond crumble for apples is the one that uses self-raising flour. For this basic mix, plain or wholewheat is all you need, because the 1992 recipe has no raising agent at all.

How do I make a nut crumble topping?

Her nut crumble topping uses 175g of wholewheat flour with 75g of chopped nuts. With the nuts in, she uses only 75g of sugar, along with the same 75g of butter.

Rub the butter into the flour first, then stir in the sugar and the nuts. Her 1992 damson crumble uses this nutty topping, and her plum crumble recipe uses hazelnuts in the same way.

How do you get a crisp crumble topping?

Start with butter at room temperature and work it into the flour lightly, using just the tips of your fingers. Add the sugar only after that, then spread the crumble over the fruit with a fork.

Whether you press it down depends on the fruit. For soft cooked apples she says not to press it at all, but over raw blackcurrants she presses it down firmly and evenly.

Bake it high in the oven at 180°C, so the top browns while the fruit cooks through.

Which fruit can I use under this crumble topping?

Almost any fruit works, and her Complete Cookery Course gives a whole list of fillings for this topping. Rhubarb with ground ginger, gooseberries, damsons or plums, and apples with mincemeat all go under the same mix.

Her blackcurrant crumble needs only 450g of fruit and 2 tablespoons of caster sugar, baked in a shallow 23cm fluted dish, just like her raspberry crumble. Apples with mincemeat need no sugar at all, because the mincemeat sweetens them.

For a spicier crumble, try her rhubarb and ginger crumble, which has almonds in the topping. At Christmas, her Happy Christmas book even has a chocolate and sour cherry crumble.