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This past year, I have been playing with this recipe for Easy Sourdough Crumpets and am so excited to finally share it with you. Made with sourdough discard, these crumpets are quite simple to make with only 4 ingredients and a smidge of water!
I first saw this recipe on King Arthur Baking, where you may watch a video of the crumpet-making process. After a bit of trial and error, I’ve touched up the recipe to fit my needs, and I have to say that my husband and I love the results. While not a tea drinker, my husband is a full-on crumpet man.
What is a Crumpet?
A crumpet is sort of a mix between an English muffin and a pancake. It’s spongy and tender and has holes on top that simply beg for butter and jam. The dough itself is a runny batter that you place inside “crumpet rings” and cook on the stove in a skillet until the tops bubble and pop. Once you achieve this signature mark, you may turn it to lightly brown the top side, or leave it untouched for later toasting. Crumpets are delightful with tea, and the sourdough in this recipe only adds to the wonderful flavor. Plus, it’s a fantastic way to use up your unfed starter.
Recommended Tools for Making Crumpets
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Silicone Pastry/Basting Brushes
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Ingredients for Easy Sourdough Crumpets
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Directions For Making This Recipe
Gather the ingredients so you have everything close at hand on the counter or table.
For this recipe, you’ll need a skillet (with lid), crumpet rings, a pastry brush, and long-handled tongs for removing the hot rings. I like to use my cast iron skillet for making crumpets, but remember to use a low heat for making this recipe, so the crumpets don’t cook to quickly and burn!
Prepare Skillet for Cooking
Heat butter in microwave for a few seconds until melted.
Warm the skillet over low heat. Lightly spray the skillet with cooking oil. Place crumpet rings in the skillet and cover with lid for a few minutes to warm. When the skillet is nicely warmed, remove the lid and generously brush the melted butter along the inside of the crumpet rings, using the long-handled tongs to hold the rings.
Make the Batter
While the skillet is warming, prepare the batter. Place unfed starter in a medium-sized bowl. Add to this the cold water, granulated sugar, kosher salt.
When the skillet has fully warmed, finish the batter by adding the baking soda to the sourdough mixture. Rapidly whisk the batter to combine. You will see a difference in the batter now that the baking soda has been added. I like to add the baking soda right before I cook the crumpets for ultimate rise.
Cook the Crumpets
Using a cookie/muffin scoop, spoon batter into each of the prepared crumpet rings. The batter will immediately sizzle, like a pancake.
My crumpet rings measure 3 1/4″ in diameter and are about an inch tall. I use a 2 oz blue Vollrath scoop, which fills the rings a little over half full. If you use another type of ring, such as for English muffins or egg rings, the size may be different, so keep that in mind when filling them. This may also effect the number of crumpets made.
Cook on low for about 1 minute until bubbles start to appear on the tops. Place the lid on the skillet and continue cooking for 4-5 minutes. Cooking the crumpets with the lid on helps to cook the centers of the crumpets.
Remove the lid, and if necessary, continue cooking for 1-2 minutes until the tops are dull and opaque. The tops should now be full of small indentions–the signature mark of a true crumpet.
Carefully remove the rings, then turn the crumpets in the skillet. If desired, cook the crumpets for another 1-2 minutes to lightly brown the tops.
Traditional English crumpets are not browned on the top, so feel free to stop before this step. Instead you may toast the crumpets before serving.
If necessary, clean the crumpet rings, then repeat the above steps for the remaining batter. Or if you’ll be making this recipe a lot or for many people, you may want to purchase 2 sets of rings for a total of 8!
Serve warm crumpets with a pot of hot tea and with butter, your favorite jam, or honey. Apple butter would also be quite nice, especially for fall. This recipe will make 6-8 crumpets.
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Easy Sourdough Crumpets
(As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)
Ingredients
- 1 cup sourdough starter (unfed, discard)
- 1 tablespoon cold water
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- serve with butter and your favorite jam
Instructions
- Gather the ingredients so you have everything close at hand on the counter or table.
Prepare Skillet for Cooking
- Heat butter in microwave for a few seconds until melted.
- Warm the skillet over low heat. Lightly spray the skillet with cooking oil. Place crumpet rings in the skillet and cover with lid for a few minutes to warm. When the skillet is nicely warmed, remove the lid and generously brush the melted butter along the inside of the crumpet rings, using the long-handled tongs to hold the rings.
Make the Batter
- While the skillet is warming, prepare the batter. Place unfed starter in a medium-sized bowl. Add to this the cold water, granulated sugar, and kosher salt.
- When the skillet has fully warmed, finish the batter by adding the baking soda to the sourdough mixture. Rapidly whisk the batter to combine. You will see a difference in the batter now that the baking soda has been added. (I like to add the baking soda right before I cook the crumpets for ultimate rise.)
Cook the Crumpets
- Using a cookie/muffin scoop, spoon batter into each of the prepared crumpet rings. The batter will immediately sizzle, like a pancake, and will fill the rings to about half full.
- Cook on low for about 1 minute until bubbles start to appear on the tops. Place the lid on the skillet and continue cooking for 4-5 minutes. (Cooking the crumpets with the lid on helps to cook the centers of the crumpets.)
- Remove the lid, and if necessary, continue cooking for 1-2 minutes until the tops are dull and opaque. The tops should now be full of small indentions–the signature mark of a true crumpet.
- Carefully remove the rings, then turn the crumpets in the skillet. If desired, cook the crumpets for another 1-2 minutes to lightly brown the tops. This step is optional.
- Traditional English crumpets are not browned on the top, so feel free to stop before this step. Instead you may toast the crumpets before serving.
- If necessary, clean the crumpet rings, then repeat the above steps for the remaining batter. Or if you’ll be making this recipe a lot or for many people, you may want to purchase 2 sets of rings for a total of 8!
- Serve warm crumpets with a pot of hot tea and with butter, your favorite jam, or honey. Make 6-8 crumpets.
Thanks for viewing this Recipe. I hope you will enjoy these Crumpets as much as we do!