It’s easier than you think to make
I never had a crumpet growing up. It wasn’t something my parents purchased for us and my parents certainly never made them fresh at home. I “discovered” them when I went off to college and I thought the store bought ones were pretty darn good.
Jump forward many (many…) years, and I was wondering how much better would they be baked fresh at home. Back to my friend Google, and I found Warburtons in the UK had released their recipe for crumpets during the pandemic.
I’ve made these a few times now and I wanted to provide you with the recipe with what adjustments I’ve made to be successful. That’s the thing with baking, you do what you find works for you and you like.
You can find the original Warburtons recipe with this link.
Crumpets
Ingredients
- 150 grams All purpose flour
- 200 ml warm water 110°F
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 50 ml warm water 110°F
- 1 tsp Instant Dry Yeast
- 1/2 tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- Grape Seed Oil or another high heat oil for greasing the crumpet rings
Instructions
- In a container (I use a glass measuring cup), add 50 ml warm water and instant dry yeast. Give it a bit of stir and let rest for about 5 minutes.
- Add flour, salt and 200 ml warm water to a medium sized bowl. Whisk vigorously to get the mixture a bit bubbly. I whisk for about 3 minutes.
- Add sugar, baking powder and yeast mixture to the bowl and whisk for another minute or until all the ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Cover the bowl and allow the batter to rest in a warm spot for approx. 30 minutes. It won't expand a lot during this time but you will see some rise and bubbles.
Baking the crumpets
- Place a lightly greased crumpet ring (or suitable substitution – see note) in the centre of a non-stick frying pan and heat over medium high heat.
- Give the batter a gentle stir to remove any large air bubbles.
- Spoon enough batter into your crumpet ring so that the batter is just under half way up the ring. The batter will expand. If you use too much batter, the crumpet will be thick and take a long time to cook resulting in a very dark bottom.
- Bake for approximately 5 minutes. You will see bubbles and the batter will bake. If after 5 minutes, it's still a little wet on the top, you can flip over and bake for a few seconds.
- Repeat this process for the remaining batter.
- Cool and when it's time to eat, toast the crumpet and cover with whatever you want to seep into the tiny holes.
Notes
Some photos to help you with making your own crumpets
Water and instant yeast in a glass measuring cup. Let it rest.
Add the flour, salt and water to a medium-sized bowl. Whisk to get some air into the batter. I realize a white ceramic bowl makes it challenging to see the batter in this process but I have tried to make this in a metal bowl before and oddly enough, it works better in ceramic.
The photo on the left is after the yeast, sugar and baking powder have been added and whisked to gather. You can see some bubbles and it’s smooth. I covered the bowl with one of my plastic bowl covers, and since it’s cool in the house today, I wrapped the bowl in a wool blanket to help it warm up. Winter in Canada can make baking fun 😁.
After 30 minutes of resting in a warm spot, this is what the batter looks like. It does not expand a lot but wait until you start to bake with it!
I pour a little grape seed oil into a small bowl and keep it by the skillet to brush the egg ring and frying pan for each crumpet.
You can see that I’ve added enough batter to fill the egg ring to just under half full. The batter expands! In the second picture, you can see that the batter is at the top of the ring and has lots of those yummy air holes. After 5 minutes, the crumpet is basically done.
I flipped my crumpet over just for a second to take care of any remaining wet batter that was left on the top.
Tips and tricks for your crumpet baking adventure
Just a few things that might help in your crumpet-baking adventure.
- Make sure your yeast and baking powder are active.
- Don’t make thick crumpets. Crumpets bake from the bottom up. If they are too thick, the top won’t bake before you have burnt bottoms.
- Feel free to make your crumpets the night before. Cool completely and store in an air-tight container. When you are ready to enjoy them, pop them in the toaster to warm up and enjoy with your favourite topping.
- Speaking of toppings, I prefer butter since it melts into each one of the little air pockets. My son likes peanut butter melting and my husband goes for a fantastic jam. If Nutella lasted in my house, I’d spread that too!
Looking for another breakfast idea? This Orange Cardamom Twist recipe tastes amazing.
I truly hope you give this recipe a try. It’s really easy and you will be surprised by how much better they taste than the grocery store ones. If you do make them, let me know what you think and share some photos. I can’t wait to hear what you spread on your homemade crumpets.
Thank you for checking this recipe out and have a fantastic day!
Heidi