Hello! Good morning. Welcome to Crumpet Town.
Yesterday was a domestic one as I cleaned and tidied and baked ready for the first day of term today (still forgot Biggie’s reading folder though, I will literally never have it all together), and one of the things I was stocking up on was homemade crumpets, which made a number of you very excited indeed.
I was originally going to post the recipe tomorrow once I got my camera sorted (yes two of them are broken yes I’m devastated) but I got so many requests I thought I’d pop it up today instead so you can have hot little crumpets in your hot little hands a whole lot faster. It’s necessary.
Look at those delicious little holes, just ready for way too much butter and golden syrup.
Homemade crumpet recipe
What I think is different with this recipe of Elizabeth David’s from English Bread and Yeast Cookery to those I have tried in the past is the extra addition of bicarb and water after the initial rise. It definitely results in a lighter batter with many more holes, which is why it’s turned into my favourite, with the tweaks I’ve added along the way.
I usually make a batch and then stash them directly in the freezer, ready for action at any time. This recipe makes 12, but I have gigantic egg rings (which are terrible for eggs but pretty good for crumpets), so if you have the smaller, more common egg rings you’ll obviously make quite a few more.
You could also get dedicated crumpet rings, which do make them a little fatter and taller if you prefer – they’re pretty cheap too (that’s an affiliate link, btw).
My other tip is that they will cook best on cast iron rather than an electric frying pan or other stove-top pans. Try to get the flattest frying pan you can, otherwise you’ll find bits of your batter slip out the gap between ring and pan if the bottom is uneven. To combat that, turn the heat up as you pour in the batter and try to get it to set instantly and you’ll lose less batter. If the pan’s too cold it will just slide on out like Lindsay Lohan from a 2002 nightclub.
So go forth and crumpet. Or you could watch Dumb & Dumber, or make crumpets WHILST watching Dumb & Dumber. Because if I know Mary as well as i think I do, she’ll invite us right in for tea and strumpets!!
PrintHomemade crumpet recipe
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 3 hours, 40 mins
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: English
Description
If I know Mary as well as I think I do, she’ll invite us right in for tea and strumpets!! Especially with this homemade crumpet recipe.
Ingredients
- 450g flour (half strong and half regular flour, otherwise just use what you have)
- 15g yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 225g water
- 225g milk
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
- 150g warm water
Instructions
- Warm the flour in a warm oven for about 5 minutes. Yes, it will make a difference!
- Add the water, milk and olive oil in a saucepan and warm to blood heat (if you put your finger in it, it shouldn’t feel hot or cold, but the same temperature as you). Too hot and you’ll kill the yeast, too cold and the batter won’t rise well.
- Take the flour out of the oven and stir the salt through.
- In a small bowl, mix the yeast and sugar. When the water/milk/oil mix is warmed through, use a couple of tablespoons of it to mix into the yeast and get it activated and creamy.
- Mix the yeast into the flour along with the rest of the water/milk/oil. Stir vigorously, you want to get it smooth and elastic and see some strands beginning to form. It will also start “cracking” as it gets to the right consistency, the batter will snap crackle and pop. Elizabeth David reminds us of Walter Banfield’s hint to “attack the batter with a vivacious turbulence”. Don’t be shy now!
- Cover the bowl and leave the batter to rise at room temperature for an hour and a half to two hours, until it completely bubbly and risen fully.
- When the batter is ready, give it a quick beat with a wooden spoon. Dissolve the bicarb in the water and add it to the batter, stirring well to combine.
- Cover the batter again and leave it in a warmer place this time to really spring it back up and get those bubbles happening. You want it to be like free alcohol at a wedding, the more the better.
- To cook the crumpets, grease your pan very lightly with a smear of butter, and grease the egg/crumpet rings too. Put as many rings as will fit in your pan and fill them with batter almost to the top.
- Let them cook very gently over low heat for about 7-10 minutes, until they look almost dry (this will help keep the holes open and they will look prettier and more like regular crumpets at the end) before flipping and cooking another 3 minutes more until golden. The underside should be golden and smooth. Continue filling the rings and cooking until there’s no batter left.
- Elizabeth David could only eat crumpets straight out of the pan (warm and soaked in plenty of butter) but I’m happy to toast them and eat them in any way possible. Except just not with Vegemite. She complained toasting changed the structure of the crumpets, but I find it takes the doughy edge off if they indeed have come out a bit thick.
Keywords: make your own crumpets, homemade crumpets, crumpet recipe
Nicole says
Yaaaaaaaaaas!!! Thank You thank you!
Your posts yesterday had me oohing and aahing he he
Stacey says
Did you make them? I’m wishing I doubled that batch now.
Nice Piece of Work says
C.R.U.M.P.E.T.S. and Lyle’s Golden syrup….seeing that tin took me back a few hundred years… 🙂
Stacey says
What a delicious combination!!!!
Linda says
Thank you Stacey. Can’t wait to give these guys a whirl.
Stacey says
Hope you enjoy them, Linda!
Jo(sephine) Wake says
Took me back as well, my father used to have a crumpet factory many, many, many years ago in Maidstone, Kent and I often helped during the holidays. Never tried making them at home though.
Stacey says
Oh I’d have eaten soooooo many crumpets! A whole crumpet factory! heaven.
Tina Lacy says
I don’t understand Vegemite on crumpets!
Stacey says
should be banned!
Sammie @ The Annoyed Thyroid says
There is no such thing as too many crumpets! This recipe had me salivating. I wonder if I could be patient enough to make them. Perhaps we can embark on a crumpet/fudge exchange?!
Stacey says
Never too many crumpets! Crumpets for president! would do a better job than Trump too haha
Cindy says
I have been telling myself for YEARS that this is the winter I make my own crumpets. Still haven’t done it.
On the bright side I have a cast iron pan only just now so I guess I’m finally, properly ready? Kudos to you for making it happen and thanks for the recipe.
Stacey says
Yes I was terribly slack this winter and went crumpetless for so long although I’m usually pretty good at having a supply! I hope you enjoy them when you do make them! cast iron is the bomb.