Who doesn’t love crumpets for breakfast – and these home made crumpets are just next level! This English comfort food, topped with lashings of butter, is the bees’ knees. It’s really the bees’ knees when it’s also topped with beautiful raw honey.
You can read more about the wonderfulness of crumpets below the recipe. But this is a recipe page, so it comes first. Or check out my gorgeous recipe for home made English muffins. Yum!
Home Made Crumpets
Course: BreakfastCuisine: English, BritishDifficulty: Some skill6
crumpets10
minutes20
minutesDelicious, home made crumpets beat the store bought ones hands down. They’re easier than you think to make, but do require careful watching while cooking so you don’t burn the bottoms.
You will need
plain white flour
tepid water
cooking salt (aka kosher salt – just coarse sea salt)
white sugar
baking powder
dried yeast (that’s about 5 grams)
Here’s what to do
- First make the batter
- Mix dried yeast with about 2 tbsp tepid water and stir until dissolved. Set aside while you mix up the crumpet batter.
- Add flour and salt to a mixing bowl and whisk together to combine.
- Make a well in the centre and add the tepid water. Whisk the mixture from the centre until it’s smooth and batter-like. (It resembles a pancake batter)
- Next add the sugar, baking powder and yeast mixture to bowl and whisk for another 30 seconds until fully incorporated and smooth.
- Cover the mixing bowl with a damp tea towel or other reusable film and put into a warm place for 30-45 minutes. It will bubble up and expand a little, so make sure your bowl is big enough.
- Next cook the crumpets
- Place greased 10cm crumpet rings into a heavy based flat non-stick frying pan
- Pre-heat the frying pan over a medium heat setting
- Give the batter a light stir, then pour 1/4 cup (about 60g) batter into each crumpet ring
- Wait for approx. 4-5 minutes, watching for the bubbles to rise and pop, then when firm, carefully lift the ring off the crumpet
- Gently flip the crumpet if it still looks a bit wet on top and cook a further 20-30 seconds. It will brown slightly on top and that’s fine.
- Lift the cooked crumpet from pan and cool on a cooling rack.
- Repeat the above until all the batter is used up.
- To serve
- Toast the crumpets in a toaster until golden and the bases are crisp.
- Smother with butter and top with your favourite crumpet topping, such as beautiful raw honey.
- Eat and enjoy with your favourite tea or coffee.
Tips and tricks
- Crumpet rings can be purchased fairly easily from kitchen shops and online. I use 9.5cm stainless steel rings.
- I make mine in a heavy based seasoned carbon pancake pan. The main thing with cooking is to watch the heat as you need them to cook right through but not burn the bottoms.
- Crumpets keep up to a week in the fridge. Just place in a sealed container or reusable zip lock style bag.
- Home made crumpets can also be frozen. Just thaw before toasting.
Home made crumpets explored
Why home made crumpets? Well, for starters the preservatives in supermarket ones are to be avoided and artisan crumpets cost a small fortune. Plus, they’re easier than you think.
In fact, if you’ve ever made pikelets, you’ll be able to make these. Pikelets are similar in that they have baking powder and get a bit fluffy and bubbly. There are two main differences though – yeast and the crumpet rings.
Are home made crumpets different?
Home made crumpets cooking on the stovetop are quite mesmerising to watch.
When you tip the batter into the rings, they should sizzle, which seals the bottom straight away.
It’s then a matter of letting the bubbles rise and pop and for the tops to set as much as you have the patience for.
When set, the rings are removed and they can be finished by flipping for a few seconds to cook.
In my experience, when done right, home made crumpets are softer than the supermarket variety. Their texture, while still beautifully bubbly, will be less rubbery. Recipe Tin Nagi says the longer the batter sits (up to overnight), the more commercial the texture. I’ve yet to try that.
To serve
I’m a true Aussie and love home made crumpets with Vegemite. Yes folks, I confess. I’m a Vegemite kid.
But I’m also enjoying these with gorgeous Tasmanian leatherwood honey.
There are some wonderful honey producers in Tasmania. Right now though, my crumpets are being topped with honey from north west Tasmanian producer, Winskills Bees.
I was very lucky and they sent me some of their honey to try and it’s gorgeous. I’d recommend this to anyone who loves this unique flavour of Tasmania.
Home made crumpets recipe credits
I’ve made several crumpet recipe over the years. The first time I made them, I undercooked them and didn’t toast them. Ugh. That was a long time ago.
While I’ve played with this recipe a little, I must say it’s really quite stable and a good place to start. For this, the credit goes to Nagi at Recipe Tin Eats.
Nagi credits the recipe to the UK’s biggest crumpet manufacturer, Warburtons. Responding to the huge amount of crumpet recipe searches during lockdown, Warburtons released the recipe. To quote Warburtons, it was to help Brits become crumpet connoisseur[s] and the Crumb De La Crumb of lock-down baking.
Well, the rest of the world also benefits from that little share.
[…] your own crumpets and you’ll have the sort of comfort breakfast that sings of comfort. These are best slathered […]