Easy Crumpet Recipe - Tips & Photos

As a child, I found the concept of tea and crumpets to be utterly charming, though I hadn't the slightest idea what a crumpet was. When Trader Joe's started selling them, my distant infatuation became an obsession- nay, an addiction, to these amazing hybrids between English muffins and pancakes.

Crumpets are nothing more than adorable little pancakes, with added fluff (courtesy of yeast) and pleasing little holes in the top, perfect for housing delectable pools of melted butter. Wanting to make my own instead of rely on the Honorable Mr. Joe, I searched online for recipes, and modified them to cater to my laziness and lack of fancy ingredients. Below you'll find my resulting go-to lazy crumpet recipe.

Why this recipe is easy:

• Requires fewer special ingredients
• Does not require special crumpet molds
• Is not snobbish
• Simone Smith could do it. Simone Smith is thick as a plank

• 460g all-purpose flour (the recipe from which I adapted this calls for bread flour and all-purpose.  I'm just going with what I have on hand)
• .75 tsp cream of tartar
• 15g (2.25 tsp) active dry yeast
• .5 tsp. sugar
• 18 ounces of water (2.25 cups)
• 3.5 tsp salt (the original recipe calls for coarse sea salt.  I'm lazy and I only have regular table salt.  Good enough.)
• .5 tsp baking soda
• 5.4 ounces of milk (I use nonfat, which works fine)
• 15 grams olive oil (or whatever you'll want to grease your pan and crumpet molds with, should you have them

• Frying pan
• Crumpet molds (optional. I actually use pancake molds and they work great. In a pinch, I once used friend egg molds- they're a bit too shallow, but they worked alright- a bit messy, but it's all good in your stomach, no?)
• Spatula
• Mixing Spoon
• Measuring spoons
• Flour sifter (optional, I guess- it's a nice way to incorporate dry ingredients)
• Large mixing bowl
• Smaller, microwavable, liquid measuring cups or bowls
• Food scale (optional, but convenient!)

1. Sift together the flour and cream of tartar into a large bowl
2. Heat your water so that it's lukewarm
3. Mix the yeast and sugar with about half of the lukewarm water and let it sit for 10 minutes or so to proof it - if it doesn't get foamy, you'll need to go out and get some fresh yeast!
4. Pour the water and yeast mixture into your flour bowl and mix until you have a smooth batter.
5. Cover your bowl with something- be it a damp towel, a large plate, another bowl, or plastic wrap- and let it sit for one hour (until the batter rises and subsequently falls)
6. Add the salt
7. Beat the dough for about a minute
8. Cover the bowl again, and let it sit for 20 minutes (apparently the dough is resting here. Poor tired dough. You really beat the crap out of it!)
9. Heat your milk so it is lukewarm
10. Stir the baking soda into the milk
11. Mix the milk+baking soda into the dough/batter
12. Splash a bit of olive oil into your pan and heat it (medium low). If you're using crumpet molds, grease those up too
13. Pour the batter into your crumpet molds (in the pan), or just pour batter straight into your pan, making one giant crumpet. Aim for batter about 1/3 of an inch deep.
14. Check to see if bubbles start to form in the batter. If they don't, your batter is too stiff. If so, add water, spoon by spoon, to your batter, until you see bubbles forming nicely.
15. When the top surface is set and covered with holes (this can take anywhere from 6-8 minutes, I've found), flip your crumpet(s) (see the slide show below to see when it's time to flip). If you're using the mold, pick up the mold with tongs, and flip the crumpet with a spatula (to be honest, my crumpets often stick to the molds, so I pick them up with my fingers, swear like a drunken sailor, and push the crumpets out with a butter knife - nudging around the edges. Then I flip them with my hands. This adds dramatic flare to your cooking process). If you're making one giant crumpet in your frying pan, slide the uber-crumpet to the edge, and flip it the rest of the way with your spatula
16. Cook the second side until it looks toasty (or "pale golden")- this only takes about three minutes.
17. EAT!! OM NOM NOM NOM!!!!

The nice thing about this recipe is that it's low in cholesterol and fat- in fact, there's hardly any fat in it at all, at least before you add butter to the toasty top! This makes these crumpets a lovely, lowfat snack - totally guilt free!

That said, crumpets are best when slathered with butter. See accompanying video for further detail.

Another thing about making crumpets- they make for a great transition from the simple, yeast-less world of breads to the more complex world of yeast breads. Yes, yeast is involved in the crumpet-making process, but baking is not, so we're kind of in an odd, in-between territory in the world of breads. Edgy!

Recipe adapted from The Foppish Baker (a blog that has since disappeared - but keep an eye out for it!)