Hello everyone, Tom here with a quick idea for some Sunday morning baking.
Thank you to everyone who commented on my bread post with suggestions on how to use my excess, unfed sourdough starter. I was particularly excited by the prospect of making sourdough crumpets . . . so here’s my take! Kate especially enjoyed these on returning from her long walk with the dogs on this (much needed) rainy Sunday morning.
Ingredients
240g unfed sourdough starter
1 tsp golden caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
Butter for greasing
Butter and jam to serve
Method
Lightly grease a non-stick frying pan and four 3 inch muffin rings with butter.
Put the pan on a medium heat and place the rings in the pan.
Pour the starter into a large bowl and add the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly.
Once the pan is hot fill each ring with a quarter of the starter (60g, about 4 tablespoons)
Cook for 7-8 minutes until the tops are full of bubbles and almost set.
Carefully remove the rings and flip the crumpets over.
Continue to cook for 3-4 minutes, until golden brown on top and bottom.
Serve immediately lathered with jam and/or butter!
KDD & Co 
Just made these with sourdough discard, delicious!!! Thank you Tom, this will be my weekend treat when feeding our starter once a week which is kept on the refrigerator. So simple, so lovely. Mine even looked like yours, success!
I adjusted the additions as I only had 118g of leftover starter, used buttered canning rings and a small 29 year old calphalon skillet. Tried both large and small rings, both worked just fine.
Do not overthink this, people, just forge ahead and enjoy your crumpets!
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Just made some of the crumpets… going to deliver 3 of them to the family that shared their sourdough leaving 1 for me to have with some of my home made strawberry… a little bit of summer. Many thanks for the recipe as it means I don’t have to throw away and of the dough as I feed it. Just taken a pic and I’d share it if I could but just know they are delicious… big thanks to you.
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hurrah! Hope your family enjoy the crumpets, Sheila
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Tom, these crumpets are gorgeous. And… could you post a picture of your crumpet rings sometime, please? I have tried everything available here in the US, and always wind up with an impossibly sticky, high-blood-pressure-inducing mess! I have lots of experience with raised doughs, so don’t think that’s where the problem lies. I’m thinking that British crumpet rings must be shaped differently or made of different materials from ours? Meanwhile, I’m saving your recipe!
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I use wide mouth canning jar rings, buttered well, a low-medium fire and a warmed cast iron griddle. I have experimented with putting a lid on them, but still need to turn to get them fully cooked. I think silicone egg poaching rings might work? I should say I am in the US. Would also love to see photos of what Tom uses, but not sure they would be easy to find here.
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I’ve tried out different versions of sourdough muffins too. I have the most trouble with holes not setting on top and ending up more like English muffins. Runnier mix seems to work better. Look forward to trying this version.
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I tried a different version that didn’t turn out that well, so will try these next week for sure! Though it’s getting warmer here and crumpets are DEFINITELY for rainy, cool days!
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This is exciting!! Must try :)
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I thought that crumpets are only griddled on one side…pikeletts are griddled on both sides but without rings…English muffins use rings & are griddled on both sides…batter is from thin (pikelett) then (crumpet) to thicker (English muffin)…isn’t this true?
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These aren’t distinctions that I recognise. It may simply be a question of being divided by a common language . . . Pikelets are certainly thinner, and made without rings – but we don’t describe muffins as English – and they aren’t griddled, but baked in the oven.
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Ah, but I’ve also made sourdough muffins (the ones which are called English muffins by the Americans to distinguish them from their own cake-like muffins) on the griddle – no rings needed as a stiff dough, and they worked really well!
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ah – I think I get it now – I’ve honestly never really understood why these are called “English” muffins – since for me (from Lancashire) a muffin is an ‘oven bottom’ baked small roll
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Oh yes, that’s quite a different thing again then. Must admit I’ve never had a Lancashire muffin, will have to add that to my “must try” list. Being a Londoner, it wasn’t something you ever saw in the shops there. Shame that regional specialities aren’t promoted more across the UK.
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Brilliant! Ive been looking for a simple use for the discard, and when i saw this post, jumped right up and made a small batch! They were absolurely delicious with marmalade. I love not adding more floyr, eggs, etc and the flavor was lovely. Didn’t even save one for a picture!
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These look yummy! Are muffin rings necessary? Never heard of them. Could you please link to your other sourdough recipe?
Many thanks.
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I read that wide mouth canning jar rings work as well. Just grease them as you would a muffin ring.
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Such serendipity!! I just (finally) baked your bread today. I cooked it outside in the smoker/grill – added a pot with water and baking stones while it was heating so the inside of the unit was full of steam when I put the loaves in. The texture is off the charts amazing. Thank you for sharing the recipe. I also made some crumpets this morning, hot with butter and honey from a beekeeper friend. I sometimes tape recipes that are new to me inside the cupboard door. After having a piece of bread with tea, I have taped your recipe there.
We are opening back up here; I am back to work tomorrow (been working from home for 2 months already). I’ve been excited/anxious about it, but after eating that bread and knowing the 2nd loaf will go to a friend, I am sad I cannot go ahead and prepare to do it again tomorrow morning!! Oh well, I’ll figure out how to make it happen this week somehow.
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that was quite a surprise to me also…….no added flour! Will try.
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This is great news to me. I looked into sourdough recipes, but it seemed to me that the direction to discard half the batch so often would require a great investment of flour, and since I have no chickens, no pigs, I just stuck with the instant yeast.
Whenever I make up a batch I think of a scrap of learning from long ago English lectures: the word “Mass” as in a gathering of the faithful is derived from a Proto-Indoeuropean word meaning “to knead,” which ties it to the hands, as in “manual.”
So breadmaking, holiness, and handwork are all tied together in my mind.
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Sarah, you might be interested in the info on these websites: https://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/bake/jan19_simple_sourdough_starter/ and here: https://www.breadmatters.com/sourdough-faqs/
In brief, if you begin a starter with a very small amount of flour and water you don’t need to discard loads of it and then if you keep a starter in the fridge and only refresh (feed) when preparing to use, you don’t need to continually feed and discard.
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No flour? Just sugar, salt, and baking powder for dry ingredients?
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that’s correct – the flour already in the starter is enough
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Interesting, thanks for confirming!
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They look brilliant, crumpets are my favourite. Aren’t you clever!
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They look absolutely delicious
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These look delicious. I have dropped a less than subtle hint to the new sourdough baker in the house.
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