Sourdough Crumpets
Serves: 4
- Health Factor: Utilising discard from refreshing your sourdough starter makes these crumpets an ingenious way to minimise waste and ensure they are easy to digest, as the starter has thoroughly broken down the grains.
- Diversity Score: 6 (The recipe includes a variety of ingredients, with an emphasis on fair trade and wholegrain components.)
Introduction
These sourdough crumpets are an excellent solution for using up discard when refreshing your starter. They’re incredibly easy to digest because the starter has effectively broken down the grains. The key to this recipe is ensuring the starter is still slightly thick. If it’s too runny, you can add a couple of tablespoons of mashed potato to thicken it without needing additional flour.
Preparation Time
- Prep: 5 minutes
- Cook: 5-6 minutes
Starter
- Type: 1:1 refreshed wholegrain sourdough starter*
Ingredients
- A small knob of butter
- 275g refreshed wholegrain sourdough starter*
- 2 tsp fair trade soft brown sugar
- A pinch of sea salt
- ½ tsp Fairtrade mixed spice
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Rapeseed oil (for greasing)
- Flour (for dusting)
Refreshing the Starter
To refresh, you need 3 tbsp sourdough starter mixed with 200g cold water and 200g plain strong (organic) white flour. Mix, cover with a damp cloth, and it will be ready to use in the recipe in 8 hours.
Equipment
- Crumpet rings
- Welsh baking stone or heavy frying pan
- Large bowl
- Whisk
- Ladle
Method
- Prepare the Starter: Refresh your starter as detailed above. It will be ready for use in the recipe after 8 hours.
- Prepare Crumpet Rings: Use a knob of butter to grease your crumpet rings, then dust with flour to create a nonstick barrier for your crumpets.
- Preheat: Warm a Welsh baking stone or heavy frying pan.
- Mix Batter: In a large bowl, add the sugar, salt, mixed spice, cream of tartar, and bicarbonate of soda to your starter and whisk. Use rapeseed oil to grease the pan/stone, and then, using a ladle, drop the batter into the rings. Do not delay, as the chemical reaction of the bicarbonate and cream of tartar will lessen as time goes on.
- Cooking: Turn the heat down and cook for a couple of minutes, then flip the crumpets over when the tops look cooked but watch that the bottoms don’t burn.
- Keep Warm: If you are cooking a few, keep them in a warm oven until you have finished cooking the full batch.
Your starter needs to be 1st build, and wholegrain is best. Usually, 100% hydration is fine. If you have any crumpets left, they are great toasted the following day