Sunday Breakfast
If you came sailing onboard Eda Frandsen this summer, there is a fairly good chance you ate Sourdough Crumpets for breakfast at least once.
So if you, like me are still trying to keep your lock-down sourdough starter going and are a fan of buttery, crunchy bottomed, golden-delicious breakfast treats that can be either sweet or savoury. I have written my many-times-tested Eda Frandsen approved method below!
There was a method to this slightly mad sounding plan. I wanted a breakfast treat that could feed 8 people, that could all be cooked at the same time. Trying to keep pancakes hot while you make enough to feed the rest of the table, gets boring pretty quickly, so crumpets seemed like the ideal low-waste solution.
You will need…
8 Non-stick Crumpet Rings
Large mixing bowl
Kitchen Roll
A large ice cream scoop with a trigger handle
200g of Sourdough discard
500g of Strong white bread flour
a dessert spoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt
250mls of lukewarm water
2 heavy bottom frying pans
light oil for greasing
tongs
This may seem like a lot, you can halve it pretty much exactly to make 4, if you are making less than 4, don’t bother.
The great thing about this is that you can walk into the kitchen, grab your ingredients and put these together in less than 5 minutes and then leave them to cook ever-so-slowly on the back of the stove while you put the kettle on and gather the rest of your breakfast thoughts.
So, I like to rack up the bread flour, pour over the sourdough discard, put all the water in at once and then the baking powder. Then take the ice cream scoop and use this to mix it all together to a consistency like porridge. If it’s too wet add a tiny bit more flour, too wet a splash of water, then let it sit a minute while you prep your pans.
Pour a little oil in each pan, not too much. Then take a handful of kitchen roll and wipe it all over the pans, so you have a thin covering and thoroughly greasy kitchen roll. Then use this to grease the inside of each ring. Please do this, even if they are non stick, or you will live to regret it.
Distribute your rings across your pans and two hobs of a similar heat, each lit/turned on halfway. Whilst your pans heat up, use the ice cream scoop to portion out 8 even scoops of your now nicely settled crumpet batter into their rings and once they are all filled, turn the heat right down.
Now you can leave these little babies and put the kettle on. Mine usually take around 20 minutes, but it will depend on whether you are cooking on gas/the weight of your pans. The slower you cook the underside the better those all-important “basalt columns” of air are going to form. Ideally, your crumpets should start to cook on top before you flip them, without you having burned the bottoms…. practice, you will see what I mean. You want most of the crumpet to cook BEFORE you flip it. Once the top starts to cook and you think you will be able to flip them without the dough falling out, use some tongs to grab the outside of the crumpet rings and flip away. The second side won’t take as long, just a couple of minutes, but keep the heat on low nonetheless.
Your crumpets should just pop out of their greased/non-stick rings, however, if you need to use a knife please do so. Et voila! Slice open your crumpet whilst hot, check for decent holes, then cover in butter and the condiments of your choice. In this case Vegemite, but often Marmalade. Mungo likes to put “Dolce and Gabana” spread on his, but that’s another story.
They will not look exactly like those which come out of a packet, but I firmly believe that baked goods should not have a shelf life of over a month nor taste like an old flip flop. Much like fresh pasta, once you start you will never go back, so enjoy!
