Whole Wheat Sourdough Crumpets
Ingredients:
50 g sourdough starter
3/4 cups whole wheat bread flour/ or try buckwheat flour (see notes section below)
1 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
To do:
Combine the sourdough starter, flour and water, stirring until smooth and set aside. Heat a skillet pan on high heat. As the pan heats up, whisk the salt and baking soda into the batter (doing this at the last minute helps the crumpets have more air bubbles). Place a round egg form on the pan and add a little vegetable oil. Pour the batter into the form, reduce the heat to medium-high and cook for about 2 minutes, until the top edges start to look dry. Then, cover to let the top of the crumpet steam. It is done when the top appears slightly dry (all the wet batter has firmed up).
Note: I use a scale to measure my sourdough starter and bought an inexpensive one. It really helps to be able to measure ingredients when working with sourdough.
I don’t eat eggs, so I didn’t have an egg form, ring thing. I went to 3 stores and found this silicone one. I really wanted to make crumpets and I felt like it was kinda crazy to buy this ring but I am so glad I did. It works really well, is easy to pick up (it gets hot but you can still touch it with bare fingers if you are careful and quick) And I didn’t know that I would seriously love crumpets this much, so now I know I will get good use out of this.
I also don’t buy butter but I wanted to use a good oil to cook these. I use the Quebec brand Maison Orphée unrefined canola oil made especially for baking and it is really rich and nutty. It add a nice bit of extra flavor to the crumpets. If you don't cook with butter, it's worth seeking out a tasty cooking oil.
And lastly I’d like to thank CityHippieFarmGirl for inspiring me with all her sourdough creations. You can find her original crumpet recipe here.
I made these with whole wheat flour and really loved them, got a lot of rise when I added the baking soda and the results were fluffy, with lots of airy holes on top and a slightly crisp bottom. I also made these with buckwheat flour and had less holes and a much more pronounced taste (of course due to the buckwheat flour) They were still good but not quite my faves. I'll keep experimenting with different flours and will share the results. In the meantime, happy crumpet-ing!