This is the crumpet recipe released by Warburtons, the UK’s biggest commercial crumpet maker. They’re an absolute dead ringer for store bought – except far better – with the signature holes, distinct “spongey” texture, perfect for toasting. If you’ve ever wanted to know how to make a crumpet, this is going to blow your mind! And it’s easy!
Crumpet recipe
Warburtons is the UK’s biggest and most popular commercial crumpet producer. They make over 700 million of them a year!
To cheer up the UK public during lockdown, they shared their secret crumpet recipe for people to make at home. Though I doubt it’s the precise commercial batter recipe (they probably adapted it for the home cook), the end result is EXACTY like store bought crumpets.
After many, many, MANY failed crumpet attempts over the years (even from notable chefs!), I am still shaking my head at how astonishingly perfect these crumpets are – and how easy they are to make!
What are crumpets?
Hailing from England, they’re like a cross between an English muffin and pancakes. Their distinguishing feature is the surface that’s riddled with holes which allows butter to permeate through from top to bottom. The surface has a unique almost “spongey” texture, but it’s very fluffy inside, just like bread!
What goes in crumpets
Here’s what you need to make crumpets. I always knew yeast was in the batter. The addition of baking powder was the key that made all the difference – from crumpet making fails to crumpet making success!
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Yeast – use instant / rapid rise yeast or active dry yeast (sometimes just labelled “yeast”). Both work just fine.
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Fresh yeast? Haven’t tried with fresh yeast but see no reason why it wouldn’t work using the standard conversion of 7.75g / 0.275 ounces fresh yeast per 1 teaspoon of dry yeast. Crumble into warm water with sugar and follow above directions for active dry yeast.
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Flour – just normal plain / all purpose flour. Not self raising flour, not wholemeal flour.
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Gluten free – unfortunately doesn’t work with gluten free flour. We tried, and it was a dismal failure!
How to make crumpets
Here’s how to make crumpets in 3 easy steps:
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Mix water, flour and salt to form a sticky but stirrable batter. Then mix in yeast dissolved in a bit of water, baking powder and sugar to form a smooth batter;
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Leave in a warm place for 30 minutes until the surface gets foamy; then
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Ladle into rings and cook on the stove until bubbles pop on the surface and the top is cooked.
It is quite straightforward, but because homemade crumpets is a bit of a unique recipe, I’m going to add a bit more information about each step in the proceeding sections. If you’re not interested, jump to the recipe! (Or video – or Dozer 😂)
The crumpet batter
The crumpet batter is literally a dump-and-mix job, though you do need to mix well for a couple of minutes by hand (or half that time using a handheld mixer) which I assume is to get good gluten formation to get that signature chew for any type of yeast bread, as opposed to being “cakey”.
Then once mixed, you simply put it in a warm place so it gets nice and foamy. This is the equivalent of dough rising so the crumpets rise when they’re cooking.
The crumpet batter won’t increase in volume very much – just around 10 / 15%.
Crumpet rings
Crumpet rings are a “thing”. They are around 9 cm / 3.5″ wide and about 2.5cm / 1″ tall. The ones I have are non stick, but they come in silver too.
But honestly, anything metal and round will do the trick – egg rings, biscuit cutters, scone cutters, even cleaned large tuna cans. Actually, it doesn’t even have to be round! Star shaped crumpets, anyone??
Cooking crumpets
Now, I’m not going to lie to you – you probably won’t nail the first one. It does take practice – but no more than when you first started out perfecting the art of golden fluffy pancakes or pikelets!
The secret to cooking crumpets perfectly is to start them off on a high heat to get those bubbles activated, then turn the stove down so the crumpet cooks through without burning the base. The cooking technique is one change I made to the original Warburtons recipe – they say to cook on medium high the whole time = scorched base.
Though store bought crumpets don’t have colour on the holey side, I like to flip to get a blush of colour on it and cook any residual raw batter.
And here’s a close up of the inside of the crumpets with the signature vertical “tunnels” from the holes!
Even better the next day!!
An essential step with crumpets is to cool them completely, otherwise they are kind of moist and “doughy” inside.
In fact, if you want an absolute dead ringer for store bought crumpets, they are best made the day before, or the day before! They keep for days in the fridge – I’ve kept them for 5 days and once toasted, they are perfect.
Can you freezer homemade crumpets?
They freezer perfectly too. Thaw or even microwave thaw, then toast as usual!
How to eat a crumpet
I realise that writing about how to eat crumpets may induce eye rolling from Crumpet-Eating-Experts. But bear with me – not everyone has been eating crumpets all their life!
Toasting is essential to make the golden base crispy. Then slather with butter (what do you think all those holes are for?? So the crumpet gets soaked with butter, from top to bottom!) then spread of choice.
What to put on crumpets
As far as what to put on crumpets (other than the mandatory butter) – honey is by far the top choice (think – hole seepage). My personal second choice is Vegemite (it’s an Aussie thing 🇦🇺), followed by jam. Other spreads like Nutella and peanut butter go great too – whatever you put on toast, you can put on crumpets!
Though if you want the ultimate crumpet experience, don’t go past butter and honey. That moment when you bite into the crumpet and salty melted butter and sweet molten honey squirts into your mouth…
Arrrgh … I’m torturing myself at the thought. I’m off to toast another crumpet for morning tea! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Crumpet recipe
Ingredients
- 150g (1 cup) white flour , plain / all purpose
- 200ml (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) warm water , tap water (200g) (Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp salt , cooking/kosher salt (1/4 tsp table salt)
- 1/2 tsp white sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
Yeast Mixture
- 1 tsp yeast , instant/rapid rise OR dry active yeast (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp warm water (just tap water)
Cooking:
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter , melted (or vegetable oil)
Instructions
Crumpet Batter:
- Place flour, water and salt in a bowl and whisk for 2 minutes (electric beater 1 minute on speed 5).
- Yeast Mixture - Dissolve Yeast into 1 tbsp warm water in a small bowl.
- Add Yeast Mixture, sugar and baking powder into bowl, then whisk for 30 seconds (or 15 sec speed 5).
- Cover with cling wrap or plate, then place in a very warm place for 15 to 30 minutes until the surface gets nice and foamy. It will only increase in volume by ~10 - 15%.
Cooking Crumpets:
- Grease 2 or 3 rings with butter (approx 9 cm / 3.5" wide, though any ring or metal shaper will do, Note 3) (TIP: Non stick rings - brush with melted butter. Everything else - smear with butter)
- Brush non stick skillet lightly with melted butter then place rings in the skillet.
- Turn stove on medium high (medium for strong stoves) and bring to heat (Note 4 for "sizzle test").
- Pour 1/4 cup batter into the rings (65ml), about 1cm / 2/5" deep (will rise ~60%).
- Cook for 1 1/2 minutes - bubbles should start appearing on the surface (but not popping yet).
- Turn heat down to medium, cook for 1 minute - some bubbles should pop around the edges.
- Turn heat down to medium low, cook for a further 2 1/2 to 4 minutes, until the surface is "set" and it's clear there will be no more bubbles popping! (At this stage you can help the final bubbles pop with a skewer!)
- Remove rings (you might need to run knife around to loosen).
- Then flip and cook the other side for 20 to 30 seconds for a blush of colour.
- Transfer to write rack (golden side down) and fully cool.
- Can be eaten once cool, but it's even better the next day (Note 5).
How to eat crumpets:
- Toast in a toaster until the base is crispy.
- Slather generously with butter, then spread of choice (honey is perfection) and devour immediately!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
And every once in a while, his patience pays off and food I’m shooting falls to the ground….
Enzo Alviano says
Hi
If you want to make 12 or 24, do you just double or quadruple the quantities?
4 tsp of baking powder seems
alot
Nagi says
Hi Enzo – you can adjust the servings by clicking the slider in the “servings” section. All ingredients will adjust for you, 4 tsp seems like a lot but remember you are doing 4 times the original recipe. N x
Enzo says
Great, thanks Nagi.
I didn’t notice the slider. It appears if you hover over the number. A useful tool.
👍
Sue says
Another brilliant recipe Nagi. My first attempt at making crumpets was a great success thanks to your clear detailed instructions. We couldn’t wait for them to cool completely! They were delicious warm for breakfast with butter and honey. We always enjoy seeing what Dozer is up to, it makes our day.
Mary says
Love this recipe really easy and works well. Made them on the BBQ hot plate a real success. Thanks
Erin says
This looks amazing! Dozer is adorable, he is a golden retriever right?
Nagi says
Yes he sure is 🙂 N x
Erin says
He is really cute!
Catherine Davies says
Really easy recipe thank you we doubled it and our rings were only 5 or 6 cms so we got 20 crumpets managed to wait till they had cooled to try them then have some in the fridge for tomorrow morning for breakfast
Hyunika says
Never try or taste Crumpet before and doing it for the first time with your amazing easy recipe. It was delicious! Will do it again. Thank you!
Tanya says
Hi there Nagi, I’m wondering how the recipe can be adapted to substitute with wholemeal flour instead of white flour? I tried it myself but the end result was more like a thick doughy pancake!
Nagi says
Hi Tanya, I haven’t tried with wholemeal sorry! N x
Anita says
Will rubber egg rings work?
Nagi says
Hi Anita, I imagine they will, just cease them well 🙂 N x
AC says
These were so easy to make and turned out perfectly. This is now my go to recipe for crumpets. Thanks!
Yana says
AMAZING! So surprised how easy and healthy these are. Never buying store bought again. Will be making a big batch and freezing for the next week or two. Thanks Nagi!
Dawna says
I’m going to try these again – I tried them tonight and the dough ended up quite thick. The taste is good but they look more like an English muffin … I’m it quite sure where I went wrong but try again I will.
Redonia Moore says
Thank you for the wonderful crumpet recipe. I have heard about crumpets all my life, but never had the chance to try them, until now. I made them for my husband and myself the very evening that you published the recipe and thanks to your instructions, they were perfect! My husband asks for them quite often now. Thank you so much for sharing all your recipes. If the TV networks had any sense, they would give you your own cooking show(With Dozer letting you co-star, of course!) I am one of many who feel this way.
Jayne says
Oh my!! absolutely gorgeous, I didn’t use the cup measurements as I find this doesn’t always work for me, I managed to make 7 and after tasting one they were soon gone, so I shall definitely be making more, thank you so much for posting this recipe.
Nagi says
Hi Jayne, if you’re ever confused, use the metric measurement as grams and ml are the same no matter what country you’re in! N x
Julie Choung says
Hi, I read a few comments that mentioned they were able to make about 9 crumpets. I was only able to make 5 using 1/4 cup. Does that mean my mix didn’t rise enough? Also, mine didn’t bubble as much as yours when I cooked them. They were still very good!
Rebecca says
Oh my these Crumpets are delicious, all I need is bigger egg rings.
Thanks Nagi 😊
Kelly Robitaille says
Holy cow! These turned out great first try. I may have made them a bit too thick, so I only got 4, but they set perfect and tasted great with butter and honey. This is a keeper for sure, my husband loved them. Thank you.
Julie says
I made them twice, once following your heat instruction and the second time at med low temperature and both times I couldn’t get the top to set without burning the bottom. At the end, I had to turn and cook the top side for 1-2 minutes. Also, even after leaving the batter for 30 minutes or so, I could only get 5-6 crumpets out of it. What am I doing wrong? They still tasted very good but I really want to get it just right.
Narelle Lee says
Amazing! Thank you Nagi 😊 I’ve always been afraid to make crumpets but decided to try today and used your recipe. So easy! Will definitely make them again. Keep up the great work! Thx again.
Nagi says
I’m so glad you gave it a go Narelle! N x
Roselli S says
Finally, finally made the best crumpets!! I have tried so many recipes and have thrown away countless of wannabe crumpets in the trash! No holes! Made this recipe twice today because first batch was gone as soon as they hit the cooling rack. Tomorrow we will have homemade crumpets for breakfast, fried egg and vegemite. Thanks again Nagi!
Ira Lofthouse says
Aaaah! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I bought a package from a Central Market but it’s a bit of a ways for me to drive to just buy them each time. This recipe is spot on! Saving it on my favorites now as I plan on making a big batch next weekend!
Michael says
These are excellent. I found I had to add a lid to the frypan for the last 4 minutes of cooking to ensure the top set.