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….
Would love some instructions on turning it into a crumpet loaf-like the “Golden” brand one.
Delicious and much nicer than bought crumpets. It took a bit of trial and error to get the temperature right but they turned out nicely in the end.
I love this recipe. I add a little butter flavor to the batter often in the firm of substituting buttery popcorn salt instead of regular table salt in the mix. I do find that in order for the crumpets to really turn out like the instructions show though, the batter has to be very watery. And I mean VERY watery. I mean like pourable. The directions seem to give me something very pasty that doubles in volume with gas bubbles.
Vor volumetric measure I’m talking like two cups of flour to around two and a half cups of water.
It’s not like I’m going by mass though, so the original recipe in grams could well be accurate.
Great recipe, so easy and my crumpets were perfect! I was having a craving, ordered some rings, and so glad I used this recipe. I have a lot of your recipes and always perfection! Taste just how I remember them x
Recipe does not say when to use step 1 (flour, water, salt) .Is it meant that the Yeast Mixture with the sugar and baking powder in step 2 is to be added to the bowl with flour, and water (step 1), not in a bowl alone to get frothy per step 4?
This is a cracking recipe. I got some rings off Amazon and gave it a go. Absolutely fantastic. I’ve just tweaked it ever so slightly by doing 2/3rds plain flour 1/3rd bread flour. It gives that perfect rubbery ness for my taste. All plain flour was just a little bit too cakey for me.
In fact as I do this I’m doing a double batch to take to work for everyone to have for breakfast tomorrow
As a Brit, crumpets are practically a staple like bread. I remember Warburtons releasing this recipe during lockdown (very generous of them) when people were stuck at home and everyone was doing lots of home baking. I can tell you that crumpets are also delicious toasted with melted cheddar on top, jam if you prefer or just plain toasted with lots of butter. They’re delicious any way you eat them. Over here you can buy them all year round and we now have rectangular ones and giant ones.
Perfection! The recipe was so concise and easily understood and EASY! Thank you! The results were better than I ever expected and they are delicious!
Tried someone else’s recipe today and it was not right. On reading this one, I see what was wrong, and I thank you. Will get back to you after I make a batch of these! Thank you!
I’ve cooked crumpets before which tasted good but not great. These are quick and way surpassed good. These were outrageous!!! I ate 4 (don’t tell anyone)
You can make pikelets without a crumpet ring. They’re just a little flatter and shaped more like a griddle cake. Still good though.
Would this work with whole wheat flour?
HELLO NAGI, I WOULD SAY “SPONGY” INSTEAD OF RUBBERY………..AND THEY LOOK SIMILAR~ THANKS FOR THE RECIPES~~~~~~~~
Water/flour ratio. The most important thing here would seem to be consistency of the batter; i weighed flour and water and did not end up with a pourable batter, which the video shows. It was more a blancmange consistency, and bubbles didn’t pop.
Flours vary immensely so maybe weight is not foolproof? I’ll be sure to do whatever it takes to make a pourable batter next time.
Hi,
I’m wondering if I could make these in the Lodge Drop Biscuit (cast iron) pan instead of using the rings?
Amazing. Loved them. Might have to double the recipe and there were only 3 of us today! Used egg rings but might have to buy the real crumpet rings. Many thanks for the recipe Nagi.
Going to try this soon and can’t wait. Also, butter and golden syrup is the best crumpet topping IMO.
Amazing. The simplest and most reliable recipe! These were delicious. Didn’t last long though. Freezing them? Hahahaha I don’t think so!
my first try to make it and as usual your recipe never fails for me….thank you a loads
YUM!! Thank you for this terrific crumpet recipe, Nagi – they were delicious!! I just have to master the quantity per ring, but regardless of their shape, they were fantastic!