Whole wheat crumpets get a bit more fiber from wheat flour, and honey adds a little twist to this surprisingly easy bread recipe! It’s freezer friendly and easy to follow so even newer bread bakers can achieve delicious results.
I tried making crumpets once, years and years ago, and it didn’t turn out right, so I just bought them. That is, until I stumbled across my friend Brian’s recipe on his blog, Krumpli. Random side note, krumpli means potato in Hungarian, a friend of mine taught me that the other day. I have a soft spot for trying recipes based on childhood memories, and reading his crumpet story, I knew I had to make them. I also knew the results would be different than last time because he worked on his recipe until it matched his memory. And that, my dears, usually indicates a wonderful recipe.
I’ve made his recipe at least 5 or 6 times over the past few months. My husband loves having a crumpet with a sunny side up egg for weekend breakfast, and my daughter likes that I make some “Mi-Mi”-shaped for her. I’ve made the recipe as written, with a blend of half whole wheat and half white flour, and all whole wheat flour, which is what I’m sharing today. I switch out the sugar for honey when I make the crumpets completely with whole wheat just because I can. I do find that I get a more “traditional” crumpet top side out of the white flour. You’ll see that the wheat flour doesn’t have as large holes across the top of the crumpet, but the texture inside is spot on.
The trick to making crumpets successfully is to be patient and keep your skillet heat low. If you rush, you will burn the bottom of the crumpet or end up with crumpets that haven’t dried properly and are raw in the middle. Neither is a desirable outcome. Oh, and don’t forget to grease the rings between each batch. The baking takes very little time if you have biscuit rings like these, because you can fit several in a skillet.
I haven’t purchased rings yet, and I’m not sure why given that I make crumpets rather regularly-ish, but you can also use a round metal cookie cutter that’s approximately the same size, or even an egg ring for fun shapes. 😉 If you don’t have enough (I don’t), cooking will take a little longer. Once I know I have the temperature correct, I use my timer to track when I need to flip so I can take care of other things around the kitchen. Don’t wander away… it’s not safe!
Once your crumpets are done and cool, you can pop them into a freezer-safe plastic bag and freeze until you’re ready to eat. Toast from frozen. They’ll also keep a few days loosely covered at room temperature, but probably won’t last that long. It’s all too easy to toast one quickly and slather it with butter. I totally agree with Brian on this, butter is the perfect complete topping for a crumpet, all by itself. In the interest of research though, I did “test” jam and it too is delicious. It’s a rough life. 😉
Now, enough chit chat. It’s time to make some whole wheat crumpets! Be sure to check out Brian’s site, Krumpli, and follow his adventures running a farm in Hungary. I’ve made several of his recipes and we’ve always found the results to be delicious! Enjoy, darlings!
Whole Wheat Crumpets
Ingredients
- 3 cups whole wheat flour, 450g
- 1 tsp honey or sugar
- 1 tsp packet yeast, 2 1/4 , 7 g
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk, 350 ml
- 1 1/2 cups club soda, 350 ml, carbonated water
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- Neutral flavored oil or cooking spray
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, yeast, and sugar (if using instead of honey)
- In a small saucepan, heat the milk and club soda until slightly warmed (about 68 F, 20 C). Watch carefully because you don't want this to get hot and kill your yeast!
- Stir the milk mixture into the dry ingredients, add the honey (if using). Mix well, then cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 2 hours until nice and bubbly and nearly double in size.
- Preheat your biscuit rings or cookie cutters in a heavy bottomed skillet over medium low heat. Be sure to spray or brush the inside of your molds with the oil!
- Put just enough dough into the mold to barely cover the bottom (it will grow) and cook for 8-10 minutes. You want to allow enough time for the air bubbles to form. The bottom will end up a pretty light golden brown.
- Flip, removing the molds and cook for 1-1.5 minutes longer, no more. Remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Repeat with the remaining batter.
