Pinkies Up! Make Traditional English Crumpets for an Afternoon Tea Treat (2024)

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No Afternoon Tea Is Complete Without These

Elaine Lemm

Elaine Lemm is a renowned British food writer, classically trained chef, teacher, and author with over 25 years of experience writing about British food and cooking.

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Updated on 06/22/23

Tested by

Diana Andrews

Tested byDiana Andrews

Diana has served as head recipe developer and editor for the Emmy-nominated PBS series Moveable Feast, food editor and test kitchen manager at Fine Cooking Magazine, and recipe developer and product tester at Food Network.

Learn about The Spruce Eats'Editorial Process

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What Exactly Is An English Crumpet?

Crumpets are a griddled bread that falls somewhere between an English muffin and a pancake. Like an English muffin, they're full of tiny holes, but their loose batter more closely resembles that of a pancake.

While crumpets and English muffins are similar in size and cooked on the stovetop, there are some key differences between the two breakfast and teatime classics. Crumpets have an extremely airy, spongy dough with lots of distinctive bubbles throughout and visible on top. English muffins, while also airy, are solid on both sides and are made to be split open and topped with butter or jam.

Crumpets have the best qualities of both English muffins and pancakes: The extra yeasty batter creates the delicate holes on top, perfect for soaking up jam andbutter, but also thin and moist on its own.

Tips for Making Crumpets Like a Brit

Don't give up if your first couple of crumpets don't turn out perfectly—it takes practice. It only takes making one or two crumpets until you get the hang of it.

We recommend cooking one crumpet at a time for the first one or two rounds to let you tweak the temperature and the mixture.
If the crumpet batter seeps out from under the ring into the pan, it means the batter is too thin. Whisk in more flour to thicken, adding a small amount at a time.
If a cooked crumpet is heavy and without holes, the batter is too thick; slowly add more water until a better consistency develops.
If you don't have any pastry or crumpet rings, you can use a similar-sized, clean food can—just be careful with any sharp edges.
This recipe yields about 24 crumpets. Freeze what you don't eat. They're really easy to reheat in the toaster.

Pinkies Up! Make Traditional English Crumpets for an Afternoon Tea Treat (4)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups milk
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
See Also
Drop Scones (Scotch Pancakes)
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
Oil for the pan, or cooking spray
For serving: Butter and jam

Steps to Make It

Gather the ingredients.
Warm the milk in a saucepan. Make sure that it is warm butnot boiling. Otherwise, it will kill the yeast.
Skim any film off of the top.
Whisk together the warmed milk, flour, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl.
Once combined, add half the water and beat into the batter.
Continue to add more water until the batter is thick and smooth. Stop adding water once it reaches the consistency of thick cream.
Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size and foaming. This should take about 1 hour but can take up to 2 hours (keep an eye on it).
Whisk the salt and baking powder into the batter.
Heat a large heavy-duty non-stick skillet over medium to medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Moisten apaper towel with a little oil (alternatively, use cooking spray) and carefully grease the base of the pan and crumpet (or pastry) rings measuring approximately 3 inches wide by 1/2 inch tall.
Place 1 ring on the heated pan and pour in enough batter to fill just below the top of the ring, about 1/4 cup.
Cook for 5 minutes, until there are many tiny holes on the surface and the crumpet is setting around the edges.
Flip the crumpet over (in the ring) and cook until the crumpet is light brown and cooked through, about 3 minutes more. Adjust the temperature as needed. Repeat with the remaining batter, greasing the pan in between each batch.
Rest the crumpets on a wire rack until cool. To reheat, place crumpets in a toaster or directly on the center rack in a 350 F oven for about 5 minutes before serving. Serve with lots of butter and jam.

Tips

We recommend cooking one crumpet at a time for the first one or two rounds to let you tweak the temperature and the mixture.
If the crumpet batter seeps out from under the ring into the pan, it means the batter is too thin. Whisk in more flour to thicken, adding a small amount at a time.
If a cooked crumpet is heavy and without holes, the batter is too thick; slowly add more water until a better consistency develops.
If you don't have any pastry or crumpet rings, you can use a similar-sized, clean food can—just be careful with any sharp edges.

How to Freeze Bread for Maximum Freshness

British Desserts
Breads
British Sides

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
171	Calories
3g	Fat
30g	Carbs
5g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 10to 12
Amount per serving
Calories	171
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 3g	4%
Saturated Fat 1g	6%
Cholesterol 5mg	2%
Sodium 91mg	4%
Total Carbohydrate 30g	11%
Dietary Fiber 1g	4%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 5g
Vitamin C 0mg	0%
Calcium 66mg	5%
Iron 2mg	10%
Potassium 86mg	2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Recipe Tags:

breakfast bread
griddle cakes
breakfast
british

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Pinkies Up! Make Traditional English Crumpets for an Afternoon Tea Treat (2024)

What Exactly Is An English Crumpet?

Tips for Making Crumpets Like a Brit

Tips

References