Sourdough (Discard) Crumpets

This recipe is just the King Arthur Flour recipe barely tweaked with my notes based on my experience putting these together. This is the only recipe I want to use my discard for from now on; that's how good it is, how easy it is, and to be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of taking normal recipes and just adding a blob of starter. It's just not my preference; but hey, you do you.

Ingredients [yields 4 crumpets]:
240 g sourdough discard
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ to ½ teaspoon baking soda (use more for a less sour crumpet)
+ butter for griddling

To assemble the batter, literally just chuck everything into a bowl and stir until homogenous but don't over-mix or you'll lose a lot of the airiness. Set the batter aside to relax for 15 minutes.

While the dough is resting, you can prep your toppings, whatever they may be. I went for a savory version with homemade lemon ricotta, pesto, and tomatoes. And I also made a sweet option with the same lemon ricotta and some berries simply macerated in a little honey.

To griddle the crumpets, get a heavy-bottomed pan heating over medium low and add just enough butter to coat the bottom of the pan. Grease your ring mold (all I have are biscuit cutters which are fluted on one side but it worked fine) and pop it onto the pan. Once it's had a minute to warm up, pour some batter into the center. The batter puffs up and aerates more as it hits the heat so you only need a couple of temperatures.

Treat these like pancakes. As the bubbles on the surface start to really slow down, you'll know it's ready to flip. Depending on the type of mold you're using, you can remove it and then flip, or flip and then remove. Cook on the second side until it's just as golden brown as the first.

And then, take it one step further by splitting the crumpets in half, buttering them generously, and toasting the exposed side before topping and consuming.

These have a really lovely depth of flavor from the sourdough, a crisp exterior, a chewy and incredibly moreish interior, and they're incredibly versatile. They're great plain with just butter, delicious with jam, great with savory toppings, and overall fun and easy to make.

Here's the recipe page: