Sourdough Crumpets

Crumpets anyone?

"Crumpets are the quintessential, afternoon tea treat, served warm with lots of butter. The soft, spongy crumpets we know today, reputedly, come from the Victorian era and are very different from early, flat griddle cakes. It is the extra yeast in the batter which creates the soft texture and the myriad of little holes on the top (so perfect for soaking up the butter)." link

Crumpets have never graced a plate in my kitchen. I've read references to English tea and crumpets, but have never held or tasted one. The commercial packages of crumpets at the local grocery look uninviting, more like wimpy, anemic cousins of the extra-crispy English muffins that I love. Now how's that for an unfair, blatantly uninformed opinion?! Sourdough Surprises chose Griddle Breads for the September 2015 challenge, prompting  me to give this griddled yeast bread a try. 

The ingredient lists and directions I found in various online recipes were simple enough. Crumpets sounded more like fat pancakes or thin English muffins - easy peasy, right? Well, not quite. As with so many seemingly simple things, the devil is in the details. Batter consistency, the amount of batter per crumpet ring, griddle temperature and the decision to flip or not to flip can drastically alter the appearance and texture of these round, crater-speckled little disks. Success is apparently to be measured by the quantity of holes on the upper surface. 

I chose an old 1991 recipe I found online at the King Arthur Flour site (link). In my experience, King Arthur recipes rarely fail. Old Faithful, my sourdough starter, was refreshed, rested and ready for action, hanging out at room temperature on the counter near the stovetop. A heavy, well-seasoned cast iron, smallish mixing bowl, a silicone whisk and six metal muffin rings rounded out the equipment list. Ready, set go!

The simple batter called for four ingredients: 1 cup of sourdough starter, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. Poof! a gazillion carbon dioxide bubbles form to fluff up the batter. My starter is fairly stiff, so I added 3 tablespoons of milk to loosen up the batter to a more pancake batter-like consistency. Why milk? I had read somewhere online that crumpets typically include milk whereas English muffins call for water. 

Lightly grease the griddle or heavy skillet and the inside of each metal ring to minimize sticking (use well-washed tuna cans if you don't have crumpet rings). Preheat the pan and the rings for several minutes over low to low-medium heat on the stovetop. (I used a setting of 2.5 out of 8 on my electric range)   

Ladle or pour some batter into the greased rings, filling no more than half way up (a scant 1/3 cup in each). This allows some space for the batter to rise. Cook over low to low-medium heat until the tops are set and bubbles stop forming (4-5 minutes on my range). Remove the rings and flip; briefly cook the second side for a minute or two to set up and add color. 

Set the cooked crumpets aside, regrease the metal rings and repeat the above cooking steps with the rest of the batter. I added a few more tablespoons of milk to to the remaining mix to see if a smaller quantity of a looser batter would produce more holes. This time I ladled only 1/4 cup of batter into each ring.

This second batch produced thinner crumpets with fewer holes. What? The looser-batter test results were inconclusive, since the baking soda may have lost its lifting power oomph over time. No problem with taste however, these thinner disks still rated two thumbs up with RL as he ate one straight from the skillet.  

Thin crumpets are tasty enough hot off the griddle, but are even better when toasted, rendering them fairly toothsome and crispy throughout. Fatter crumpets emerge from the toaster with crisp exteriors and soft, almost fluffy interiors. Blame it on my existing love affair with English muffins, but I like to split the fat muffins in half before toasting to crisp up the insides a bit more and minimize the soft texture. Add butter and honey and you might discover that crumpets are so good you can't eat just one. Go ahead, see for yourself. Then click over to Sourdough Surprises and check out this month's griddle cakes from other kitchens.

Sourdough Crumpets

recipe from King Arthur Flour

yields 6 crumpets

1 cup sourdough starter at room temperature

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 2 tablespoons warm water or milk

1. Lightly grease the heavy griddle or skillet and the inside of crumpet rings (or well-washed tuna cans). Preheat on stovetop over low to low-medium heat.
2. Place the cup of starter in a small mixing bowl. Sprinkle the sugar and salt over the starter and stir in.
3. Dissolve the baking soda in 2 tablespoons of warm water and add to the starter. Whisk or stir into the starter. When the batter lightens and fluffs, you are ready to cook.
4. Ladle batter into each ring, filling no more than half full. Cook over low heat until the top sets up and bubbles quit forming, usually 4 to 5 minutes or more. 
5. Remove the rings and flip to cook an additional minute or two on the second side.
6. Set aside on a baking rack while you cook up the rest of the batter. 
7. Toast and spread with butter and/or honey. Enjoy!

Sourdough Grissini Twists

revisiting Italian Restaurant Breadsticks

Flashback to those early-married, on-a-tight-budget years when we occasionally splurged on a big night out by heading north to the Italian Spaghetti House on Lake City Way. The atmosphere was faux Italian, heavy on trellises with ivy and grape clusters, walls filled with colorful Mediterranean maps and murals, and candles dripping wax down twine-wrapped chianti bottles. The place felt dimly romantic, its dining room dark enough to require a lighter to illuminate the menu. 

Decades ago, before Olive Garden, Buca, Macaroni Grill, Carrabas or Maggianos came to town, this was our affordable Italian destination. The food? What did we order? maybe spaghetti with meatballs? or lasagna? I don't recall much beyond tall glasses filled with cellophane-wrapped grissini and, in later years, baskets of soft, flavorful breadsticks. What was the lure of those dry, crisp packaged grissini? Whatever the attraction, I do remember scarfing up every single one on the table, every time. That was decades ago, the restaurant long since closed and grissini have all but disappeared from food memory.

Fast forward to recent months and packaged grissini are visible again, stocked on grocery shelves all over town, at ordinary stores from Albertson's to Trader Joe's. Maybe I have just become more attentive since #TwelveLoaves focused on Italian breads for March 2015, and SourdoughSurprises invited bakers to revisit any of the previous 36 topics for this month's group post, perhaps something previously missed. Hmmm, something Italian plus a sourdough something I haven't baked before... Aha! "grissini!" It's more than time to try a batch in my galley, striving to add a bit more flavor to a homemade sourdough version of those short, crisp bread batons.

Sourdough Grissini Twists

based on a recipe from homejoys 

This recipe makes one dozen grissini

1/2 cup sourdough starter, fed and rested
1/2 cup A/P flour (plus more as needed to knead)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon smoked salt omit in future
1/4 teaspoon Italian herb mix (Penzeys, Ltd.)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Toppings: I used Gourmet Garden's Italian Herbs paste for half of the dough; a homemade Za'atar mix for the remainder. (sumac, thyme, sesame seed, sea salt and coarse ground black pepper)

1. Combine all ingredients except the toppings and mix well to combine. Let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. 
   
2. Turn out onto a well-floured board and knead until soft and smooth, about 5 to 8 minutes, adding more flour sparingly as needed (note: the dough should remain moist and soft). Place in a greased bowl, cover loosely and let rise for at least 3 hours. Every hour gently fold and turn the dough to encourage the gluten to stretch.
   
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking sheets (silpats). 
4. Roll or press the dough into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Spread with the filling(s) of your choice. Use a pizza cutter (straight edge optional) to slice the dough crosswise into even strips.
   
5. Gently twist and stretch each strip; place on the prepared baking sheets and press down the ends to prevent any un-twisting.
   
    
6. Place in the preheated oven and bake until lightly browned, about 25-28 minutes depending on the thickness of your dough. Keep a careful watch during the last few minutes; grissini can go from undercooked to burnt very quickly. Cool completely before serving.     

Results:
Taste: The smoked salt flavor was not discernible, adding nothing remotely smoky to the dough, so I'll skip it in the future. Italian Herb paste won top honors as the preferred filling. These grissini were especially popular when dipped in a balsamic vinegar and olive oil mix. 

The z'atar-filled grissini were a disappointment, boring in comparison with the herb paste favorites. However, wrapped in fennel-flavored salami these bland grissini upped their popularity considerably!

  
Texture: Pan A, baked for 28 minutes produced a pleasantly crisp baton, cracker-like in texture, and much preferred over Pan B's softer, almost pizza-crust bite from a 25 minute cook. Pan A went directly into the oven while Pan B rested for 30 minutes. No significant rise or oven spring was noted for either pan; these grissini were crisp and chewy, not light and airy. I might roll the dough thicker next time to see how/if it impacts the texture, or try an overnight first rise, or even add a bit of commercial yeast for comparison.   

Appearance: Visuals do matter! I love the twisted version of these grissini rather than the smooth breadstick log of memory. The herb paste's vibrant green color pop set my taste buds tingling even before the first bite, and it really delivered on flavor. 

Sesame seeds in the za-atar filling shyly hinted at a flavor treat, but failed to deliver. This filling was upstaged by the herb paste in both appearance and taste. This surprised me since za'atar has been a hit as a focaccia dough ingredient; evidently it loses flavor impact when scattered on top. 

Today's small trial batch worked for an afternoon snack, but I'll make a double recipe soon. Grissini are tempting as a standalone item, but will really shine when paired with a bowl of soup, something hearty like Tuscan White Bean Soup or Italian Mushroom Soup or maybe Minestrone. 

Some things never change - I'll still want to scarf up every grissini on the table!  

submitted to #SourdoughSurprises and #TwelveLoaves for March 2015 

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