Sourdough crumpets, a disaster the first time

Update 5/6/2020

I found a simple recipe in Stuff :

Ingredients

• 1 cup sourdough starter discard (unfed)

• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar ( I now use about 1/2 teaspoon)
  

• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

• Scant ½ teaspoon baking soda

• Neutral oil and melted butter, for greasing the pan

Simple but I overfilled the rings and it frothed out. I made 4 1/2 crumpets, the ones for breakfast were a bit soft.  Only fill to about 1/2 way on rings (- about 3 tablespoons) I'll see if the rest firm up tomorrow.

Crumpets

Although I was disappointed with my Sourdough bread, I've been maintaining the Sourdough starter and feeding it each week. I have a calendar event set up to remind me.

I tried the pancakes and they were OK, but I dont think I want them every week.
I came across a couple of YouTube sites suggesting banana bread and I'll plan to get some bananas and give that a test.

Sourdough crumpets

One article I came across was for crumpets. Now, I love them, but have been avoiding buying them as they just soak up the butter, and my waistline is growing with all the unhealthy things I'm eating (Sausage rolls, spring rolls, spicy wedges etc).
But actually making them sounded interesting, especially as I have the sourdough to get rid of. So I thought I'd give it a try as I had the starter sitting on the counter. I fossicked through the cupboards to find some baking soda and found that too. Also I got a skillet out and scrubbed the rust off it.
I know one setting on the stove, high. So I followed the recipe, got the frothing of the mixture (I think next time I'd divide it into 2 and so give 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda, that means the initial froth would be maintained).

A disaster

The pan was too hot and not enough oil under the crumpets so they stuck and burned. I was too hasty lifting them off so the top had not cooked and leaked out. I also used the small ring so the heat wasn't even.
I then tried the rest of the mixture all ion a pan (not a skillet) and the centre stuck while the sides were still wet. So that tore up and was munted too. A total disaster.
Next time I will know what to expect and take a slower approach. Halving the mixture, oiling pan and rings well, and leaving until the top shows its dry before trying to turn them over.
It had a nice smell. I think it did have the right consistency for a crumpet. I just need to do a bit more research on it.  Also the rings I have are only about 5mm high, I need higher ones.

2nd run 

Another week, so sourdough starter needs to be turned. I've replaced the one cup of flour/water mix and emptied a cup of sourdough starter

This time I split it into 2 cups and halved the added bits to the recipe. I found the baking soda frothed very quickly so wanted to manage it better.  

I have not found higher sided rings yet, so reused the egg rings. I also used a table spoon to pour the mixture into the skillet.

I set the electric stove to 5 1/4 to 5 1/2 and the initial batch I waited until the top had all cooked, this ended up with the bottoms slightly burned, also in the 2nd half I turned the stove up to 6. 

So for the 2nd batch, still from the first 1/2 cup, I dropped the temp back to the 5 1/2 and kept it there. 

Also, the skillet seems to have bowed over time, so oil goes to the sides, leaving the middle of the pan dry which encourages the burning.

I've only 3 egg rings, so have to do them in smaller batches. They were washed after every batch and seemed to keep greased (I used a butter wrapping from a used up butter). 

They are a bit small in diameter, mainly due to size of rings, also small in height. I would prefer them the size of the shop bought ones. 

The final batch was 14 crumpets. I will freeze them in batches and take them out for breakfast.

End comment 

I was prepared for all of the hazards the first time around  this time around and it went a lot more smoothly. 

Breakfast was pancetta (in microwave first as its thick NZ pancetta (almost bacon)) with egg (from Crêpe maker, so no oil) on crumpets with butter. 

A nice combination, but as the crumpets were so thin you couldn't get much of a flavour from them. I may try with just scrambled eggs the next time. 

They definitely need to be made thicker, so I'll hold off the recipe until I can get deeper rings. 

One thing I noticed when cooking them is that I used quite a lot of olive oil, yet the ones in the supermarket look quite dry and fluffy. 

I may try a non-sourdough starter recipe and see how that goes. Bigger rings first.

Recipe from website above

• 270 grams (1 cup) "100%" natural starter (see note) -- it doesn't need to be particularly ripe, and may have been kept in the fridge for a few weeks
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• vegetable oil for greasing

Instructions

1. Pace the starter in a large bowl, about 1 liter (1 quart) in capacity. Add the sugar and salt, and whisk to combine.
2. Place a lightly oiled skillet over medium heat, or preheat a griddle to 180°C (360°F). Grease crumpet rings well, if using, and place on the skillet to preheat.
3. When the skillet and rings are hot, add the baking soda to the batter and whisk it in. As the baking soda reacts to the acid in the starter, the batter will quickly start to foam and rise.
4. Using a measuring cup, a small ladle, or an ice cream scoop, pour about 60 ml (1/4 cup) of the batter into each crumpet ring, or directly onto the skillet if you're not using rings.
5. Cook for a few minutes, until the top is set; exact timing will depend on your stove, your skillet, and the thickness of your crumpets. (If your stove has hot spots -- and I don't mean the wifi type -- you may have to rotate the skillet every once in a while, and rotate each crumpet after a few minutes so they brown evenly.) As they cook, the crumpets will gradually shrink back from the rings.

6. Using tongs, lift the crumpet rings off the crumpets (wriggle them loose and/or use a knife to help loosen the crumpets if they stick a bit), and optionally (this is not traditional but I prefer them that way), flip the crumpets to brown lightly on the other side.
7. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
8. The crumpets can also be frozen once cooled: freeze them in a single layer on a cookie sheet before putting them in a freezer bag so they won't clump. You can pop them in the toaster straight from the freezer.