Prep time: 2 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Yield: 4 crumpets/ pikelets

This recipe is simple as can be and is a great way to turn over excess sourdough starter in a delicious way. The second time made thesecI added a little strong white flour and fresh water to my starter about 10 minutes before I added the bicarb. This was to lighten the crumpets a little as my starter is made purely of white rye flour and water and the flavour was pretty intense.  These make a wonderful breakfast when topped with crispy smoked bacon and poached eggs.

You will need:

290g sourdough starter recipe here
1 tsp bicarb
Pinch of salt
50g strong white flour (optional)
50g water (only use if you add the extra flour)
Butter for basting (bacon grease works well for extra flavour)

Making it:

Set a heavy based frying pan over a medium low heat.

Mix the bicarb into the sourdough starter. Add a little oil to the pan. Pour 1/4 of the mix into the pan and slowly cook out. When the pikelet/ crumpet starts to dry out on top add a knob of butter to the pan and as it bubbles and browns baste the pikelet with the foaming butter. If you want to make crumpets follow the above steps but place a buttered crumpet ring in the pan before pouring in the batter. Remove the ring (use a dry cloth to save singeing your fingers) before basting the crumpet with butter.