Recipes / Breakfast / Crumpets with salted butter & jam

Crumpets with salted butter & jam

Name: Crumpets with salted butter & jam
Prep time: 6 min
Cook time: 14 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: United Kingdom
Ingredients: 300 ml whole milk, warm; 150 ml warm water; 1 tsp caster sugar; 7 g fast-action dried yeast; 225 g plain flour; 0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 1 tsp fine salt; 2 tbsp salted butter, for cooking and serving; 3 tbsp good strawberry or raspberry jam, to serve

Yeasted batter cooked on a griddle until hundreds of holes appear on the surface — those holes trap the butter as it melts through. The definitive British weekday breakfast, ready in twenty minutes from scratch.

Published May 26, 2026 · 4 min read · Braffess Kitchen

Prep

6 min

Cook

14 min

Serves

Level

Easy

Crumpets with salted butter & jam - United Kingdom breakfast recipe

Method

Activate the yeast.

Mix the warm milk and water in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and yeast. Leave for 10 minutes until foamy on the surface.

Note. If it does not foam, the yeast is dead — start again with fresh yeast.

Make the batter.

Sift in the flour and salt. Whisk until completely smooth — no lumps. Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the batter has risen and is full of bubbles.

Add the bicarbonate.

Mix the bicarbonate of soda with 2 tablespoons of warm water and stir into the risen batter. The batter will bubble actively. This final reaction creates the famous holes.

Note. Do not skip this step — the bicarb is what creates the characteristic thousands of holes on the surface.

Cook on the griddle.

Heat a flat griddle or heavy pan over medium-low heat. Butter the insides of your cooking rings and place them on the pan. Pour batter into each ring to about 1cm depth. Cook for 8–10 minutes until the surface is covered in holes and looks dry and matte. Do not flip — crumpets cook on one side only.

Note. The holes should appear gradually, like a surface bubbling. If no holes appear, the batter is too thick — add a splash of warm water.

Toast and serve.

Remove the rings. The underside should be pale golden. Toast in a toaster or under a grill until the holes are slightly charred and the outside is crisp. Serve immediately with salted butter that melts through the holes, and jam on the side.

A note. Crumpets need metal rings to hold their shape while cooking. Egg rings or crumpet rings work; without them, the batter spreads flat. The rings can be lifted off once the surface has set.

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