Levain (sourdough) Gluten Free Crumpets Worth Eating

7/5/2016

Sourdough Crumpet Recipe

Makes 17 crumpets
⅓ cup batter for each

Overnight Ingredients
2 ½ cups all purpose gluten free mix 2 parts sorghum flour to 1 part potato starch with 1 teaspoon xanthan gum per three cups of flour
¼ cup tapioca starch
¼ cup cornstarch
½ cup firm levain (gf sourdough starter)
1 1/2 cups water

Morning Ingredients
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon mineral rich sugar
Right Before Baking
{½ teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1/4 cup water per
2 ⅓ cups of batter}

Stir baking soda/water slurry in well so there aren't any pockets of soda, it'll discolor the crumpets.

Evening Instructions
In a food processor mix all dry ingredients and pulse
Crumble one ball (½ cup) of firm levain into the bowl and spin until well incorporated.
Pour into a mixing bowl, add water and stir.
Cover and let sit at room temperature overnight 8-12 hours

Morning Instructions
Sprinkle salt into batter, the batter should be very bubbly and taste sourish.
Measure out 2 ⅓ cups of the batter. Put the rest of the batter in a jar in the fridge for tomorrow morning, batter will also make great pancakes, waffles or mini muffins and will last refriderated for 3-4 days.
Preheat cast iron drop scone pan on low for 10 minutes on the stove top.
Preheat oven to 450F
Make a slurry of ½ teaspoon baking soda in 1/4 cup of water, mix well into batter.
Put 1 teaspoon butter into each cast iron round and turn burner to medium
Measure ⅓ cup batter into each round while pan is still on the burner.
Transfer to the oven and bake 15 minutes.
The starches will need to cool to firm up, crumpets are best opened and toasted. Lots of nooks and crannies for butter and jam.

With Love Enjoy

Notes
This recipe makes 5 ⅔ cups of crumpet batter. The drop scone pan makes 7 crumpets
which = 2 and ⅓ cups of batter.

There is enough batter for two batches on two different mornings, or two pans at the same time. There will be 1 cup of batter leftover.

For this 1 cup of batter use ¼ teaspoon of baking soda plus 1/8 cup of water to mix in and make pancakes or whatever you wish.

The salted batter will work great kept in the fridge for 3-4 days, add the baking soda right before using.

True Calling of a crumpet> to be toasted + butter

Finally, I have a sourdough gluten free crumpet recipe
I’m proud to share. It’s got a big open inner structure with lots of nooks and crannies for butter and jam. A complex taste, like a French Levain, with its only slightly sour notes. Toasts well, but that’s the true calling of a crumpet to be toasted.
   It’s taken me awhile, I worked on this recipe a couple of years ago, and then mislaid it. I kept meaning to track it down and do further testing. Teaching Bards and Bread Camp’s breads of the British Isles finally got me to it again.
   Crumpets need a lot of structure to capture those bubbles and hold them. My regular gluten free flour works great for close crumb baking, but can’t hold anything too high.
I remembered reading about gluten free sandwich breads, and how a 1 to 1 protein to starch ratio worked better than the typical gluten free 2 protein to 1 starch ratio.
I’d given the 1 to 1 ratio a try, and it worked great, but I lean into my rye breads for everyday eating because my issue isn’t gluten, but baker’s asthma from wheat. I love my levain rye loaves, so didn’t pursue the gluten free sandwich bread.
I make lots of gluten free baked goods, but only because I think they’re better suited for the particular jobs they do, and taste better than wheat. No kidding.
   I didn’t want a rye crumpet this time, I’ve tried to bake them and they always comes out too sticky, but I must say the rye crumpet's flavor is excellent. They’re good toasted, but nothing to write home about. I basically wanted a dependable sourdough white bread crumpet, and now I’ve got it.

Understanding crumpetdom

Why they work
<> The addition of tapioca starch creates a bit of pull to the crumpet’s bite

<> Sorghum Flour is a mild whole grain that provides the protein, the structure. Sorghum is the bricks and the starches are the mortar.

<> The firm levain, sourdough starter which is made of sorghum flour and potato starch, and long fermentation allows the enzymes, especially amylase, to open up the flavors in the grain and make the starches more digestible.

<> Salt is for flavor but also is important in the firming and raising of the bread.

<> Sugar helps browning, flavor and adds moisture.

<> Baking soda is added at the very last to create even more bubbles, and neutralize some of the sourdough’s acidity making the flavor complex but not sour.

<> I use a hot oven 450F, instead of the more traditional griddle approach to capture the maximum amount of bubbles as the starches are quickly set. I also like the cast iron pan for the crust.
There is much to like about these crumpets, but be forewarned that they don’t brown much until further toasted. I think that this dough has possibilities beyond crumpets.

Please let me know what you come up with!