Same thing.
I’ve never thought about it before - but how do they get the holes in crumpets?
(A bit like - how do they get holes in Polos?)
Seriously. They’re in the toaster. Never had 'em before, and I need to know: red currant jelly or apricot preserves? Or just butter?
No doubt - honey and marmite mixed. Yummm…
Why did I see this post and start humming “I’m all out of love, I’m so lost without you. . .”
I do very much admire those of you who have said you are going to try and make crumpets (or have done) from scratch. But I have to admit that, deep in my heart, I’m a little worried about an american making an english crumpet. I’m worried you won’t be able to appreciate the full authentic beauty of a crumpet and hence may make something you think is awful, when in fact crumpets are a rare species of goodness.
Though, to be honest, I have never even thought about making a crumpet-its all about the holes with crumpets and that worries me-a crumpet without holes is not a crumpet.
Don’t get me started on pikelets…flat crumpets but a different taste entirely!
I just wanted to join in the love for crumpets. They’re so tasty!
Same thing. Although the only person who I’ve ever heard refer to them as pikelets is my dad. It’s good to know he wasn’t just making it up. 
Pikelets are definitely not the same thing as crumpets!! They are flat and taste more boring. The only similarity are the holes. 
Oh, no no no, when I say “Making Crumpets” I mean, “Taking them out of the bag I bought at the international grocery store and sticking them in the toaster until golden brown and delicious.” I may very well try making them from scratch, but probably not today.
No Marmite, I’m a 'Merican. 
Well, I suppose an import shop would have it, but I don’t have any on hand. I suspect I’d quite like it.
I opted for butter AND red currant (which turns out to be preserves, not jelly. Yum.) and OMG THESE THINGS ARE AWESOME! They are more visually like English muffins than they are texturally like them. Much more tender, with a crisp bottom, but no need for the twisting yank one must do when biting off a bit of English muffin. Less gluten strands, which makes me guess they’re poured instead of kneaded and shaped like an English muffin.
The holes are definitely from bubbles made when the batter was heated from below and the bubbles rise up through the cooking dough. They run vertically, instead of bread holes which are round - crumpet holes are actually tunnels. Unlike an English Muffin, which gets it’s bubbles primarily from leavening, a crumpet gets its lift from leavening, but its holes from heat.
Wow. I’m starting to write like Alton Brown. Scary.
Only problem with crumpets that I can see is they’re so yummy and yet so light. The OP is right - two just aren’t enough. I’m off to make some more.
(And, might I add, entirely unironically, that tea would go with these very well.)
The holes are air bubbles – they just turn up as they cook.
I suppose you’ve had them by now (if not, you might want to check that toaster), but I can’t see how you’d go wrong with any of those options.
Personally, I like to toast them till the outside’s crispy, then top them with cheese and pop them under the grill (broiler) so the cheese melts down into the holes.
I must say, it’s not often that Marmite/Vegemite gets mentioned on the SD, but twice at once is spooky.
WhyNot Did you know NineToTheSky is my Dad?! Thats the first time we have both been mentioned in the same post!
I hate to be pedantic, but how? I can cook lots of things - cabbage, baked beans, guinea fowl, for example, and they don’t have holes in them.
???
Dad!You can’t cook guinea fowl to save your life! You have never even tried!Don’t lie on the SD!!!
But, yes, he can cook lots of different other things which don’t have holes in them.
I was being metaphorical.
No you’re not. And don’t think that by using words I might not understand you will crawl out of this one. You can’t cook guinea fowl, end of argument! 
Love you
No, I didn’t! And them my Doper Brother namesake **WotNot **posted right after me! Crumpets…bringing families together on the Dope since 1:30 Central Time.
How the air bubbles:
Crumpets are heated from below, right? And they’re a batter? (I look to you and **Hippos **for confirmation here, cause I really don’t know for sure. I’m reverse engineering here.) They’ve got flour and water and…maybe vinegar or some other acid and baking powder or soda, it tastes like. So they’re poured into a hot pan. The water in them begins to boil, and makes them bubble, and as the proteins in the flour denature (clump up) with the heat, they do so around the bubbles. But they do it gently and from the bottom up, so they don’t prevent the heated water (steam) from escaping out the top. Someone’s grandmother must have spent a lot of time in the kitchen figuring out the exact mix of bubbles, heat and flour to capture the air bubble path just so. A pancake doesn’t do it - it makes tinier bubbles and doesn’t let very many of them escape to the top - and when you flip it, you fill those holes back in with batter. A tortilla doesn’t do it - it shouldn’t make bubbles at all and, again, is heated from both sides in turn. You’ve got to have the right mix of bubbles moving in only one direction around a hardening (heating) batter to make it work. If it does - voila! You have a crumpet! If not, you have a pancake or a mess, depending on what went wrong.
I think the baking powder contributes to the bubbles, but I’m still wagering steam bubbles and the method of heating (direct heat from underneath only) is what separates a crumpet from a pancake or an English Muffin. Baking powder makes teeny tiny foamy bubbles, and those are definitely there, but steam makes the big visible “tunnel” bubbles.
Wow. Ignorance fought.
But, I’ve never come across anyone whose made home made crumpets though.