Recipe idea
Quick recipe for crepes: Breton pancakes are so easy to make
With a proper crepe pan, this French classic should be easy to make
© Ivan Balvan / Getty Images
A wafer-thin dough, folded several times and filled with sweet treats: the crepe is a popular snack not only in France. We’ll tell you how to make the Breton version of a pancake in your home kitchen.
Whether with cinnamon and sugar or jam, with applesauce or chocolate: there are countless ways to fill a crepe. Before that happens, however, the dough must be prepared and baked. All you need to prepare it are five basic ingredients – and a special crepe pan. In contrast to an ordinary frying pan, this one has a particularly flat edge, which is intended to help turn the thin pancake more easily. But it can also be used for fried eggs, omelettes or schnitzels.
Crêpe or galette: That’s the difference
Galettes are nothing more than savory crepes filled with cheese or chickadee, eggs or fish: the Breton word “Jalet” translates as “hot stone” on which the dough made from buckwheat flour was originally prepared. Nowadays, galettes and crepes are not only served in French restaurants, but also distributed at fairs around the world. The liquid dough is spread in a circle on a round, cast-iron plate (the crêpière) and baked. The sweet version, filled with hazelnut cream or another delicious mess, is particularly popular in Germany. But how exactly do you actually prepare the dough at home – without a crepière? You will find out in the next paragraph.
Preparation: From the dough to the finished crepe
One of the most famous versions of sweet pancakes from France is the Crêpe Suzette: it is soaked with fresh orange juice or spread with sweet orange jam and then flambéed with orange liqueur. If you don’t like it quite as fruity and would prefer to prepare your crepe with a different topping, you have a free choice. To prepare the French classic you only need five ingredients and one Crepe pan – It distributes the heat evenly and makes it easier to turn the wafer-thin pancake. But back to the recipe:
For the crepe batter you need these basic ingredients:
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- 200 ml milk
- 1 pinch of salt
- 100g flour
And this is how you spread the crepe batter correctly:
Take a mixing bowl and mix the egg together with the sugar and milk – preferably with a hand mixer or a mixer. Then add a pinch of salt and the flour while stirring until a homogeneous mass is formed. Now it is important to let the dough rest for 15 minutes before using it to make crepes.
- If you use a non-stick crepe pan, it must first be thinly greased (with a little sunflower oil) before you tip the batter onto it: Place a small ladle in the middle of the pan, spread the dough with circular movements over the entire area so that the floor is completely but minimally covered.
- Bake the dough in the crepe pan for a maximum of 30 seconds before turning it over and repeating the process again – after another half a minute the dough is ready. Make sure that the pan does not get too hot; it is best to choose a medium heat level. Last but not least, the finished crepes can be topped with whatever you like.
Source: Food and Drink
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