Crepes are made up of a layer of dough, more or less thin, round in shape. Crepes have always been a delight for young and old alike, thanks in particular to their simple recipe, their soft texture, and their flavor, delicate and delicious at the same time. Traditionally served hot, they can be salty or sweet. Savory pancakes are called “buckwheat pancakes”, and are made from – as you might expect – buckwheat flour, also called buckwheat flour.
How to make crepes?
Crepes are a classic, which always pleases, and their very simple recipe adapts to all kinds of fillings.
Pancake batter
To make homemade crepes, you must first start with the crepe batter. For the latter, we use pastry flour, T45 or T55. First, mix the flour, salt and sugar, then add the eggs in the middle. Once the preparation becomes thick, add the cold milk little by little, adjusting the dosage according to the texture: the dough must be quite fluid (but not too liquid either). Finally, you can mix everything with melted butter but it is not obligatory. And there you have it, your pancake batter is ready!
Of course, it is entirely possible to make lactose-free pancakes using vegetable milk or creams.
Flavor your pancake batter
Before cooking, you can flavor your pancake batter as desired, with orange blossom for example or rum. For a crepe cake in the style of Hélène Darroze, dilute a little matcha tea in milk before incorporating it into the rest of the crepe batter. Spices, such as cinnamon or vanilla, can also be used to lightly flavor it. And for those with a sweet tooth, we opt for cocoa powder. Mix it with the flour during the first step of the recipe to obtain 100% chocolate pancakes. To play on tradition, you can also flambé your crepes with Grand Marnier like Benoît Castel’s crepes suzette.
The method
Once the pancake batter is ready and flavored – or not -, heat butter in a pan or crepe maker, before evenly pouring a ladle of the latter for each pancake. When you shake the pan, if the pancake moves, you have to fry it to turn it over. Gourmet option: you can sprinkle with a little brown sugar, before turning one last time to lightly caramelize. Repeat the action for each pancake.
The tip for soft pancakes
For even softer pancakes, we opt for the famous beer tip which, thanks to its yeast, brings more softness to the recipe. When preparing the dough, simply replace a quarter of the milk with the latter. We thus obtain a dough which will have no taste when eaten, no worries, but which will be softer and lighter.
Catch up on your pancake batter
Although the pancake batter recipe is quite simple, there are several common mistakes that you should be wary of. For example, to prevent the latter from being too liquid or from having lumps, it is important to add the milk (or beer) gradually, and not all at once, which allows to control its texture. To make up for your pancake batter which is too runny, simply add additional flour, always gradually. If lumps have already formed on the surface of your preparation, mix vigorously with a whisk, or mix it in a blender or with a hand blender.
Happy candlelight!
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