That’s crêpe-tastic!

That’s Crêpe-tastic!

My romance with the humble crêpe.

In Brittany, where crêpes are ever ready at grocery store, bakery, and restaurants, home made crêpes are treated as a special moment appreciated by all.

My earliest experiences of a crêpe were my mother’s thin pancakes which we rolled with jam or a concoction of coconut and treacle (See my recipe for Bibbikan for which this concoction is a base). These were made with flour, milk, eggs, vanilla and a bit of water to achieve the right consistency to spread the batter using the base of a ladle on a hot pan. These are also the base pancake used when making what Sri Lankans call a “Chinese Roll”: fish or ground meat and potato folded in a pancake, covered in breadcrumbs and fried.

Having grown up with pancakes as my breakfast of choice, when I encountered the crêpes in Paris, France for the first time I fell head over heels in love. What I could not come to grips with was how a person could limit themselves to one or two crêpes at a time.

In France, you can have a savory crêpe served up with an assortment of fillers such as a “complete” featuring ham, cheese, and egg. For this you can shell out between 4 Euros at a market stall to 14 Euros at a crêperie. Then for dessert you can pay between 2.50 to 7 Euros for a sweet crêpe. Toppings to try other than the standard Nutella would be lemon and sugar or confiture (jam). Not knowing how to make the elevated crêpes, I resigned myself to the occasional treat.

The savory crêpe or “Sarasin” is made mostly or wholly from Buckwheat flour, salt, and water. Variations can include milk, eggs, and all-purpose flour. To the uninitiated, making these crêpes can be disastrous as they often end up dry, crumbly or tasteless. The key is to combine the ingredients and to let it sit overnight until the buckwheat has absorbed the liquid. These are an ideal choice for vegans and the gluten intolerant. Buckwheat is not ‘wheat’.

My first authentic crêpe recipe came while living in Galway, Ireland. I had the pleasure of seeing folk from Galway’s sister city in Lorient, Brittany at a stall making traditional crêpes. These friendly ladies who spoke only a few words of English were able to give curious me a lesson in making and turning the crêpes.

I started making crêpes at home. However, I still used my mom’s technique of spreading the batter with the bottom of a ladle and any frying pan would do.

Many years later, my grandmother-in-law would make crêpes for the family. By this point it was an occasional event because someone would have to go find the massive Billig, crêpe maker, from storage. After making the batter the night before, she would spend about an hour turning the crêpes on the hot Billig until there was no batter left. This was hot and repetitious work that took a lot more energy than serving a bag of ready-made crêpes from the cupboard to the table.

A year later, I offered to help her turn the crêpes. On seeing my first, second, and third attempts, the dear old lady looked apprehensive and took the dowel rake from me and continued to make the contents of the bowl. Undeterred, I took her recipe home and spent a year practicing every Saturday morning. My husband was thrilled.

Finally, another year later on our annual trip to his parent’s we talked his grandmother into making crêpes. She let me take a turn at the rake and finally showed her approval as I turned crêpe after crêpe. The Billig is much hotter than a frying pan, I was quite tired by the end. Her approval was priceless.

Les-crêpes-de-froment is an example of a crêpe recipe. In contrast, the masterclass recipe in our family has been passed down through the generations. Light buckwheat flour is incorporated in the mix and the batter is left to rest for a couple of hours or overnight. As with most of my Breton recipes, the most authentic crêpes are made with unpasteurized milk fresh from the cows.

So began my crêpe making career. My spoiled kids eat authentic crêpes every weekend.