Pancakes day yes… but with crêpes!

It’s pancakes day!

I am sure, you already saw a lot of different recipes, from the pink pancakes to the fluffy American ones. If you British people are celebrating Pancakes day the 17th February, in France, we celebrated it the 2nd of February and we name it “chandeleur”. So, for this year, I suggest you to try the French recipes of the pancakes: thin, like lace, sweet or savory, well, we call  them “crêpes” or “galette”!

The principle is definitely “effects max for minimum of efforts” (the favorite French cooker mantra):

sweet crêpes:

For around 3 people
250gr flour
50gr sugar (or vanilla sugar)
2 eggs
25cL milk OR  25cL can beer (a basic one but really sparkled, such as Heineken or Old Speckled Hen) OR  25cL sparkling water
a pinch of salt
oil or butter (for the purists)

> Mix everything (except oil/butter) until have an homogeneous (and quite liquid) dough. Let it rest in your fridge, a humid linen on it during 30min at least (1 hour is better because more it’s waiting, more the dough is light and full of air)

> Use a hot pan, oil it (just a little bit, we don’t want to fry the pancake, just avoiding that it become glue to the pan) and use a soup dipper to cook the dough. The traditional French golden rules demand to hold a golden coin in our hand that is in our back during we try to jump from the pan the crêpe (and cook the other side!)… Well, in reality it is really hard and often catastrophic! You can, as me, just use utensils to turn it! 😉
Note: if it is good to have a hot pan, it must not to be too hot because in this case the dough will glue to the pan and burn (obviously) too quickly. If it is the case, cold your pan with water… Yes, a little Barbarian but work it well!

> You can eat them with so many things (depend of your taste!) such as sugar, sugar + lemon juice (called “crêpe Suzette”), marmalade, cocoa powder, nutella, nutella + desiccated coco, nutella + desiccate coco + banana bites (yes…!), fruits (such as apple, pear, banana, …), chocolate sauce, speculoos biscuits crumbled, … and, of course, whipped cream!
NB: for those who cannot take cow milk, soy whipped cream exists!

savory crêpes

In this case, I’m obliged to tell you that they are no more “crêpes” but “galettes”
For around 10 galettes
330gr buckwheat flour
a pinch of salt
water (around 75cL)

> Mix the buckwheat flour with salt and water. Add water until getting an homogeneous liquid (but not too much) dough.

> Put the dough in your fridge for 30min and cook your galettes!
About filling: the tradition in Brittany is “andouillette”(a kind of sausage)-oignon-cream but you can also doing a “complete” (egg, ham, grated Gruyere/young cheddar) or add onion, potatoes, mushrooms, smoked salmon, chorrizo, different kind of cheese, vegetable,…
Note: if you cannot eat gluten, note that buckwheat pancakes can also made delicious sweet pancakes!