Brittany is a fantasy land of crêpes. My family and I would spend a week of vacation there every year, often in Carnac. We would eat crêpes every single night, to the sparkly-eyed delight of my sister and myself. Over time we built an entire itinerary of favorite crêperies to visit.
In Brittany, savory crêpes are made with buckwheat flour and are called “galettes de sarrasin” (or “crêpes de sarrasin”), whereas sweet crêpes are made with wheat flour and are referred to as “crêpes de froment”.
Traditional buckwheat galettes are made with just buckwheat flour, salt, and water, and they are cooked them on a billig, a wide, round cooking surface made of cast iron, completely flat with no rim. But 100% buckwheat crêpes are next to impossible to cook in a regular skillet on the stovetop (believe me, I’ve tried) so the recipe I’m sharing today is one that’s adapted for the home kitchen.
You can include whatever fillings tickle your fancy, but the most traditional (and, in my opinion, best) combo is la complète, garnished with a fried egg, cooked ham and grated cheese (usually gruyère or comté). At crêperies I like to order a complète with fresh tomatoes (in summer) or cooked mushrooms (the rest of the year).
If you’re hosting a crêpe party, it’s fun to prepare different kinds of fillings — cheese, ham, grated cheese, goat cheese, cooked leeks, cooked mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, smoked fish — and let each guest compose his or her own galette.
For dessert, a buckwheat and chocolate crêpe is a treat you won’t soon forget.
And of course, serve them all with bowls of hard apple cider or buttermilk (lait ribot), as they do in Brittany!
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Buckwheat Galettes Recipe
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours, 25 minutes
Makes twelve 24-cm (9 1/2-inch) galettes.
Ingredients
For the batter:
- 200 grams (7 ounces) buckwheat flour
- 50 grams (1 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- 500 ml (1/2 quart) milk (dairy or non-dairy)
- 500 ml (1/2 quart) water
For garnishing:
- cooking oil
- the fillings of your choice (see post for suggestions)
Instructions
Step 1 : Prepare the batter.
- Put the flours and salt in a large mixing bowl and dig a little well in the center. Break the eggs into the well, and whisk them gradually into the flour in a circular motion. Pour the milk in slowly, whisking all the while. Add the water, still whisking.
- Cover and store in the fridge for at least 2 hours; overnight is best.
Step 2 : Make the galettes.
- Take the batter out of the fridge and prepare all the fillings beforehand. Whisk the galette batter again, as some of the flour will have settled at the bottom of the bowl.
- If you're making several galettes in a row, preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F). This is where you'll keep the galettes warm while you make the others.
- Heat up a large skillet over high heat and pour a little oil in a small bowl. When the pan is very hot, dip a folded paper towel into the oil and use it to (very cautiously) apply a sheen of oil on the surface of the skillet. Pour a ladleful of batter in the skillet, and swirl the skillet around so that the batter spreads out in a nice, even circle. Let cook on medium-high heat for 2 minutes, peeking underneath with a spatula from time to time to check on the cooking.
- Flip the galette when it's nicely golden underneath, cautiously or brazenly depending on your self-assurance. Put the fillings of your choice in the center of the galette. If using an egg, break it cautiously and gently maintain the yolk in the center with the eggshell or your spatula until the white has set enough to hold it in place.
- When the other side of the galette is nice and golden too, fold it as best you can: the traditional way is to fold the four sides in and make a square galette, but when there's a lot of filling and the galette isn't very big that's a little difficult, so just fold two sides in. Oil the pan again before cooking the next crêpe.
- Put the galette in a large baking dish or on a cookie sheet and into the oven to keep warm while you make the others. Serve with a green salad and liberal amounts of cidre brut, an alcoholic apple cider from Brittany.
https://cnz.to/recipes/vegetables-grains/buckwheat-galettes-recipe/
Unless otherwise noted, all recipes are copyright Clotilde Dusoulier.
FAQs
In Lower Brittany crêpes are made with either wheat flour or buckwheat (sometimes still called sarrasin), but in Upper Brittany the buckwheat pancake is savoury and called a galette. After that it all depends on the thickness of the batter, the mixing of the flour, the cook's know-how and some very well-kept secrets.
Why are my buckwheat crepes breaking? ›
Leaving the crepe batter to rest is very important in this recipe, even more than for crepes made with wheat flour. Buckwheat is a Gluten-Free Flour, so without the gluten in your batter, your crepes will tend to break more when cooked.
What is one difference between Les Galettes Savory crepes and Les crepes sweet Ones )? ›
Crêpes are often topped with sweet condiments i.e. caramel, cream, chocolate and fresh fruits. It is often served as a dessert, which explains why it is smaller compared to its savoury counterpart. Galettes are typically savoury and made using gluten-free buckwheat flour as opposed to regular flour.
What is the difference between a galette and a crepe recipe? ›
The simple answer is that a galette is a savoury crêpe. Galettes are made with buckwheat flour instead of usual flour varieties. This gives them a slightly stronger flavour than a normal crêpe or pancake and also means they're gluten free.
What is the difference between a galette and a crepe? ›
The primary difference between these two French pancakes is that the galette is customarily enjoyed as a savory main dish while the crêpe is typically a sweet dessert.
What is special about buckwheat? ›
Buckwheat is a rich source of flavonoids such as rutin, isoorientin, quercetin, isovitexin, vitexin, and orientin (Raguindin et al., 2021). Among all pseudocereals, rutin is only present in buckwheat, with higher antioxidant, anti‐inflammation, and anticancer properties (Zhu, 2016).
Why do Russians like buckwheat so much? ›
Historical reason. Traditional diets are largely dictated by which food can be grown in a region. Russia has a very short, cool growing season and buckwheat can produce a Buckwheat grows quickly and can produce crop in the short Russian summer.
What are the two types of buckwheat? ›
Two types of buckwheat, common buckwheat (fa*gopyrum esculentum) and Tartary buckwheat (fa*gopyrum tartaricum), are most widely grown for food. Buckwheat is mainly harvested in the northern hemisphere, especially in Russia, Kazakhstan, China, and Central and Eastern Europe.
How do you cook buckwheat so it doesn't go mushy? ›
One of the Russian old recipe collectors, William Pokhlyobkin, states that buckwheat should be cooked with steam rather than water, and it's better to not interfere with the process. Adding water during cooking is a recipe for mushy buckwheat.
What are the black specks in buckwheat flour? ›
The buckwheat plant is actually a pseudocereal, not a grain. The pyramid-shaped raw buckwheat kernels are harvested and ground into a surprisingly rich flour. Unlike light buckwheat flour, our flour contains little black specks that come from the ground seed hull.
buckwheat pancakes can appear yellow due to a couple of reasons. firstly, the lighter variety of flour (one with lesser hull) used in the buckwheat pancakes recipe can contribute to lighter coloured pancakes.
What is the most popular crepe in France? ›
In a recent survey, the crêpe au sucre (crepe covered with melted butter and sprinkled with granulated sugar) was named as French people's favorite way to enjoy a crepe.
What type of crepes are the most popular? ›
The first written record of the word 'crepe' dates back to 1405 in France.
- Most Popular Types of Crepes:
- Coffee Crepes. These are the most common type of crepe. ...
- Fruit Crepes. ...
- Jewish Crepes. ...
- Stuffing Crepes. ...
- Dessert Crepes. ...
- Cheese and Onion Crepes. ...
- Vegetable Crepes.
The Crêpe Suzette
Henri raced to the kitchen and prepared a crêpe with orange sauce flambée. He named it Suzette in honor of the beautiful lady who accompanied the Prince. The rest is history … The Crêpe Suzette became the most celebrated French dessert.
What is the traditional crepe in Brittany? ›
The Crêpe bretonne (krampouezenn in the Breton language) is a traditional dish in Lower Brittany, a region of France. It can be served plain, or with sweet or savoury fillings. The Crêpe bretonne can be made of wheat (sweet crêpe) or buckwheat (savoury crêpe).
What is a galette in Brittany? ›
Galette, which is more properly called Breton galette, is also the name given in most French crêperies to savoury buckwheat flour pancakes, while those made from wheat flour, much smaller in size and mostly served with a sweet filling, are branded crêpes.
What are savory crepes called in Brittany? ›
These deeply savory, minerally crepes pair beautifully with eggs, cheese, and ham.
What is the history of crêpes in Brittany? ›
Crêpes originated in France around Brittany all the way back in the 13th century. Crepes originally used buckwheat flour, a relatively new ingredient in Europe at the time. According to the stories, peasants made the first crepe by accidentally dropping porridge on a flat cooktop.
