Crepes

This recipe is the one I grew up with and cook for my family.  The recipe calls for beer which lighten the batter and allows for thin crepes.  The alcohol disappear during cooking.

I recommend a crepe pan.  I have tried in other

fry-pans, I can tell you, it is not easy because of the high edges and because your pan must strictly be not sticky and not scratched.

The crepes recipe below calls for a resting time of 2 hours, if you don’t have that time in front of you, it will also work, the crepes will be thicker.  If you have no beer or prefer not to use beer, use water and milk.  Crepes are very forgiving in terms of ratios.  Careful not using only milk or your crepes will be brittle. If you increase the quantity of eggs, your crepes will be quite thick and filling.

Ingredients:

This will easily serve 4 people for dessert. Left overs can be covered and placed in the fridge.

• 500 g of plain flour
• 4 eggs (depending on size)
• 1 beer (300 ml)
• 1/2 cup oil (sunflower)
• 1/2 L milk
• water

Method:

1. Place the flour in a large bowl, make a hole (we all it a well in French) in the middle and place in it, the eggs, oil, beer and milk.
2. Mix with a whisk until smooth.  You may have a few small lumps, don’t worry to much at this stage.  The batter will be quite thick, you want to make it thinner by adding water, the consistency must be the one a drinking yogurt.

1. Let it rest for at least two hours.
2. Get yourself ready to cook, things can go quickly, get organised, everything must be in close reach.

1. To cook, use crepe pan (s).  Heat up the pan, when hot pour 2/3 of a ladle in the pan, by turning your wrist (while holding the pan), spread the batter over the bottom of the pan.  Pour out the excess if too really too much. Pop any bubbles if they form.
2. Cook until the sides are brown AND the bottom is fully dry (no wet spots), turn over, cook for a bit less.  Transfer to a plate.

Now 3 MAJOR tips:

• The first crepe if most of the time a write off (for the cook)
• If you pan needs a bit of greasing, cut a potato and stick the section cut at the end of a fork.  Place the flat edge in oil then “paint” the bottom of the fry-pan.  This method will limit the amount of grease you use and avoid using multiple absorbent paper sheets. If you have a piece of lard, it works perfectly well too.

  

• The heat under the fry-pan will need adjusting, somewhere between low and high.  It will take a few crepes to get there.

To serve

The most simple fillings are:

• white sugar with (optional) a dash of lemon juice (yum!)
• soft brown sugar
• jam
• honey
• lemon curd
• chocolate / Nutella.

One crepe recipe which became quite famous is “Crepes Suzettes”, this requires a little more work.

Many of you would have seen crepes filled and then folded in two and then further folded to form a triangle.  This is not the case everywhere.  In my family, we rolled them, much more fun especially when you are a kid!

Keep the crepes warm by covering them with some aluminium foil and placing them in a warm oven (switched off).