I feel like these have been everywhere recently – certainly in some food magazines or online. I’ve never had one, don’t often make crêpes, but it was one of the intruiging recipes in the book when I first paged through it.
This is actually two recipes. The buckwheat crêpes. And the “galette completes”. Apparently buckwheat crêpes are called galettes, while those made with white flour are just crêpes. It’s a little confusing, because I’ve been making galettes that are pastry, filled with savory or fruit filling – maybe it’s really the folded over edge?
I made the batter 1st thing in the morning, and it ended up with a nice 4-5 hour rest. I was a little skeptical (yes, I peeked at a few blog posts first), so decided that since I was hungry, and was worried that they might not be good, it would be good to try them for brunch rather than waiting for dinner or a later lunch.
The batter is very simple, 1.5 c buckwheat flour, 2.25 c water, a bit of salt and a couple of eggs. It is supposed to be the consistency of heavy cream. I found that it was fairly easy to get the batter in the pan, spread to make a semi-large crêpe. I found that if I let them cook a bit long on the first side, they were a little too crisp and were difficult to turn over.
But, assuming that the cheese, egg and ham would kind of hold it together, I decided not to be concerned.
I didn’t have too much trouble with my egg sliding around – but did have a challenge because I didn’t have a lid that would fit – or I didn’t search one out at first…
I used some very thin black forest ham that I found. I didn’t think I’d really love proscuitto. I did have some Jarlsberg cheese, so used that. I broke my first egg when the lid slipped and smashed it… very sad. I ended up switching out lids, but at the end of the effort – I cheated and turned on the broiler – I just couldn’t get the eggs to cook without burning the bottom of the galette.
The one that broke – not too beautiful. I thought that the most difficult part was folding over the sides to make a square – because the galette crisps up, it just wasn’t simple. And I’m sure part of it was that the crêpes were not the super large size shown in the book.
All said and done – these were tasty. Seriously. But then again, when isn’t toasty cheese, ham and egg? I’m not 100% certain that I would make these again – though I have more batter. I wish I spoke/read French, because it would be fun to read the menu pictured in the book. There would undoubtedly be some interesting combinations mentioned. I can pick out asparagus, I think salmon, pine nuts… who knows. I imagine that these are pretty versatile and can use up some of the leftovers that might be hanging out in the refrigerator.
This was a fun recipe to try. I think that I may leave these for a visit to a crêperie (I know of one in Coronado Island – so on my next visit), but very interesting and fun to attempt these. You can see how others fared with this recipe at Cook the Book Fridays. And if you would like to cook along with us – pick up My Paris Kitchen by David Lebovitz.
dulceshome 
I had my only galettes in Paris on Isle St Louis at La Crepe En l’Isle ten years ago. My friend, Judy, and I ate there several times because we rented an apartment nearby. That’s why I was excited to try this recipe. I had no problem with the galettes (My first one broke up also.) but I couldn’t get them folded into the filling mixture correctly. They either wouldn’t stay folded or cracked. Although I first thought I wouldn’t try this again, I do have the buckwheat flour, an ample supply, and would like to re-live the Paris memory. Perhaps a little more research and different fillings are in order. I also did not have a lid and had to improvise. And, as you say, what is not to like about the filling combo. This was fun, n’est-ce pas?
Oh Mary, what a great story! I can see why you’d be excited to try them. I have half a recipe of the batter in the refrigerator – so it could happen again. Potentially with some different fillings – though I think any egg involved will be cooked separately.
I had my batter in the fridge for about 24 hours. I wonder if that made the difference, because mine turned out beautifully. (It started to go downhill from there, presentation-wise.) I think I’ll make these again, but follow some of the others’ example and cook the egg separately. And I agree with you – these would make an excellent vehicle for all sorts of leftovers!
I’m thinking some roasted cherry tomatoes, or some cooked asparagus. Mmmm. I might just change my mind, since I still have half a recipe of batter in the refrigerator. 🙂 Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
I didn’t have a problem with the crepes, although the color was not appealing, but the egg
really did me in. I thought about frying an egg but decided that would be cheating. Ha, who
would really know? or care….. Yours turned out well and really looks delicious. Maybe I
will try this again since I have a bag of flour left.
Once I saw Mardi’s “official” galettes in her post, I decided that it wouldn’t be cheating at all! 🙂
My crepes were okay after the first 2, and I did also leave my batter in the fridge overnight (learned from “around my french table,” no less!). It looks like you had the lighter flour that I learned about from Kathy’s post! The broiler was a great idea, Candy, and I wish I’d thought of that! I was frustrated and hungry (hangry?) so I was not in that frame of mind. 🙂
I was hungry when I made these too! No time to fuss with them. It was a happy accident about the flour – the only bag I could find in town! 🙂
These seemed to present a few challenges for all of us! Yours look good though and they stayed folded!! Well done!
Getting these to come together is a bit tricky. Yours looked so delicious. There’s actually a creperie here in Lexington, so I might take the same route as you and just enjoy them out. Hope you have a great week, my friend.
The darker buckwheat flour tripped me up. If we started off with all-purpose flour, I don’t think we’d have all these issues. Yours turns out to be free-form beautiful crêpe, as good as any!
That picture in your post looks good enough already!! I am sure when all of us will get better at this since we all have balance buckwheat flour to deal with! I am making another batch of crepes soon.
Your galette looks great, I wouldn’t give up that quick- you seem to have come close to mastering it. – I too found it very hard to flip the crepes- i slid them on a plate, turned them over and slid them back (cheating 😉
Thanks for the encouragement! I liked them more than I thought I would while making them (too much back-and-forth in my head), so I should try them again.
Yours look great! Nicely done!
The egg was tricky for me. It just took a long time to cook. I like your idea of using the broiler. Yours turned out very well in the end!