Creating crepes

B atter spills across an expanse of hot iron like the tide washing over a beach.

A “rozelle” spreads it into a circle. The edges move into a fine lace filigree, the interior cooks up the color and texture of muslin.

A spatula flips the crepe on its back, where it pauses briefly before it’s done, coming to rest on a plate, ready for whatever awaits it. A handful of grated Gruyere, a rain of sugar.

A crepe is not so much a recipe as a pan and a state of mind, whether the crepes are coming off the pans of the street vendors in Paris, or the “creperies” in Brittany or your own kitchen.

Made from the simplest of ingredients and filled with whatever was on hand, crepes originated as street food for laborers in the sea-swept landscape of Brittany, in northwestern France.

Filled with a sausage or spread with ham and cheese, crepes formed easy rustic repasts, simple and delicious fare that could be eaten easily, without utensils.

The original “galettes” were made from just buckwheat flour, water and a little salt, which were mixed together, then the batter left to rest. Later people added wheat flour to smooth out the batter, or traded in the buckwheat altogether, adding milk and eggs and butter.

Although you can make serviceable crepes with only flour and water, the addition of the eggs and dairy makes crepes more tender – and easier to cook.

There are as many crepe recipes as there are regions where crepes are eaten, particularly as it’s not really about an exact recipe but getting the right texture. A few cups of flour, a little salt, about twice as many eggs as you have cups of flour, and enough milk or water to thin the batter is the basic idea.

You can add cream, or even use all water, but a proportion of half milk to half water works best, as it yields a smooth and creamy batter without over-thickening it.

Likewise, too many eggs thicken the batter too much, making it too cakey, too much like an extremely thin omelet. If making regular crepes, you can add a tablespoon of sugar, vanilla or brandy.

You can whisk the ingredients together in a bowl, but a blender makes an even smoother batter. Blend on high speed for about 10 seconds, scrape down the sides, then blend for another 10 seconds. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl to ensure that you have a velvety batter.

Let the batter rest, at least for an hour and as long as overnight, to allow the flour to absorb the liquid, the gluten to relax, and the air trapped within the batter from the mixing to dissipate. The down time also gives the crepe its distinctive flatness: Good crepes shouldn’t have any lift to them; ideally, they’re paper thin.

Making good crepes simply requires a flat pan that you can swirl – a griddle, a wide saute pan, a nonstick omelet pan – anything with a flat surface area. But best, not surprisingly, is a crepe pan.

About one-quarter cup of batter will be the right amount for each crepe. When you swirl the batter around the pan you can check: Add more if it’s not enough to coat the surface of the pan, pour off the extra if it’s too much.

After the batter has sat, stir it gently to recombine it if it’s separated, and add a little more water if it seems too thick: It should move like heavy cream when you stir it. Once your batter’s ready, assemble the ingredients for filling the crepes.

Once your fillings are ready, keep them warm on the stove top and make your crepes. Although crepes keep very well, tightly wrapped in the refrigerator or the freezer, they’re at their finest right out of the pan. So have everything ready – including your guests.

Then heat the crepe pan over medium-low heat, oiling it with a paper towel dipped in a little melted butter. You want a thin film, just enough to keep the pan greased: Too much butter will fry the crepe and give it an unpleasantly rubbery texture. When a few drops of water skitter across the pan, it’s hot enough to begin.

Pour batter onto the pan and immediately swirl it around so it reaches the edges. If the batter bubbles and spits too much, the pan’s too hot and the batter will cook before it covers the entire pan: turn the heat down and try again.

Making crepes, like the pancakes that are its cousins, often requires the sacrifice of the first few, until you get the pan to the right temperature.

But once you get the feel of it, the crepes come off the pan one after another. You might need to lower the heat, to brush the pan with a little more butter every now and then, but you’ll get a rhythm going that will seem almost effortless.

1tablespoon butter

1large leek, white part only, finely sliced

1/2cup dry white wine

1/2cup heavy cream

1/4teaspoon sea salt

1/8teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2pound bay scallops

1/2pound medium shrimp, shelled, deveined, tails removed and cut into chunks

1tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon

Juice of half a lemon

1/4cup creme fraiche

4buckwheat crepes (recipe follows)

In a large saute pan, melt the butter and saute the leeks over low heat until tender, about 5 minutes.

Add the wine, cream, salt and pepper and simmer gently until reduced by two-thirds. Add the scallops and shrimp and stir until the shrimp is pink and the seafood cooked, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tarragon, lemon juice and creme fraiche.

Spoon about one-half cup of the mixture onto a buckwheat crepe, fold in half and serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings. Each serving: 365 calories; 23 grams protein; 16 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 21 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 200 mg. cholesterol; 424 mg. sodium.

Galettes (buckwheat crepes)

1cup buckwheat flour (see note)

1cup all-purpose flour

4large eggs

1cup milk

1/2teaspoon sea salt

4tablespoons butter, melted

Softened butter for the pan

In the jar of a blender, blend the flour, eggs, milk, salt and melted butter with three-fourths cup water at high speed for 10 seconds, stop and scrape down the sides with a spatula, then blend for 10 seconds more. Strain the batter through a fine-mesh sieve. Cover and let rest, refrigerated, for at least an hour, or overnight.

Heat a crepe pan or nonstick saute pan over medium heat until a sprinkle of water sizzles when you throw it on the pan. With a paper towel, spread butter over the pan, being sure to wipe most of it off.

Using a bowl or a measuring cup with a spout, pour enough batter to just cover the pan (for a crepe pan, a little less than 1/4 cup), immediately swirling the batter around until it covers the whole surface. The batter may be thicker than basic crepes once it has been resting and may need to be thinned a little; if so, add up to 1/4 cup water and stir until blended.

It will have a different consistency than sweet crepes (more like honey than pancake batter) and will cook slightly differently, forming bubbles and lacier edges. Adjust the heat, if necessary, to medium-low. As with pancakes, the first one or two galettes are usually experiments.

When the edges of the galette begin to turn golden and move away from the pan, about 3 minutes, lift the edge nearest to you using a spatula (an offset spatula works best). Flip the galette over. Cook the second side of the galette only long enough for it to set, less than a minute. Remove from the pan and start a stack of galettes, using wax paper to layer between each galette as you cook more. Add more butter when needed with a paper towel.

Note: Buckwheat flour is available in the baking section of well-stocked supermarkets. Be sure to store it in the refrigerator.

Makes 24 galettes. Each galettes: 71 calories; 3 grams protein; 8 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 3 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 41 mg. cholesterol; 65 mg. sodium.

2cups flour

4large eggs

11/4cups milk

1/2teaspoon sea salt

1tablespoon sugar

4tablespoons butter, melted

Softened butter for the pan

In the jar of a blender, blend the flour, eggs, milk, salt, sugar and 4 tablespoons butter with 11/4 cups water at high speed for 10 seconds, stop and scrape down the sides, then blend for 10 seconds more. Strain batter through a fine-mesh sieve. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Heat a crepe pan or nonstick saute pan over medium heat until a few drops of water sizzle when sprinkled on the pan. With a paper towel, spread a little butter on the pan, being sure to wipe most of it off.

Using a bowl or a measuring cup with a spout, pour enough batter to just cover the pan (for a crepe pan, a little less than 1/4 cup), immediately swirling the batter around until it covers the surface. If the batter seems too thick and doesn’t spread quickly, add up to an additional 1/4 cup of water to the mixture and stir until blended.

Adjust heat if necessary. If the batter sizzles when you pour it onto the pan, it’s too hot; if it just lies there, it’s too cold. The first one or two crepes are usually experiments.

When the edges of the crepe begin to turn golden and move away from the pan, after about 2 minutes, lift up the edge nearest to you using a spatula (an offset spatula works best). Flip the crepe over. Cook the second side of the crepe only long enough for it to set, less than a minute. Remove from the pan and start a stack of crepes, layering wax paper between each crepe as you cook more. Add more butter when needed with a paper towel.

Note: You can omit the sugar and use this recipe for savory crepes.

Makes 24 crepes. Each crepe: 77 calories; 3 grams protein; 9 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 3 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 42 mg. cholesterol; 65 mg. sodium.

1/2cup whipping cream

1/2tablespoon powdered sugar

Pinch of cinnamon

4tablespoons butter

3Fuji apples, peeled, cored and sliced

1/3cup sugar

Pinch of sea salt

1/3cup Calvados (see note) or apple juice or cider

Juice of half a lemon

4sweet crepes

Make a cinnamon Chantilly cream. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, or with a hand-held mixer, beat the cream, sugar and cinnamon until soft peaks form. Refrigerate until you’re ready to assemble the crepes. (You will have extra; reserve for another use.)

In a large saute pan, melt the butter until it foams and subsides, then add the sliced apples, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until the apples caramelize and the sauce is thick, about 10 minutes.

Taking the pan off the heat, pour in the Calvados, and then return it to the heat; if it doesn’t ignite in the pan, tip the liquid toward the front of the pan, being careful not to let it spill, and light it with a match. Let it flambe until the flames subside, about 10 seconds. Stir in the lemon juice.

Spoon 1/4 of the apples into the middle of a sweet crepe; fold it into quarters and top with a dollop of cinnamon cream. Serve immediately.

Note: Calvados (apple brandy) is available at fine wine and spirits shops.

Makes 4 servings. Each serving with 1 tablespoon Chantilly cream: 365 calories; 3 grams protein; 41 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams fiber; 17 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 81 mg. cholesterol; 105 mg. sodium.

There are as many ways to fold a crepe as there are things to fill it with. They can be square, round, triangular, rolled up like little carpets or tied into beggar’s purses.

Traditional “galettes” often were folded into squares, the fillings first put in the center, then each side folded in so it became a packet. Sometimes the four sides were only folded partway in, so a glimpse of filling was revealed. In creperies, crepes can come in these squares, or simply folded in half, like semicircles.

You can roll them up tightly like cigarettes or loosely like a burrito; use two crepes and make a sandwich or stack a few of them and cut them into dainty triangles. Tie them up with chives, or fold the edges underneath.

Or, if you want to get really ambitious, make a gateau de crepes – an architectural study of crepes found in “Larousse Gastronomique” – by layering a dozen of them with Chantilly cream and strawberry jam.

Or just spread your filling across one half of the crepe, fold the other side over top, then fold it again into a loose triangle for a casual, neat presentation .

Fillings

Thinly sliced ham and grated Gruyere

Sauteed mushrooms, ham and a little bechamel

Smoked trout or smoked salmon and creme fraiche spiked with horseradish and chopped fresh dill

Sliced fresh mozzarella, diced tomatoes and torn basil

Crumbled goat cheese and a arugula lightly dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil

Duck confit, warm cannellini beans and a few sage leaves

Ice cream, with or without sliced fruit

Chocolate or chestnut mousse

Chocolate ganache

Fruit preserves

Sauteed pears and chopped roasted hazelnuts