I am opening a coffee/bar with a small kitchen. We are putting our main focus on crepes. I am wondering the best way to make the crepes. I am not sure whether to make them on crepe griddles, a flat top, or by pan. Any input would be great.
You will most definitely have to do them on a griddle. The reason is you can really only make crepes efficiently and properly in one size. 4-5 small blue steel pans is just about right to make crepes production style. In order to make a large crepe you will need of course a large pan and it takes a while to heat the pan and about half a minute to make the crepe. It's time consuming unless you have the pan already heated up, but it also wastes a lot of energy.
It depends on what kind of crepes you're making. If you make a "sarazin", that can be made in a pan. They also can be made ahead of time.
A basic recipe would be 3 egg yolks, 2 tblsp AP flour, 2 cups milk and 1 tblsp veg oil. Mix and let rest 20 min. before using. That's a standard crepe we use for suzettes. If you want a "crepe bretonne" you"ll need a flat top and a "racqlette". That's like a squeegee made of wood. The recipe for that batter is much different. Good luck!
I used to make what I called galettes at my restaurant, but I may have mis-used the word. I used them in savory preparations usually when making vegetarian dishes. They looked similar to this
To me a dish incorporating a galette into the preparation uses more of a pastry crust, whereas a sarazin is the same idea but using a crepe for the shell.
Mmhmm. Right, they are referred to as galettes as well although a gallette is usually served open faced. Also the recipe for the batter is completely different for a gallette than for a crepe. I used to serve a buckwheat galette, a crepe bretonne and a standard crepe for suzettes. All three are different and all three are delicious. Thanks for keeping me informed!
Now most of the time a galette indicates a food product, rather flat, round, made from some kind of flour based crust, and that could be sweet or savory. An example is the "Galette des rois" which is a frangipane galette:
But the term is rather lose and can be used for just about any food that's round and flat, for example what you call potato pancake is referred to as a "Galette de pommes de terre", even though there's no flour based crust. Here's a "Galette de pommes de terre aux lardons":
Now when we're talking about crêpes though, the meaning is very specific. At least in France, we often make a distinction between:
Crêpes: wheat flour based, with a sweet filling.
Galettes: buckwheat flour based, with a savory filling.
That's for the tradition at least. Nowadays you can find savory wheat flour crêpes, and galettes can sometimes be found under the name "crêpe de sarasin."
Interesting! What difference do you make between a crêpe Bretonne and a standard crêpe?
To me, a crêpe is a specialty from Brittany, so it's obviously Breton. "Crêpe Bretonne" sounds to me like "American Burger", and I'm not sure what difference I would make between an American burger and a standard burger.
Thanks, in addition to educating me, your reply also makes feel better about the complexity of the English language, which while confusing at times, can be understood through tough thorough thought, though. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif
I think I now know know less than I did a few minutes ago. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/rollsmile.gif
Hi, its me again! I'm not sure how this went from trying to help someone with a crepe issue to an escalating, nasty exchange between us but oh well. I do agree that the gallette shown looks delicious. How about we agree to disagree ( and remain confused). I give up.
P.S. I also feel like I know less than I did before this exchange. Ouch!
This discussion is pretty tame. Interesting and informative too.
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