How to Make the Authentic French Crepe
When anyone thinks of French cuisine, it is not long before they think "crepes". These thin, delicate, and delicious pancakes can be filled with anything you like-- be it fresh fruit, an entrée in a creamy sauce, or a dessert with chocolate sauce, jam/preserves, or whipped cream. And while wonderful for breakfast on weekends, they are excellent when served as an entree and filled with a creamed chicken, ham & cheese, etc.
Our staff here at Au Bon Goût Boutique uses the below recipe from The French Cooking Academy when making crepes. We find the recipe surprisingly easy to make (with ingredients we all routinely keep in our cupboards), and the results delicious.
Naturally, we use our own imported Les Confitures à l’Ancienne French preserves (see our selection - so choosing a flavor is always difficult!) and serve them in Pillivuyt on a tabletop using Garnier-Thiebaut or Beauvillé linens for the perfect setting. And we can always count on having a good bottle of wine somewhere on the premises to complete the dining experience!
INGREDIENTS
To start off, to make around 25 crepes, you need to gather and weigh all of your ingredients and have them ready:
- 225 grams (1 cup) of plain good quality flour
- 3 good quality free range eggs (whole eggs)
- 400 ml (1 3/4 cups) of milk
- 25 grams (1/3 cup) of caster sugar
- 20 grams (1.5 tablespoons) of melted unsalted butter
- Orange or lemon zest (optional)
- Brown rum (optional)
- First and foremost the size of a crepe pan must be around 10 inch or 26 cm in diameter. – Next It has to be lightweight! making 50 to 100 crepes in a row trust me is not an easy task and using a cast iron or steel pan (as fancy as it looks) will have you stop using such a pan very quickly. so the lighter the pan the better.
- Comfort is next. A good old sturdy large plastic handle that fits well in the hand is what I prefer as it does not get hot and provide you with a great grip for flipping the crepes.
- Regarding pan "height" - A crepe pan is not an omelet pan, the edges of the pan must be extremely low profile to allow the crepe to slide off easily when flipping the crepes.
Let's Get Started - Making the Crepe Batter (easy!)
Next, let the batter rest for 1 hour. This is important
Making the Crepes
Au Bon Gout Staff Comments
Comment 1 - Coating the Pan. The French Cooking Academy recommends you coat your pan in sunflower oil before pouring in the batter. They take a piece of potato, coated in sunflower oil, with a fork and coat the pan. Using the potato gives you control over where you want your oil. (See video below)
Comment 2 - You want your pan sizzling hot with oil before you begin.
Comment 3 - Ladle, spoon? One staff member used a small ladle to pour the batter, another used a small 1/4 measuring cup. Whatever works best for you.
Comment 4 - Pouring the Batter - we found tilting your crepe pan and pouring your batter into one corner of the pan helps to spread it around rather than placing the batter in the center of the pan. See images below.
Comment 5 - Always plan to make one crepe as your "trial" / test crepe. This will test your pan temperature, and batter.
Comment 6 - Have a spatula ready to flip your crepe when cooked on one side. We used a wooden crepe "flipper" - inexpensively purchased from Amazon but a typical spatula will work as well.
Comment 7 - We took our "potato" resting in a small bowl of sunflower oil and pierced with a fork and spread it around out pan between each crepe. You might try that to prevent any sticking, as necessary.
One Last Step: Eating time!!
You can use tons of different fillings with french crepes, but as a rough guide here are some The French Cooking Academy's favorite crepe fillings. The video below provides additional ideas for serving and eating!
- Preserves Jam only*
- Butter+sugar
- Butter+cinamon sugar
- Butter +sugar+lemon juice
- butter+sugar+Grand Marnier (French spirit)
- Nutella with Freshly whipped cream
- jam+freshly whipped cream
- Chesnut paste (creme de Marron)+ whipped cream
Here is The French Cooking Academy's instructional video for making Authentic French Crepes. Bon Appétit
We hope you enjoy these as much as we do.
Last Au Bon Gout Boutique Comment on FREEZING CREPES!
Crepes freeze exceptionally well --which is ideal if making for consumption later. We froze them using a square of waxed paper or parchment between each crepe for ease in separating. Another staff member stacked 3-4 crepes together and then separated them with a small square of wax paper. We then placed them in a zipper-lock freezer bag or you can wrap them tightly with foil. Freeze crepes up to four months. To use, thaw in refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours.
We cannot recommend enough how important it is to weigh your ingredients. For this, we use an inexpensive kitchen scale as with any recipe, having the correct ratios of ingredients in important.