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The Basic Recipe for Sweet and Savory Crepes

Total time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: Low
Serves: 4 people
By Cookist
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Crêpes are a basic preparation, typical of the French cuisine: they are soft and thin waffles prepared with a batter made from flour, eggs and milk cooked on a hot pan (or griddle), slightly buttered. The result is reminiscent of American pancakes, although crêpes are characterized by a larger dimension and a slightly curled edge (crêpes derives from the Latin crispus, which means "curled"). Their natural taste makes them ideal for sweet and savory fillings.

Today we present to you our infallible basic recipe for sweet and savory crêpes, including the little tricks and secrets to have them elastic to the right point and, therefore, easy to fold, roll and fill as you like. The dough is prepared in 5 minutes and cooking only takes a few seconds on each side: just beat the eggs and milk in a bowl, then add the sifted flour and mix until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous batter to pour, a ladle time, on a classic non-stick pan or a special crepe maker. There is no need to add sugar or salt, except a pinch to enhance the flavors: in fact, the fillings will make the dough sweet or savory at the right point.

The secret of having crêpes with the right thickness, neither too double nor too thin, is to not exaggerate with the quantity of batter and above all, once poured, to rotate the pan quickly so as to distribute it evenly. To turn them without breaking them, they must be lifted with a firm movement, using a spatula, only when the edges begin to detach from the bottom of the pan.

Find out how to prepare delicious crêpes by following the illustrated step-by-step procedure and follow our advice on how to preserve them without drying them out and how to freeze them to always have them available.

Ingredients
For about 12 crepes
Milk
500 ml
00 flour
250 grams
Eggs
3
Butter
as much as you need
You'll also need
22cm non-stick pan

How to Prepare Crêpes

Start preparing your crêpes by breaking the eggs into a bowl and adding the milk.

Then beat vigorously with a fork or a hand whisk until the mixture is smooth.

At this point, add the sifted flour and just a pinch of salt, which will not make your crêpes salty, but will, instead, enhance the flavours.

Continue to work the ingredients with the whisk until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous batter, then cover it with a transparent film and place it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. The rest is necessary to allow the ingredients to mix perfectly and also to eliminate any lumps, so we advise you to not skip this step.

Once the resting time has passed, you can move on to cooking the crepes. Heat a 22 cm diameter non-stick pan on the heat, then melt a cube of butter and spread it with a sheet of absorbent kitchen paper.

Pour in a ladle of batter, enough to cover the bottom, and swirl the pan quickly to distribute it evenly. If you have one available, you can also use a special wooden batter spreader.

Cook for about a minute, then, as soon as it appears golden and comes off easily, turn the

crêpe using a spatula and continue cooking on the other side for another minute. Continue this way until the dough is finished, greasing the pan again if necessary; as the crêpes are cooked, stack them on a plate to keep them warm and very soft.

The crêpes are ready to fill as you prefer.

How to Store Your Crêpes

Already cooked crêpes, without filling, can be kept in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. To prevent them from dying out, cover them with a sheet of cling film. For raw batter, however, it would be better to not exceed 12 hours in the fridge: you can still prepare it in the evening before to have it ready for the following day.

Alternatively, the crêpes can be frozen for up to a month: just place a sheet of baking paper between one crepe and another, to prevent them from sticking, and place them in a food bag.

Sweet Crêpes

Gluttonous people of the world, unite! The crêpe seems to have been created to be combined with sweet flavors, according to your tastes: the best known and loved are undoubtedly the ones filled with hazelnut cream, perfect for breakfast or a snack for the whole family, just like those with jam, ricotta or fresh fruit. They are so versatile, however, that they can also be served as a dessert at the end of a meal, perhaps in the form of a cake, filled with strawberries and mascarpone or the famous version of crêpes suzette.

Savory Crêpes

Savory crêpes are just as inviting as their sweet sisters. They are an excellent alternative to traditional baked first courses for Sunday lunch with the family, because they can form the basis of cannelloni, swivels or dumplings or replace fresh sheets of pasta. For special dinners, instead, they can be stuffed with cured meats and cheeses, mushrooms, courgettes, asparagus, ricotta and spinach or even salmon and shrimp. As always, feel free to fill them with whatever tickles your fancy!

Crepes without Eggs and Milk, and With Different Flours. Vegan and Vegetarian crepes.

Chickpea flour, buckwheat flour, wholemeal flour: these are just some of the flours you can use to replace the flour type 00. The taste will be different, but as good as usual. For the vegan recipe – or just because you want a less caloric and a lighter crepe – you can eliminate the eggs and replace the milk with water and the butter with oil.

Origin and Curiosities

It seems that the origin of the recipe is quite ancient, dating back to the V century, when Pope Gelasius ordered a large quantity of flour and eggs to be brought from the Vatican kitchens to feed the French pilgrims who arrived in Rome for the Candlemas celebration: with these ingredients were prepared the first elementary crepes, which were much appreciated in France, where they quickly spread. Over time, they were perfected to the point of now being considered a true symbol of France's national gastronomy.

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