T.T.: Consider the Crepe

Like many families, we have a tradition of various pancakes or waffles topped with butter and maple syrup on Sundays. It's the after-church second breakfast/treat for our children. 

Over the years, we've done sourdough waffles, buckwheat pancakes or waffles, regular (all-purpose flour) waffles or pancakes, and a type of johnnycake with cornmeal made in pancake form that my children call Fudge Bunnies (long story).

But right now, the winner is crepes a la Daddy, and I consider this to be a really good option.  Here's why.

Standard all-purpose flour pancakes or waffles are really not very good nutritionally. Making those and then covering them in syrup is more or less like eating dessert in the morning. Not that I am opposed to that for children occassionally, but on a more regular basis, I prefer to give my kids something a bit more nutrient-dense as their maple syrup vehicle.

Buckwheat flour is a pretty good option, as it has a higher protein content than wheat flour and doesn't result in quite as much of a sugar spike and crash. We used buckwheat flour regularly when we lived in New York--where buckwheat flour is still grown and available locally--but ordering it here is much more expensive.

Crepes are something A. used to make sometimes, because he prefers them to regular pancakes himself. A crepe, if you didn't know, is a very, very thin type of pancake. The traditional French recipes--I think, although of course I'm not French--include more eggs and milk than flour, and no sugar. This is the type of crepe A. makes. The ratio of protein-heavy ingredients to flour makes for a much more filling breakfast, without so much of a carbohydrate hit. 

As a bonus, the crepes don't soak in the syrup like regular pancakes do, so you use a lot less of the syrup.

Maple syrup is obviously not French and is not a traditional topping for crepes, which are supposed to be rolled up around something like jam or sweetened fruits. However, my kids are accustomed to maple syrup and the crepes are our substitute for the more traditional pancakes, so I just serve them like pancakes.

So are you ready to make some crepes? Good! Here's the recipe straight from the horse's mouth. The horse in this case being A.

That didn't sound right.

Anyway. Here's what he does.

Crepes a la Daddy

Ingredients

8 eggs

2.5 cups milk, plus more if needed

2 cups flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

butter for the cooking

Method

Whisk all the ingredients together in a large bowl until well combined. The batter should be very thin, about the consistency of heavy cream. If it's not that thin, add more milk until it is. 

If possible, let the batter rest for awhile in the refrigerator, even overnight, but you can cook them immediately. 

Put a small piece of butter in a very large skillet--A. uses our 14-inch cast-iron skillet--and heat over medium-high heat until the butter is starting to brown a bit. The skillet should be non-stick. Either an actual non-stick skillet, or a very well-seasoned cast-iron skillet. 

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, pour batter into the hot pan and tilt the pan around to spread the batter out very thinly. Cook until the bottom of the crepe has brown spots all over, then flip with a spatula. Be careful when you flip--these are delicate and can tear pretty easily. 

A. tells me that when he makes the crepes with store-bought eggs, they are much more tender and harder to roll up without tearing. The eggs from our chickens make a crepe that holds together better, I guess.

Cook until brown on the other side, then transfer to a plate and keep in a warm oven as you cook the rest of the crepes.

There are hundreds of filling options for crepes. When I ate them, I preferred sour cream and jam. My children, of course, prefer butter and maple syrup. 

Because these have no sugar, they could also be used with savory fillings, though I've never tried that.

Let's close this out with some crepe beauty shots that I captured while the master was at work.

Pour . . .

Tilt . . .

Perfect.