First step: make the batters. In Brittany, the crêpe-making centre of France and the world, there are actually 2 kinds of batters. The savoury galettes are made from buckwheat flower (ble de sarrasin) and sweet crêpes are made from regular flour. Here you can see the batters. The darker batter is the one on the left. (see also the detailed galettes and crêpes recipes).

To cook the galettes, use a special pan. The pan is heated on high and then a half potato dipped in vegetable oil is used to spread the oil thinly all over the pan. Then you take one ladle full of batter, pour it on the pan, and quickly turn the pan so that the batter thinly covers the entire pan. The batter has to be fairly runny for this to work. Cook until the galette lightens in colour on top, starts to brown on the bottom and the edges slightly curl.

The next part is easy. Holler so that Rubby comes running and flips the galette for you (see the vertical galette in mid-air). Let the other side brown slightly and stack the galettes on a plate, covering them with a tea towel so that they don't dry out.

See, that was easy. We did that until all the galettes and crêpes were done and then we prepared all the stuffings for the "mise en place" (that's my high falutin' term for "put everything in bowls so it's ready and rarin' to go"). Here we have the white mushrooms and chanterelles sauteeing and a bunch of other ingredients already prepared.

 

The table is set. Time for our guests to order from the menu (menu is in pdf format).

Here are some of the orders being cooked up. From left to right are "La forestiere", "La Complete" and "La Campagnarde".

  

Ok, there were more but the orders were coming too quickly to take photos of them all. Here's what a savoury galette looks like when it's done:

After dinner, comes the dessert. (ya, can you believe they were still hungry? German appetite...!) Rubby gets out all the ingredients and waits for the orders... don't the strawberries look yummy?

Here are two crêpes being prepared: La Sous Bois and La Louisiane... there was even some flambe action going on with some rum on the bananas but forgot to catch the flames on camera.

 

Mmmmmm, doesn't that look delicious?

[ crêpe recipe | galette recipe ]