Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Crepes

Umm, so the story behind this should be self-explanatory, but in case you don't know some of the details, here you go. I learned the recipe in France, it is true, from real French people too! But I was terribe at it, and then one day a mission companion showed me a few tricks for making them succeed. She was from Sweden. I have been told that some of my tricks are cheating, but I have never had any complaints as to flavor or results, so I'll take the cheating! This makes a great conference breakfast!!!! It was one of the first requests my friends made when I got back, please can we have crepes for conference breakfast. I am only too happy to oblige. And they were a success again, so I haven't lost my touch!

Start with 1 cup flour and 1 cup water.
mix them with a whisk until they are smooth. Very smooth. Like glue, not bread dough. If you have to adjust the water or flour to do it go ahead, but I would start with less water and add the water instead of attempting to add flour, which goes lumpy.
Add 4 eggs
whisk some more, until well incorporated, even and smooth again
(Her ecomes the cheating part...)
Add a Spoonful of Sugar and two Tablespoons of vegetable oil
Whisk some more. The sugar does two things, it helps the flour to loosen up a bit and sweetens the batter a tiny bit. The oil makes it easier to turn the crepes.
Pour in Milk until the batter is crepe consistensy. Thinner than pancake or cake batter, Thicker than whole milk or orange juice.

The real key to making crepes is the way you use your pan. Have a good frying pan and a wodden or bamboo spoon/flat utensil. Lightly oil the pan, then heat it up until you can flick water on it and t sizzles. (I love that part, SSSSSSSS!)
Pour about a half cup of the batter into the pan, while rotating the pan with your wrist, so that it coats the bottom in a circle as you pour. Continue rotating it after you have poured all the batter in, so that it coats the bottom of the pan evenly. It will stop coating as it cooks. The crepe will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan when it is ready to be flipped. Use the wooden spoon to loosen the bottom a little, but it really should slide around easily once it is cooked. It only takes less than a minute, and it should be lacy brown when you turn it.

Here is the French part: Put the filling in now, while the second side is still cooking! fill it with ham and cheese and pineapple (my favorite), a chopped up candy bar (so it gets all melty), fresh fruit, or whatever. You have to throw that filling in while it is still cooking so that the filling gets warmed up just perfectly! You can top it with whipped cream later. (well, not the ham one. yuck)

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