Crêpes I
Serves 20 crêpes Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 17 Steps 8
A crêpe is a thin pancake. The French word is from the Latin root crispa meaning "curled", from which the English word "crisp" is also derived. It originates from Brittany (Bretagne), a region in the west of France, where it is traditionally served with cider.
Ingredients
Batter
- 220 g (1 cup / 8 oz) plain flour
- 345 ml (1 ½ cup / 12 fl oz) milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp oil or melted butter
- 1 pinch of salt
Optional fillings
- Sugar and lemon
- Raspberry jam and chocolate sauce
- Nutella and sliced banana
- Nutella and chopped hazelnuts
- Whipped cream
- Chocolate, caramel, or butterscotch sauce
- Frangipane
- Peanut butter
- Sugar and butter, possibly with lemon or cinnamon
- Strawberries (fresh or frozen)
- Cream cheese and brown sugar
- Slivers of chicken, broccoli, and cheese sauce
Steps
- Put flour in bottom of mixing bowl. Make hole in middle. Add eggs, melted butter, salt and a bit of milk.
- Mix well by hand, slowly combining liquid with flour into thick paste.
- Continue mixing. Slowly add rest of milk, mixing well to avoid lumps.
- Stand, perhaps several hours, to rest gluten; this is very important for texture.
- Heat crêpe pan (non-stick recommended) or skillet. Test with a drop of water: it should "dance" on the pan; too cold it sits, too hot it vanishes.
- Grease pan with butter. Pour in batter while tilting pan to make crêpe as thin as possible.
- Cook 30–60 seconds until cooked side looks like the surface of the moon. Flip. Cook other side. See whole-wheat pancakes recipe for air-flipping.
- Serve with maple syrup, caster sugar, jam, spreads, etc. Fill and fold into triangles, or roll up.
Notes from the original
- The exact proportions are not critical. In practice, equal parts by volume of eggs, milk, and flour, measured by eye, with no other ingredients, still produces excellent results.
- You may add a bit of liqueur (traditionally brandy or fleur d'oranger) to the batter for more flavor.
- For a sweet crêpe, add 2 teaspoons sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla
- For a chocolate crêpe, add 2 tablespoons chocolate sauce.
- For a cheesy crêpe, sprinkle Emmental cheese evenly over the crêpe while in the pan.
- One can also substitute beer or soda water for the milk. The wheat flour can be replaced by buckwheat flour to make savory buckwheat crêpes, as a main dish (ham, cheese, etc.).
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Crêpes I” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-09-01, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Crepes dsc07085.jpg by David Monniaux, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.