Breton galettes

Today is crêpe day and Miriam, the Winter Guest , brings us what the French call galette complete: a crêpe with cheese, ham and egg . An explosive combination to make your loved ones enjoy a most Breton dinner. Good day!

Breton galettes are savory crepes that are characterized by the fact that they are prepared with buckwheat or buckwheat flour. Buckwheat is a pseudocereal with a particular and intense herbaceous flavor that goes very well with salty complements.

The introduction of buckwheat to France dates from the Crusades ; the crusaders brought buckwheat seedlings to Europe, which ended up acclimatizing in Brittany, where the climate is humid and the soil acid.

Genuine buckwheat crepes contain only buckwheat flour, as well as egg and water, but not wheat. Buckwheat is gluten-free , so these galettes are suitable for celiacs, but for this very reason the dough is much less cohesive than a dough with wheat and is therefore more difficult to handle on the crepe maker. In many recipes a certain proportion of wheat flour is added precisely to facilitate the preparation and it is the option that I have chosen.

What they call a galette complete in Brittany is a very thin crepe filled with melted cheese, ham and egg. It is advisable to use a good quality frying pan to make these delicate crepes, which heats evenly and does not stick. Let's go with them.

B De Buyer mineral iron crepe maker , Mediterránea crystal glass , Triana de Mediterránea crystal plate and Bérard olive wood rake .

Ingredients (for 6 large galettes )

Crepe dough:

• 200g of buckwheat flour
• 50g of plain flour*
• 1 egg
• 500g of water
• 1 tbsp. melted butter or oil
• 1 tsp. of salt
• Extra butter for the skillet

Filling and finishing, per person:

• 1 egg
• 2 slices of cooked ham or cold cuts to taste
• grated gruyère cheese to taste

*To make these gluten-free crepes you can replace these 50gr of wheat flour with buckwheat.

Elaboration

1. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well until smooth. We let the covered dough rest for at least 2 hours , because the buckwheat gains a bit of body when hydrated, which makes it easier for the crepes not to fall apart.
2. Once the rest is finished, we heat the crepe pan over medium-high heat, brush with melted butter and when it is perfectly hot (I check it with a kitchen thermometer ) we pour a good ladle of pasta, we move the crepe pan to spread it well (we we can help with a rake for creps ) and we curdle the first crepe, which we already know is good as a test.
3. It is possible that we have to adjust the fluidity of the paste : if it were too thick we would add some water. And vice versa, some flour if it was very fine.
4. We curdle the galettes for a couple of minutes on each side and put them on a plate, covered with a cloth .
5. To prepare the complete galettes, we take a crepe and put it in the same crepe pan, warm. We toast it a bit and place a handful of grated cheese, one or two slices of cooked ham and an egg made to our liking, fried or grilled with butter.
6. We fold the edges of the crepe as seen in the photos and let it heat up for a few minutes so that the cheese melts. We serve immediately.

Mineral iron crepe maker B De Buyer , Mediterranean crystal glass and Bérard olive wood rake .