Buckwheat Crêpes

Crispy Buckwheat crêpes with soft scrambled eggs and tomato chutney

Buckwheat Crêpes

Buckwheat crêpes are one of my favorite simple ways to impress breakfast guests - you can fill them with something sweet, or savory, whatever you have in house or in season. The nutty flavor of buckwheat gives you something to hold onto, something interesting to talk about - the crêpe isn't 100% buckwheat so it's a great introduction to cooking with buckwheat. Be warned, you will jump on the train pretty easily! Read more on buckwheat and how good it is for our bodies and the soil.

Be warned, my recipe has a lot of butter in it. But it also has apple sauce as a sweetener and it gives room for substitutions for those who aren't so strictly French.

If you feel like holding back on the butter, you can.

You can also substitute egg with Bob's egg replacer and oil instead of butter for a vegan crepe, or a Gluten Free flour blend instead of all-purpose flour. Buckwheat is naturally gluten free, but often not certified GF since it may be processed in the same mill. lease know the crepes may fall apart a bit more easily but the substitutions are just as delicious.

Essentials: The nonstick pan and clarified butter (or oil) are to being able to flip the crêpe, the consistency (smooth, liquid batter that spreads easily) is key to getting the crêpe flat enough to be flexible and the medium high heat is essential for getting the lacy effect and bit of crisp edges.

Ingredient	Makes 6-8 crepes (1L batter)	Makes 12-16 crepes (2L batter)
Eggs	3 ea	6 ea
Brown Butter	170g	340g
Apple Sauce	100g	200g
AP Flour	225g	450g
Buckwheat Flour	125g	250g
Milk, buttermilk or alt milk	600g	1200g
Salt	5g	10g

Method:

1. Using a hand immersion blender, blend together the melted butter, applesauce and eggs.

2. Mix the flours together in a large bowl, then add the butter mixture into the flour, whisking gently to combine.

3. Mix in the milk and salt, whisking to combine. If there are lumps, I've successfully used the hand blender to mix it, it will gum a little and that's ok. Let sit 10-20 minutes to absorb, and then make your crepes.

4. Heat a nonstick pan (no shitty/scratched teflon, throw those away already) or a wide cast iron with sloping or low sides, or a proper crepe pan. You want medium high heat and a bit of clarified butter (or oi) to get the pan slick. Ladle 1 big scoop (4-6oz onto the pan and let sizzle and begin to lace. if it doesn't bubble up with the heat, it will be fine, just not as lacy. Turn up the heat a little notch.

5. Flip the crepe with just the flip of the pan if you can, or use a big soft and flat spatula. Reserve on a silpat, or sheet tray with parchment, or on a plate with alternated stacking (like a venn diagram)

6. Eat plain or filled with your favorite sweet or savory combinations.

Crêpes will hold well in the fridge or on the counter, store them in an airtight container or on a plate and then wrapped in plastic. You can reheat or eat them as is for a nice snack. I love to make these ahead of time and even will make the batter a night ahead and leave in the fridge, it will also freeze well in a quart container for prep, and thaw in the fridge overnight.

My favorite crêpe fillings:

Soft scrambled egg with salmon or trout lox

Butter poached Lobster or crab, hollandaise or nasturtium aioli

Caramelized onion, thyme and wild mushrooms (porcini, chanterelles or morels)

Garlic, Swiss chard and goat cheese

Lardons, ricotta and lemon

Hazelnut and fresh heirloom tomato

Nutmeg, honey-plum sauce and yogurt

Cider-poached pear and honey yogurt

Fried egg, chili crisp, stewed wild greens (quelites, purslane, borage, amaranth and honey)

Apples and Cinnamon

I just wrote a little note on my Substack (@chefabigailJulia) about finding buckwheat in the compost heap at Lightwater Cove...if you feel so inclined, I share a lot more than just recipes over there. Enjoy!

Buckwheat Crêpe folded galette style with a fried egg and dill hollandaise, arugula flowers against the background of the Camellia flower debris.

Buckwheat crêpe drizzled with honey yogurt sauce, filled with apple butter and garnished with pink and white apple blossoms edible flowers, sprinkled with cinnamon. (Before I learned that they're better crispy.)