Crêpes...Part 2!

I love that crêpes are simple enough to make at home in America without anything fancy. But even still...I miss real ones from street vendors or in French restaurants. My family is always excited when I make crêpes because, as my dad says, they're a delivery device for Nutella, and they don't know the difference. That said, all of us were excited when I received a real crêpe pan for my birthday last month!

I used the same recipe as I had the week before, but I made sure to use more milk for a more even batter. This crêpe pan is much wider than the one I use on the stove, and the batter needs to be thin enough to spread with the wooden tools. I watched a few YouTube videos of street vendors swirling the batter perfectly with just a flick of their wrist, and I was mesmerized. It was really hard to get the hang of it!

This is what it looked like at first: pretty messy, not the most even coverage, and a little lumpy in spots. I had to keep adding milk and blending my batter on a higher speed, which I normally avoid so it isn't too fluffy, but it does feel different on the standalone pan. The sides have a very small edge, just enough to contain the batter (when you have a steady hand). But this comes with practice!

After flipping the crêpe with a flat wooden spatula, it cooks for just one minute on the second side and it's ready to come off. Since the wider pan calls for thinner batter, these cooked more quickly, so I had to pay close attention to color changes. I also found that keeping the wooden tools in a bowl of warm water kept them from sticking to the batter, especially as it was swirled into a circle after being poured on.

I made my crêpes smaller as I began to run out of batter, and I wish that I had done this from the beginning instead of worrying about their size because they were much easier to spread this way! They don't need to be perfect circles, and it's totally fine to have a few holes on the edges, but this was a better way to practice the swirling motion.

Typically, crêpes made on these pans (especially on the street) are filled while they cook. One side is flipped over to fold it in half and quickly patted down, and when it's still hot from having just touched the pan, fillings like Nutella can be spread more smoothly. These are much larger than crêpes made in a regular pan, so they are folded into thirds to be easier to hold and eat.

This was a really fun (and unexpected!) way to learn the more traditionally French version of crêpes. I'll enjoy practicing the techniques for making them, and this gives me a simple way to try new variations, like savory crêpes (galettes).