These thin pancakes are made with wheat flour, and have origins in the French region of Brittany. Although they are a French staple and a national dish, crêpes are so popular that they have spread worldwide since the turn of the 20th century, when white wheat flour became affordable.
These delectable treats are made with flour, eggs, milk, and butter whipped into a thin batter, which is then poured in a crêpe pan and fried. The tradition is to flip them in the air as they cook, and they say that if you catch it in the pan, your family will be well-off for the rest of the year.
VARIATIONS OF Crêpes
MOST ICONIC Crêpes
Crêpes salées, often called savory crêpes or galettes in some regions of France, especially in Brittany, are thin pancakes made from a batter that typically contains either wheat flour or buckwheat flour, which gives them a slightly nutty flavor and a darker color.
Unlike the sweet version (crêpes sucrées) which uses various "sweet fillings", crêpes salées are filled with savory ingredients that may include cheese (often Gruyère, Comté, or Emmental), ham or various types of cured meat, eggs, mushrooms, spinach, caramelized onion, or various herbs and spices.
VARIATIONS OF Crêpes salées
MOST ICONIC Crêpes salées
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Galettes de Bretagne are basically thin crépes from the Brittany region in northwestern France. These pancakes are made from buckwheat flour, then filled with various ingredients such as eggs, ham, mushrooms, and bacon. In Brittany, créperies are so popular that they outnumber cafés, and people regularly use them to consume their galettes with bits of salted butter.
Traditionally, the pancakes are paired with a glass of local cider. According to a legend, the Bretagne galette was invented by accident, when a farmer spilled buckwheat porridge on a hot surface. Although people usually associate buckwheat flour with a salty taste, buckwheat crépes are extremely nutritious and contain vitamins B1, B2, and fiber that helps in preventing high blood pressure.
MOST ICONIC Galette de Bretagne
Kouign-amann is a cake that originated in the 1800s in the French region of Bretagne. Its name is derived from the Breton words for cake (kouign) and butter (amann). The cake consists of layers of butter and sugar that are folded into a dough.
Bretons claim that the cake is "the fattiest pastry in the world", due to its flaky yellow dough that is mixed with large amounts of sugar and butter. Although there are many theories about the origin of the cake, the most popular one says that it was invented by accident, when a 19th-century baker from Douarnenez wanted to save a failed batch of dough, so he added butter and sugar to the mix, creating the delicacy that we know today.