Semi-Sweet Homemade Crepes
As many of you may know, crepes originated in France (sometime around 13th century). The word crepe comes from the Latin word crispa, which translates to curled. Though nowadays crepes are made with wheat flour, back in the old days it was very common to make crepes with buckwheat flour. Crepes later became popular in other parts of the world as well, such as Russia and Eastern Europe. These thin, delicious pancakes are served with variety of toppings such as jam, whip cream, sour cream, and even chocolate. My favorite way to eat crepes is to add sour cream, curl them in a wrap and drizzle some honey on top for touch of sweetness. The texture of the crepes is very delicate, and they usually aren’t too sweet. We have been making crepes using this recipe for years, so I am confident that you will love them as much as we do.
Ingredients
300 grams of all-purpose flour
500 ml of whole milk (about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
3 eggs
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1.5 cup of almost boiling, very hot water
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
Directions
Sift all 300 grams of flour and set it aside.
In a bowl, start beating 3 eggs with a whisk or a hand mixer. Then add 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, and half of milk’s content (about 250ml or 1 cup). Mix until the batter is uniform, and few bubbles are formed. This should take less than 5 minutes.
To the same bowl, add about half the flour (150 grams) and keep stirring your batter for a minute or two. Then add remaining flour and milk to the batter, and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Keep mixing for additional 2-3 minutes until the batter is uniform and smooth in consistency. After this step, let the batter rest for about 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes pass, slowly start pouring 1.5 cups of very hot, almost boiling water while stirring the batter very fast. The hot water helps with forming little holes in the pancakes. Your batter is now ready!
Heat up the nonstick or cast-iron pan, and grease it with about 2 tablespoons of butter. As soon as the butter melts, start pouring the batter from the middle of the pan and swirl it around or simply tilt the pan to help your crepe spread evenly. The amount of batter you will need to add depends on the size of the pan, but usually it will be about 1/4 cup per crepe.
Each side of the crepe takes about a minute or two to cook. When the top side of the batter starts to darken and dry up, it is a sign that the bottom side is nice and golden, and ready to flip. After you flip the crepe, wait for additional 2 minutes for the other side to turn golden. Remove the crepe from the pan and repeat this process for the rest of your batter. Enjoy!