Easy recipe for thin French crêpes, best eaten for breakfast or for goûter (teatime) with sugar and lemon or with any of the classic toppings like jam, chestnut or chocolate spread, or salted caramel sauce. For dessert or teatime, serve with cidre. The bonus: no need to let the batter rest!
500ml (18fl oz/2 cups)whole milk(or semi-skimmed for skinny crepes)
½tablespoonlemon or orange zestoptional
Instructions
Sift the flour and icing sugar into a large bowl and add the salt. Make a well in the middle and break the eggs into it.
Add only about a quarter of the milk to the eggs and, using a hand whisk, beat the mixture well until you have a smooth, thick paste. This ensures no lumps. Gradually add the rest of the milk.
Add the melted butter and zest, if using and whisk vigorously to let in as much air as possible into the batter (this way no need to leave it to rest). The mix will look quite runny but this is perfectly normal.
Ladle one small quantity of the batter into a very hot crêpe pan that has been wiped with butter on kitchen paper. Swirl the batter around the pan quickly, as thinly as possible, covering the surface of the pan. Cook over a medium-high heat for about 2-3 minutes until bubbles form on the surface. Using a spatula or your fingertips, quickly flip the crêpe over and cook for another couple of minutes.
Turn down the heat slightly (but still at medium) and repeat the process, topping up with wiping of butter in the pan, until you have about 12 crêpes (depending on pan size), stacking them aside on a large plate.
Notes
Flour: if you use farine fluide ('type 45' thinner cake flour), there is no need to sift the flour.Tip: keep the crêpes warm by stacking them on a plate and cover with an inverted plate on top. Heard that the first crêpe not so good? Not so! Just keep the pan extra hot for the first one, then turn the heat down to medium-high for the rest.Chocolate Crêpes: for chocolate crêpes, add a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder to the flour in step one.Makes 12 crêpes, so for 3 each is 423 calories per serving.Measures: Please note that all my recipes are best made using digital kitchen scales in precise metric grams. Both ounces (and cups) are given as a guide.
Keyword crepes, french crepes recipe, French pancake recipe, thin French pancakes