Making light, airy, evenly browned crêpes that are just a little crisp around the edges is no harder than making pancakes (I actually think is easier). Here are 5 tips to ensure things go smoothly.
5 tips for making perfect crêpes
- Refrigerate the batter for at least one hour. Gluten, a cross-linked chain of two proteins, forms when wheat flour and water are agitated. It’s a desirable reaction when you’re making things like bread, but is not so desirable in cakes, pie crusts and crêpes. Refrigerating the batter after it’s been mixed, “relaxes” the gluten and makes for light, airy crêpes.
- Use a heavy bottomed stainless steel pan. Your pan needs to heat evenly, so it’s important that it has a thick bottom that will achieve this. Also, I’ve found that non-stick pans don’t evenly brown the crêpes (leaves a weird mottled pattern), so I prefer using a pan without non-stick coating.
- Slowly heat the pan to the desired temp. If you try to heat it too quickly you’ll constantly be fiddling with the temperature knob because it will start burning or get too cool. On my gas stove, I put the pan on the large burner and have the heat set a smidge below medium, but you’ll have to figure out what works best for you. Also, make sure the pan is hot enough, otherwise your crêpe will stick to the pan.
- Over butter the first crêpe. By “over butter” I don’t mean deep fry, but you want to make sure you have enough butter in the pan to thinly cover the bottom and part of the sides. Usually I just unwrap one end of the stick and make a swirling motion around the pan (kinda like applying deodorant). Your first crêpe will be a bit crisp and buttery (not that that’s even a bad thing), but your following crêpes should come out perfect. You shouldn’t need to re-butter the pan for at least 5-6 crêpes and you’ll only need a quick swipe.
- Don’t flip it too early. Wait until the surface of your crêpe is no longer shiny and the edges are starting to brown before you try and flip your crêpe. If you flip it too early it will tear.
The recipe below will make about 12-16 crêpes depending on what size pan you use. Apples tend to have a subtle flavor so I like using a couple forms of apple to make sure it’s got plenty of flavor. If you don’t have Calvados (apple brandy) feel free to substitute for brandy.
Units
Ingredients
for crêpe
- 1 cup all-purpose
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 2 eggs
- pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
for buttered apples
- ¼ cup apple juice
- ¼ cup cultured unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
- ½ cup evaporated cane sugar
- ½ apple (cut into 1/8"cubes)
- 2 tablespoons Calvados
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Put everything in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl with a spout, cover and refrigerate for an hour. Following the instructions in the tips above, heat a pan and butter. Pour enough batter into the center of the pan to cover about 1/3 of its surface area then quickly pick it up and use a swirling motion to cover the rest of the pan.
- Let this cook until the edges start turning brown and grab an edge with a flat spatula then use your fingers to lift the edge and get the rest of the spatula under the crxeape and flip it. Cook for about another 30 seconds or until you see some brown spots when you peak under the crxeape. Transfer to a plate and serve immediately, or you can stack them on top of each other and keep them in a warm oven.
- For the buttered apples, cook everything except the Calvados and lemon juice in a small sauce pan over medium low heat while you cook the crxeapes (about 10-15 minutes). Whisk in the Calvados and lemon juice just before serving over your crxeapes.
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Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Hasan, its a little hard to say what the issue might be, but based on your description, it sounds like it might have something to do with the gluten in the flour having time to rest (which will make the crepes more tender). Try whisking the batter again after taking the mixture out of the refrigerator before cooking it and see if that helps.
Hasan Almashat says
Thank you for your quick reply . I will try what you said and let you know. But like I said before when I refrigerate the batter it becomes very tender while cooking on the crepe pan even the texture changes. I thought it’s the butter so I was thinking of not adding the butter ftom the beginning and only add it before cooking. However I will whisk like you said and let you know
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Hasan, that’s also a possibility as the butter will solidify in the fridge, which could interrupt the structure of the crepe as it cooks.
Hasan Almashat says
I tried whisking still same result spongy texture almost like egg whites when cooking and tasteless. My crepe batter is only rich when it’s freshly made and cooked right away. Any other suggestions?
Marc Matsumoto says
Did you try leaving out the butter? I usually don’t add butter to my batter, instead using it to oil the pan.
Hasan Almashat says
I did leave the butter out and refrigerated the batter for one hour then left out to room temperature then added the butter but still got the bad result . I will try what you said make a batter with no butter and will refrigerate it for couple of hours. I will let you know with the result.
Thank you for your continuos support
Hasan Almashat says
I made another batter with no butter and refrigerated it and it turned out perfect no more wasting batters. And I will not add butter anymore to the batter. I will only use butter to greese the pan. Thank you very much
Marc Matsumoto says
Glad to hear you were able to figure it out!
Wade Joel says
Thanks for these great tips for making perfect crepes! I didn’t know that non-stick pans don’t evenly brown them. This girl I met really likes crepes and I wanted to impress her by making some for our next date. I truly appreciate your tips and your recipe but I think this first time I will take her to a crepe restaurant!
Louis says
very good very nice