#37 Make galettes from scratch

A homemade galette de blé noir

I was standing in the kitchen at work this week chatting with colleagues, and we started discussing someone's soba noodles dish and whether or not we liked soba noodles. I learned that they are made from buckwheat which made me think of buckwheat flour which made me think of galettes which made me remember that February 2 is La Chandeleur, a French holiday for eating crêpes!

All that is to say that I was particularly inspired to tackle item #37 for la Chandeleur and make both galettes and crêpes to celebrate.

Firstly, what is la Chandeleur? It's the religious holiday of Candlemas celebrated 40 days after Christmas on February 2, marking the presentation of Jesus and purification of Mary at the temple in Jerusalem. Many Christians bring candles to church on this day to be blessed in honor of Jesus, the "Light of the World."

In France, it is a tradition to eat crêpes for la Chandeleur, dating back to 5th century Pope Gelasius I, who had galettes distributed to pilgrims arriving in Rome. Another side to the tradition is that crêpes are round and golden like the sun and represent a sunny spring coming after the dark winter.

Most Americans understand that a crêpe is a thin sweet pancake, but they are less familiar with its savory counterpart, the galette. Made with buckwheat flour, or blé noir, they are darker and crispier than a crêpe and filled with meats, veggies, and cheese. The most common galette complète is filled with a slice of ham, a fried egg with a soft yolk, and gruyère (swiss) cheese.

My husband is from Brittany, the home of crêpes, and I used to live above a great organic crêperie in Rennes with this amazing tomato sauce! An authentic meal at a crêperie is composed of Breton hard cider (brut/dry or doux/sweet), a galette, and a crêpe!

The crêperies under my Rennes apartment - my window is the furthest left building on the 3rd floor.

For my galette from scratch experiment, I read the recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini and made these tweaks:

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups buckwheat flour
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
Water to thin the batter if needed (I didn't)
Cooking oil or butter for pan
Fillings: ham, egg,  cheese, sautéed mushroom, and sautéed spinach

Instructions
1. Mix the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and dig a little well in the center. Break the eggs into the well, and whisk them gradually into the flour. Pour the milk in slowly, whisking all the while. Add the melted butter and whisk it in. Cover and store in the fridge for at least 2 hours; overnight is best.

2. When you're ready to cook, prepare all the fillings beforehand, such as sautéing veggies, and have all fillings out and handy next to you on the counter. (I had eggs, slices of deli ham, shredded gruyere cheese, garlic sautéed mushrooms, and garlic sautéed spinach.)

3. Whisk the galette batter again before use, as some of the flour will have settled at the bottom of the bowl.

4. Heat up a large skillet over medium-high heat and pour a little oil or butter in the pan. When the pan is very hot, use a folded paper towel to (very cautiously) apply a sheen of oil on the surface of the skillet. Pour a ladleful of batter in the skillet, and swirl the skillet around so that the batter spreads out in a nice, even circle going up the edges of the pan a little bit. Let cook on medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes until it looks set.

5. If using an egg, break it cautiously in the center of the galette. Gently use a fork to spread out the egg white to allow it to cook quickly. Cover the skillet with a glass lid to help steam cook the egg until the white is set but the yolk is still runny. Add all other ingredients on top of the egg.

6. Fold the galette as best you can: the traditional way is to fold the four sides in and make a square galette, but when there's a lot of filling and the galette isn't very big that's a little difficult, so just fold two sides in.

For the grand finale, we made our traditional la Chandeleur crêpes. Here's my crêpe recipe:

Ingredients
1 cup regular flour
2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 ¼ cups milk
2 tablespoons of melted butter

Instructions
1. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl and dig a little well in the center. Break the eggs into the well, and whisk them gradually into the flour. Pour the milk in slowly, whisking all the while. Add the melted butter and whisk it in. Cover and store in the fridge for at least 2 hours; overnight is best.

2. When you're ready to cook, whisk the crêpe batter again before use, as some of the flour will have settled at the bottom of the bowl.

Unlike the galettes, I like to flip crêpes to get them golden on both sides.

4. Heat up a large skillet over medium-high heat and put some butter in the pan. Pour a ladleful of batter in the skillet, and swirl the skillet around so that the batter spreads out in a nice, even circle going up the edges of the pan a little bit. Let cook on medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes until it looks set. Flip it to cook on the other side for another 1 minute.

5. Add toppings of choice! We did Nutella and banana :)

Item 37 Completed 2/2/19
8/42 items complete = 19%