Crepes 101: How to Make This French Classic

A French child learns how to make crepes about the same time a southern child learns how to make homemade biscuits, when they're knee-high to a duck. That teaches the first lesson in crepes 101: it's so easy a child can do it, therefore you can do it too. Crepes are much like a very thin pancake and the possibilities of what can be done with crepes are limited only to your culinary imagination.

Basic Crepe Batter Recipe

• 1 ¾ cup of all-purpose flour
• 2 cups of whole milk at room temperature
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted
• • More butter will be needed for the pan.
• ½ teaspoon of coarse salt

Sift flour and salt into large bowl. Whisk milk and eggs into a medium bowl, then pour mixture in flour, whisking to combine. Whisk in melted butter. Strain mixture into a medium bowl, refrigerate for at least two hours before cooking. Crepe batter should be the consistency of heavy cream.

Cooking the Perfect Crepe

Heat a large (8-12 inches) non-stick skillet over medium heat. Brush hot skillet with butter. Pour 1/3 cup of batter (for large-sized skillet, 3 tablespoons for small sized) into hot skillet, turning and tilting the skillet so the batter will coat the entire pan bottom evenly. Cook until the top edges of the crepe appeared to be set and the bottom is golden brown and firm (about one minute). Run a rubber tipped spatula around the edges of the crepe to loosen, slip the spatula under the crepe, then flip it over with one swift motion. If the crepe does not land perfectly, use the spatula to straighten it out. Cook until bottom is golden brown and firm, about 45 seconds.

A word of warning - the first crepe will not turn out prefect. Never has, never will. That applies to every batch of crepes you make for the rest of your life. The first crepe turns out to be an ugly dud because we get in too big of a hurry to cook them and the pan was not hot enough, or we poured too much batter in the pan or because it's Monday, or whatever. Just call it the practice crepe and feed it to the dog.

Serving Suggestions

Crepes can be plated flat and eaten plain. Filled with anything and folded or rolled. Stacked high with any type of spread between each crepe layer. The classic French version of the American pancake is as versatile as it is easy to make.