French Buckwheat Galette Bretonne Recipes

FRENCH BUCKWHEAT GALETTE BRETONNE

Steps:

• Combine all the galette ingredients in a bowl and whisk until the batter is smooth
• Place the galette batter in the fridge for at least one hour. (note 1)
• Place a frying pan or galette pan on a medium to high heat and add no more than 1tsp of butter to grease the pan.
• When the pan is hot add a ladleful of the galette mixture and spread evenly over the pan. (note 2)
• When the galette starts to set crack the egg onto the batter and adjust the position of the egg so it sits in the centre if necessary.
• Add the spinach and cheese so they surround the egg.
• Leave the galette to cook on a medium to high heat until the egg starts to set.
• Add a tiny pinch of salt to the egg yolk and season the galette filling with ground nutmeg and ground black pepper.
• Increase the heat to crisp up the galette and cook on a high heat for a few minutes until you see the sides start to brown. Lift up the sides to check they are done.
• When the galette is crisp fold the sides into the middle and serve. The folds should be no more than 2 inches so the egg is visible
• Repeat steps 4-10 with the rest of the galette batter

GALETTES COMPLèTES (BUCKWHEAT CREPES)

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk 3 eggs with 1 cup water until frothy and uniform. Sift in buckwheat flour, and whisk until as smooth as a new can of paint. Season with salt and whisk to combine. Cover batter and refrigerate overnight (at least 8 hours, or up to 24 hours).
• Heat a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-low. Ladle in 1/4 cup of batter, then quickly tilt the pan in a clockwise motion to swirl the batter all the way to the edges into a perfectly round, very thin pancake. The batter should disperse quickly; if it is too thick - and doesn't swiftly radiate to cover the width of the pan - you'll need to stir a few extra tablespoons of water into the batter and try again with a second crepe. Expect to lose the first two or three crepes as you get used to the swirling motion, the amount of batter to add and the hotness of the pan. When all three factors align, you can make six savory crepes in about as many minutes.
• When you feel you have the hang of it and are ready to go live, ladle in 1/4 cup batter, swirl and allow crepe to set for just 10 seconds. Crack an egg in the center, and use the back of a spoon or a small rubber spatula to spread the egg white, which will allow the egg to cook evenly in the amount of time it will take the cheese to melt and the galette to crisp. Sprinkle about 1/3 cup Gruyère across the surface, then tear 2 or 3 pieces of ham and set them flat on top, surrounding the egg yolk.
• Allow the crepe to crisp up and brown on the bottom while the egg cooks sunny side up, and the ham warms through, 3 to 4 minutes. In Brittany, these are cooked on a large, round cast-iron griddle, and the four sides of the galette are folded in to become a large square before being slid onto a plate. This is harder to do in a slope-sided pan, but try it if it suits you - you'll want to fold the sides about 1 minute before the egg is done cooking. Otherwise, an open round is just fine. Slide it onto a plate, and repeat with remaining galettes.
• Season with salt and pepper. Drink with hard cider, not too cold.

GALETTE DE BRETAGNE (BUCKWHEAT CREPES FROM BRITTANY, FRANCE)

Steps:

• Put the dry buckwheat flour and salt into the bowl, then with a spoon push the mix to the edges of the bowl leaving a hole in the center.
• Then pour some of the milk and add some of the eggs into the center of the bowl.
• With a spoon slowly fold in a little of the flour into the liquid and mix, always keeping the liquid soupy in texture.
• Continue to slowly add the milk and eggs to the center of the bowl and fold in the flour in this way so the mix is never sticky but rather always soupy.
• Doing this results in a non-lumpy mix that is very smooth.
• Mix for a few minutes with an electric mixer, while slowly adding the water to the bowl while mixing.
• Add the water as the flour thickens so that the mixture doesn't become sticky.
• The final mixture should be more watery than you would expect for North American pancakes, roughly the the consistency of melted chocolate.
• note: A secret tip for this recipe is to add at this point a table spoon of beer to the mix for every egg you added, as the malty beer really brings out the flavor of the buckwheat.
• Leave for a few hours in the fridge.
• After the mix is chilled, check the consistency, if it is too hard (most likely) then add enough extra water to make mix smooth.
• Again, it should be smooth, silky and as runny as melted chocolate.
• The mix is now ready to use.
• To make each galette, heat up two elements on your cooker.
• One at maximum temperature, the other on a medium heat.
• Place a very flat griddle or large frying pan on the maximum temperature hottest element of the cooker to heat up.
• Add 5 grams of butter to the heated frying pan and wait till it melts and turns brown.
• Then wipe the whole frying surface with paper towel to remove the butter leaving the pan lightly greased.
• Don't be afraid to reuse your paper towel and skip fresh butter between galettes.
• Lift your frying pan slightly off the grill, and add one ladle of mix to the hot pan, so it covers a large surface very thinly.
• Quickly tilt the pan so the mix runs over the whole surface evenly to the edges.
• Try not to add a second ladle to the pan - this doesn't work well, better to live with some holes in the galette.
• Cook the galette for 10-15 seconds on the highest heat, then start to lift the edges of the whole galette up from the pan with a non-stick flat mixing spoon.
• When you can get a good edge up with the spoon, move the pan to the lower heat element of the cooker.
• Lift up a good edge of the galette from the pan with the spoon, and with your fingers lift up the whole galette off the non-stick pan and then flip it over.
• The underside should be golden brown with a very few brown spots.
• Keep the pan on the lower medium heat.
• Now add the fillings to the top of the galette's cooked side.
• filling note. A usual filling is made like this: sprinkle on a little grated Gruyère cheese, then break an egg yolk (discard the white before hand) over the cheese in the center of the galette.
• To this, add 2 slices of diced ham onto the runny egg yolk, and then top it off with a handful of torn spinach leaves.
• The trick is not to overfill the galette.
• Alternatively try different types of cheese, like brie or cheddar, or skip the egg, or skip the ham/spinach.
• Try out loads of combinations - it's like pizzas, you can design your own.
• Let the toppings cook for up to about 1 minute.
• This is the reason to only use egg yolks, if runny they are nice, egg whites however are not nice undercooked.
• Now, Fold the cooked edges of the galette into the center to make a square, to hold the filling.
• Use a spatula to press down on the folded mix so it holds its shape.
• Carefully flip over the parcel, again press down on it with a spatula.
• The galette should have nice golden colour and some little brown spots on it.
• Serve immediately.