Buckwheat Crepes and Pancakes

[Hildegarda]

We have been making buckwheat crepes almost every day as a bread substitute.

now, I need to know this. How do you make crepes without the eggs? My kids love them, but I was never able to figure out how to make the batter the right consistency, even with egg replacer.

 

[RedFox]

We have been making buckwheat crepes almost every day as a bread substitute.

now, I need to know this. How do you make crepes without the eggs? My kids love them, but I was never able to figure out how to make the batter the right consistency, even with egg replacer.

http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=5882.msg90602#msg90602

Crepes made from buckwheat flour are really good. Just put some buckwheat flour in a bowl, add an appropriate amount of gluten free baking powder, a bit of salt, oil, and enough rice milk to make the batter the consistency you want. You don't need eggs or anything else. In fact, you can probably leave out the baking powder if you want.

 

[Laura]

You don't need eggs when you make buckwheat crepes. I just use whole buckwheat flour, salt, (it really brings out the flavor), a little oil and rice milk until it is the right consistency. I guess for about 2 cups of flour, you would use 3 cups of rice milk, more or less.

I put the rice milk in the blender, add the oil, and then add the first cup of flour, blend, add the second cup, blend, and if it needs to be a little thicker or thinner, adjust with flour or rice milk.

I spent some time experimenting with oils in the crepe pan, temperature of the burner, and so on. You'll have to experiment too. Using a long cooking spatula, you wait until the crepe is no longer shiny, has a lot of little bubbles in it, and then carefully slide the spatula under it and make sure it is entirely loosened. Then, turn quickly and carefully.

Re-oil the pan just a little after each one because they will take up the oil. I use a cast iron crepe pan/skillet and when I am done making them, I just get the pan really hot, run hot water in the sink, and rinse it quickly and it's ready to put away. Try to keep your pan well seasoned so as to avoid sticking as much as possible.

You can use the same recipe for pancakes, only for that, I add baking powder to make them light and fluffy and also less liquid.

Buckwheat flour is naturally "thickening" so I guess that is why it makes up so well without eggs.

 

[Laura]

Thought I would add a bit about our dinner this evening. I made standard buckwheat crepes. Then, I cut up some ham into a skillet with ghee, chopped onions, salt and a good amount of black pepper. I added about half a cup of buckwheat flour. You'll need enough ghee to moisten the flour. I let this saute for a little bit until the flour began to get nicely browned, then added a big cup of cold water, stirring until it was thickened.

Then, I spooned the "creamed ham" onto a crepe, folded it over, and served it with fresh cooked spinach on the side.

I did a variation on this last week with turkey. With the turkey, I added garlic and poultry seasoning mix. It was served with fresh yellow squash.

One night, we cooked ground beef, onions, smashed red beans, and used my tagine spices to make it savory: turmeric, cumin cinnamon, ginger, coriander, black pepper. We rolled that in buckwheat crepes with chopped lettuce.

In short, having crepes as a "bread" really opens up a lot of meal possibilities. They are also great for desert. Tonight, the young people had crepes with sliced bananas and strawberry conserves on top. (No sugar added!)

 

[Joe]

You don't need eggs when you make buckwheat crepes. I just use whole buckwheat flour, salt, (it really brings out the flavor), a little oil and rice milk until it is the right consistency. I guess for about 2 cups of flour, you would use 3 cups of rice milk, more or less.

I put the rice milk in the blender, add the oil, and then add the first cup of flour, blend, add the second cup, blend, and if it needs to be a little thicker or thinner, adjust with flour or rice milk.

Depending on how thick you like your crepes you can vary the above proportions. I use more or less 1 to 1 (cup) flour and rice milk, a little salt and a table spoon of grapeseed oil which makes a slightly thicker crepe. I mix with a fork (pretty easy) and pour into a clean pan, no oil, and have no trouble with sticking. The pan should be pretty hot, so that the mixture sizzles a little but not so hot that the mixtures bubbles. Immediately after pouring the mixture into the pan you should lift it and turn the pan so that the mixture spreads around to make a nice round shape (rotating wrist movement), but not all the way to the edges so that you have an easier time getting the spatula under. As soon as the edges harden a little you should lift all around the edge with the spatula (you'll need a very thin one that bends easily). Once the crepe has dried off (couple of minutes) (no liquidyness on top) scrape underneath to loosen the rest and flip. Depending on how dry you like it it'll be just a few minutes more till done.

 

[Oxajil]

That sounds really good.. thanks for sharing.
I hope that one day I will be a pro cook like you guys!

 

[Hildegarda]

Buckwheat flour is naturally "thickening" so I guess that is why it makes up so well without eggs.

thank you so much, that must be it. Will try ASAP, everyone has been missing the crepes so much since we went gluten, egg etc-free.

 

[Meg]

That recipe sounds great. I use the buckwheat pancakes recipe all the time. Can you store the buckwheat crepes for a couple of days as mentioned here?

Crepes can be used immediately after cooking, or they can be stored for later use. They will stay fresh for two days covered in the refrigerator.

If you will be storing the crepes for later use, you will need squares of wax paper or parchment paper (about 24 for a standard recipe of crepe batter) cut to at least crepe-sized. Set these next to the plate on which you will be stacking crepes. If you will be using the crepes immediately, you can simply stack them on the plate without the paper inserts.

For even longer storage, crepes freeze well with no harmful effects to their quality. To freeze them, divide them into mini stacks of 6 (each separated by a square of wax paper or parchment paper). Wrap the mini stack in aluminum foil. When you are ready to use the crepes, thaw them in the oven for 10 minutes at 300 degrees.

http://www.professorshouse.com/food-beverage/food/crepes.aspx

 

[Laura]

I've never tried freezing them because there are never any left over. With about 3 cups of flour, I can make about 25 crepes, and they generally go pretty fast.

 

[Meg]

I'll try storing some and see what happens. The very worst result would be a science experiment!

 

[Naturalden]

I've just come across Cold Milled Flax Seed. The container says you can use it as a substitute for eggs, butter and oil. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds interesting.

 

[Hildegarda]

I've just come across Cold Milled Flax Seed. The container says you can use it as a substitute for eggs, butter and oil. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds interesting.

when you use it as an egg substitute, you have to add water and let it sit, and it forms this gelatinous goo. It holds things together reasonably enough for "sticky" recipes like brownies or pumpkin bars, but lacks the put-together fluffiness of eggs, unfortunately. I wonder too how crucial this is for the crepe recipe. They are thinner than pancakes, so it may actually work. Would you post what you find out in your cooking experimentation?

 

[Gawan]

I tried it this morning, and well it's an easy to do and tastes simply great!

That sounds really good.. thanks for sharing.
I hope that one day I will be a pro cook like you guys!

I think it's just learning by doing! ;)
Most often I really like to cook more intuitive that means, to put the colours of veggies/ingredients together I imagine would be fitting together (harmonious colours) and from time to time my flatmate gives me some tips in doing this or that.

Depending on how thick you like your crepes you can vary the above proportions. I use more or less 1 to 1 (cup) flour and rice milk, a little salt and a table spoon of grapeseed oil which makes a slightly thicker crepe. I mix with a fork (pretty easy) and pour into a clean pan, no oil, and have no trouble with sticking. The pan should be pretty hot, so that the mixture sizzles a little but not so hot that the mixtures bubbles. Immediately after pouring the mixture into the pan you should lift it and turn the pan so that the mixture spreads around to make a nice round shape (rotating wrist movement), but not all the way to the edges so that you have an easier time getting the spatula under. As soon as the edges harden a little you should lift all around the edge with the spatula (you'll need a very thin one that bends easily). Once the crepe has dried off (couple of minutes) (no liquidyness on top) scrape underneath to loosen the rest and flip. Depending on how dry you like it it'll be just a few minutes more till done.

Great description thanks!

 

[foofighter]

You don't need eggs when you make buckwheat crepes. I just use whole buckwheat flour, salt, (it really brings out the flavor), a little oil and rice milk until it is the right consistency. I guess for about 2 cups of flour, you would use 3 cups of rice milk, more or less.

We tried this one yesterday, and it was very nice! We had to use a bit more rice milk though, or else it was very thick. Probably depends on the brands used. It was also our first time trying rice milk, and were pleasantly surprised!

Instead of doing it as a crepe we did the pancake as a base, and then put salad on top of it (I think the french calls it "galette"), as we had seen it in a restaurant. Mixed salad, cherry tomatoes, and then goat cheese, walnuts and raw honey as topping. Absolutely delicious!! Is goat cheese ok to use though?

 

[Gawan]

You don't need eggs when you make buckwheat crepes. I just use whole buckwheat flour, salt, (it really brings out the flavor), a little oil and rice milk until it is the right consistency. I guess for about 2 cups of flour, you would use 3 cups of rice milk, more or less.

We tried this one yesterday, and it was very nice! We had to use a bit more rice milk though, or else it was very thick. Probably depends on the brands used. It was also our first time trying rice milk, and were pleasantly surprised!

Instead of doing it as a crepe we did the pancake as a base, and then put salad on top of it (I think the french calls it "galette"), as we had seen it in a restaurant. Mixed salad, cherry tomatoes, and then goat cheese, walnuts and raw honey as topping. Absolutely delicious!! Is goat cheese ok to use though?

That's funny, I also used yesterday evening for the leftover crepes spreadable goat cheese. And it tasted pretty 'goat' :)
As far as I know this cheese should be alright, but I'm going there from the bloodtype diet after D'Adamo, who states for all blood types that goat cheese is okay (for blood type: 0 and A: neutral. B and AB very digestible).