Galette bretonne
A Breton pancake of buckwheat flour, called a galette in Brittany as distinct from sweet wheat crêpes. The classic batter has only three ingredients — buckwheat flour, water and salt; without milk the galette stays thin and crisp at the edges, and an egg is merely an optional addition that makes spreading easier. Two things decide the result: the batter must rest two hours so the buckwheat absorbs the water, and the pan must be very hot and only barely greased, since a galette should be crisp at the edges, not soft like a pancake.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Batter 10 min
- Resting the batter 120 min
- Cooking 25 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneWhisk buckwheat flour with salt and water
Put the flour and salt in a bowl, add half the water and whisk to a thick smooth paste, then thin with the rest. If using the egg, whisk it into the paste before the remaining water. All the water at once gives lumps that nothing but a blender will break up.
Ingredients: 250 g buckwheat flour · 500 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 1 pcs egg
A thick paste first, the rest of the water after.Rest the batter for two hours
Cover and leave 2 hours at room temperature. Buckwheat flour absorbs water slowly — used at once the batter is gritty and tears in the pan; after resting it turns silky.
Ingredients: 250 g buckwheat flour · 500 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 1 pcs egg
Thin it to the body of single cream
The batter thickens as it rests. Thin it with water to the consistency of single cream — it should fall from the ladle in an unbroken stream. Too thick and it will not spread, giving a thick, floppy galette.
Ingredients: 250 g buckwheat flour · 500 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 1 pcs egg
Heat the pan hard
Heat a large flat pan (ideally a 26–28 cm crêpe pan) over high heat for a full 5 minutes. A drop of water should skitter and vanish at once. Wipe the pan with a paper towel dabbed in a little butter — it should just gleam. On a lukewarm pan the galette soaks up fat and never crisps.
Ingredients: 6 pcs eggs · 200 g ham · 200 g cheese · 60 g butter · 1 tsp black pepper
Spread the batter thin and fast
Pour in a ladleful and spread it immediately in a circular motion — with a spreader or by tilting the pan. You have 3 seconds; after that the batter sets and leaves thicker islands that turn rubbery.
Ingredients: 250 g buckwheat flour · 500 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 1 pcs egg
Three seconds to spread — after that the batter has set.Cook two minutes until the edges lift
Cook 2 minutes, until the edges brown and release themselves from the pan. Do not flip — a galette cooks on one side only, the other finishing under the filling and a lid.
Ingredients: 250 g buckwheat flour · 500 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 1 pcs egg
Crack an egg in the centre and add the filling
Lower the heat to medium. Brush the surface with butter, lay on the ham and cheese and crack the egg exactly in the middle. Put the cheese under the egg — melted, it holds it in place and stops the white running across the whole galette.
Ingredients: 6 pcs eggs · 200 g ham · 200 g cheese · 60 g butter · 1 tsp black pepper
Fold four sides, leaving the yolk bare
Cover for 2–3 minutes, until the white has set and the cheese melted — the yolk should stay runny. Then fold the four sides inward into a square with the yolk exposed. Slide onto a plate, season with pepper and chives and serve at once. Repeat with the remaining batter, reheating the pan well each time — six galettes take about 25 minutes in all.
Ingredients: 6 pcs eggs · 200 g ham · 200 g cheese · 60 g butter · 1 tsp black pepper
A square with the yolk bare — the Breton signature.
Before you start
Better after a night
Many Bretons keep the batter in the fridge overnight, sometimes two days — it ferments slightly and gains a tangier, deeper flavour. Take it out an hour before cooking and thin with water.
Buckwheat flour and nothing else
A true galette bretonne is gluten free: buckwheat, water and salt. Recipes cut with wheat flour handle more easily but lose the nutty, faintly bitter flavour that is the whole point.
Cider, not wine
In Brittany a galette is drunk with dry cider from a handleless cup called a bolée. Cider's acidity balances the richness of the cheese and butter, and its slight bitterness suits the faintly bitter note of buckwheat.
