Home Sweet Froment Pancakes

Froment Pancakes

Difficulté : Easy
Catégorie : Sweet
Cout : Low cost
Such a simple recipe can hide a real know-how… Of course, making pancakes on a frying pan does not present major difficulties, but making them on a bilig with the rozell (the small wooden rake) can be much more complex!
January 2012: at the end of this post, I put all the pancake recipes I have in my books… I invite you to put in the comments, your own recipes and share them!
So I bought myself a professional bilig. But after throwing the pancakes against the fridge (yes I got mad!!) I thought the best solution was to learn how to handle the rozell in a pancake house! The chance makes well the things and I found myself in the creperie in Paris “Ty Bernic” (54, rue d’Argout 75002 Paris tel For more information, please call : 01 42 74 40 15 M° Sentier) where Bertrand and Nathalie were kind enough to accept me as a trainee for 2 days to teach me everything about crepes. I had to pour out literally ten liters of dough to finally get just one out of two… Two days later, direction Brittany at my parents’ where my bilig was waiting for me (I leave it there, in Paris I don’t have any more space!). And there, a new catastrophe was waiting for me. The first day I made 7 kg of pancakes (wheat and buckwheat) to be always at the same level as at Ty Bernic (that is to say one successful pancake out of two, or even three!). The next day 4 kg of pancakes to absolutely miss them all! What a stress, especially since I put myself in a bad mood when I don’t succeed in doing something that seems to be simple. The worst part was that all the kids on the beach (not very big) came and lined up to get their free pancakes… But they didn’t look like anything. Then on the sixth day of the week, miracle! Not a single one missed! It’s like learning to ride a bike or rollerblade. The click comes at a moment, then the gesture is finally assimilated.
The gesture is simple but there are so many components to it, from the way you hold the rozell, hold the ladle of the left hand, do not press on the dough, make this comma movement, to to obtain a round crepe, that this gesture takes time to be automatic. We think too much at the beginning to have a good result but finally as long as everything is not thoughtless and natural, the pancakes do not succeed.
So it takes patience and tenacity, but once you’ve digested all this, it’s really easy and fun to make your own pancakes.
There is a multitude of pancake recipes, almost one recipe per Breton town. I have at home the recipes of the pancakes of Quimper, Pleyben, Pontivy, Sablé, of the Bigouden Country, of Carhaix, the old recipes of Basse-Bretagne. But also the crepes of the Pardon, of Jeanne-Marie, the recipes of Léon, of Tregor of the South Finistère…. In short, a whole range of recipes. 
Here is my favorite recipe for wheat pancakes. It is exactly what I was looking for. I had in mind those pancakes that are sold in bakeries by the dozen, wrapped in cling film, with a very soft texture.

Recipe for about two dozen “crêpes”:

-500g of flour
-150g of sugar
4 extra-fresh eggs (from free-range hens!)
-1 liter of semi-skimmed milk
-lard for the bilig or butter for a pan

The easiest way (by far!!) is to prepare the pancake batter. It does not require a rest period.
In a large bowl, combine sugar and whole eggs.

Blend but do not bleach! Just a whip and hop!
Add 3 tablespoons of flour (out of the 500g) and a little milk. Mix with whisk fairly briskly, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add again 3 tablespoons of flour and a little milk. This way, lumps are absolutely avoided.
Continue in this manner until the flour is used up. Then add the remaining milk. The dough is now ready! You can also strain it to remove the egg white glaze!
At this time it can be cooked on a pancake pan, greasing it with butter. Just move the pan to start it again.

For my part I prefer complexity and therefore I have the bilig!
So here I am in Brittany, its sea and its sun! I even had to protect myself from the sun in April (2010)!


This is the layout I have set up to work the pancakes. On the right, the bilig, and on the left, the pancake batter, the metal spatula (or wooden one, the spannel!), the pad to clean and grease the griddle with the lard and especially the rozell in a small basin of water.
Three reasons to leave the rozell in the water between each pancake:
1-the wood will swell and the joint between the rake and the handle will be perfect.
2-the dough that may be stuck to the rake will have time to dissolve, so the rake remains clean.
3-the rake cools in the water, because if the rake heats up a lot on the bilig, the pancake batter will stick to the rozell!


I work the pancakes (on the advice of Ty Bernic!) on a bilig at 240°C. This way, the pancakes are seared and keep their softness! They cook very quickly.
They can of course be cooked on two sides, but to prepare plain pancakes they can be cooked on one side only. When the bilig is at the desired temperature, grease it with the pad slightly soaked in lard. Do not over grease the bilig  otherwise the dough will slip and stick to the rozell. 
I let the bilig heat up for at least 15 more minutes from the time the indicator light goes off, because I’ve noticed that the pancakes look better when the griddle is really hot. 


For wheat pancakes, a ladle number 6 (diameter in cm) or 6.5 is generally used. 
With the left hand (if you are right-handed) you pour a full ladle of dough while the right hand is ready with the rozell. This ladle must be poured at 10 am on the bilig.


The rozell is held between the thumb on one side and the index, middle and little fingers on the other. Do not scrape the dough, but push it in a gentle comma-like motion that brings it back to the center. On the picture below, the movement (20cm) is already finished, but you can see the dough that has gone back to the center of the bilig. Continue the movement by taking the excess dough from the edge, to make it go around the plate always making a comma movement that brings the dough back to the center.


This movement is done in the direction of the clock, and in this direction only, it is not necessary to bring back the rozell otherwise the pancake is not more uniform and especially one risks to tear the paste.


Turn the pancake batter in 4 or 5 quick, smooth motions. It looks so simple when you see it, but once the rozell is in hand I guarantee it’s not the same story. But after a week of non-stop pancakes, this movement has finally become automatic!


On the picture you can’t see it but the wrist arrives at a moment in supination around 20:00 (on the bilig!!), you have to stay at this place and turn the wrist quickly in its normal position, ready  to continue in the same direction. We can continue the gesture. If there is still some dough left after one full turn, continue clockwise.


For my part, if I prepare pancakes in advance, I cook them only on one side. It’s up to you, but even so, the pancakes are well cooked and fluffy! Just run the spatula under the pancake and peel it off. It can be folded. But if you want to garnish it, that’s when you should do it.


With the spatula, it is very easy to fold the crepe.


Of course, don’t forget to grease the bilig each time before pouring the dough. Although it depends on the dough. If it contains a lot of eggs, butter or whole milk, you can grease the bilig every two or three pancakes. But with this recipe, it is better to lightly grease before each pancake.


So before the pancakes are that easy to make, you will have to practice on the bilig and turn a certain amount of pancakes. But I really recommend buying a bilig, because the pancakes are nothing like those made in a frying pan! 20 kilos, that’s the amount of pancakes sold out before you start to hold the rozell….


The pancakes of Basse Bretagne:

-1kg of wheat flour
-180g of buckwheat
-480g of sugar
-4 eggs
-480g of melted butter
-1 liter of whole milk
-1 liter of water

-1kg of wheat flour
-500g of sugar
-30g of vanilla sugar
-2 eggs
-10 yellow
-1.5 liter of milk 
-300ml of water to dilute and incorporate the stiffly beaten egg whites

-1kg of wheat flour
-400g of sugar
-12 eggs
-1 liter of milk
-Vanilla
-15g of fresh yeast diluted in 25cl of warm water

The Crepes of Quimper:
-1kg of wheat flour
-400g of sugar
-5 eggs 
-1.5 liters of whole milk
-500ml of water
-50g of melted salted butter

-1kg of flour
-500g of sugar
-6 eggs
-200g of melted semi-salted butter
-2 liters of milk
-500ml of water

The Pleyben pancakes:
-1kg of wheat flour
-500g of sugar
-5 eggs 
-2 liters of whole milk
-100g of fresh cream
-1 pinch of fine salt

-1 kg of wheat flour
-400g of sugar
-4 eggs
-250g of fresh cream
-2 liters of milk

The Pancakes of Pontivy:
-1kg of wheat flour
-125g buckwheat flour
-400g of sugar
-5 eggs
-1.5 liters of whole milk
-500ml of water
-Vanilla

The Crepes of Sablé:
-1kg of wheat flour
-100g of buckwheat
-400g of sugar
-6 eggs
-1 liter of milk 
-1 liter of water
-1 pinch of salt

The Crepes of the Bigouden Country:
1kg of wheat flour
-500g of sugar
-6 eggs (whites)
-1.5 liters of whole milk
-500ml of water

The Crepes of Carhaix:
-1kg of wheat flour
-30g of buckwheat
-400g of sugar
-5 eggs (whites)
-1.5 liters of whole milk
-500ml of water

Jeanne-Marie’s Pancakes
-125g of wheat grits
-3 eggs
-30g of butter
-250ml of milk
-2 teaspoons of orange blossom
-2 teaspoons of rum
-5g of salt

The Pardon Pancakes:
-250g of flour
-4 eggs
-750ml of milk
-20g of melted butter
-1 pinch of fine salt

The classic Froment pancakes:
-500g of wheat flour
-8 eggs
-1 liter of milk
-100g of butter
-1 pinch of fine salt
-75g of sugar 

The Crepes of Leon:
-1kg of wheat flour
-400g of sugar
-2 tablespoons of Rum
-18 eggs
-2 liters of milk

The Crêpes du Trégor:
-1 kg of wheat flour 
-500g of sugar 
-2 whole eggs
-10 yellow
-1 pinch of coarse salt
-1/2 bag of vanilla sugar
-2 liters of whole milk
-10 egg whites whipped to a stiff consistency

The Crepes of South Finistere:
1kg of flour form
-550 of sugar
-1 level tablespoon of vanilla sugar
-6 eggs
-1.5l of milk
-500ml of water
-100g of melted butter

Les Crêpes Bigoudennes:
1 kg of flour
-600g of sugar
-1 packet of vanilla sugar
-1 pinch of coarse salt
-8 eggs
-2 liters of milk

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La sélection de Noel

The end of year festivities are coming up, Christmas is almost here! I offer you a selection of festive recipes to delight your taste buds and your guests. Tarama, foie gras, logs, I give you all my secrets. There are in this selection, recent recipes and others that I have published for nearly 12 years, so the photos are not all equal! Just click on the recipes to access them!

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La cuisine de Bernard
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