Galettes Galore

Being British, we rarely seem to eat pancakes unless it is Pancake day. It must be a throwback to childhood. This year we seem to have missed both the British and the French pancake days. Yes  – they’re different days. The French make pancakes on Candlemas, which this year was 2 February, forty days after Christmas; the British celebrate Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, forty days before Easter, which this year was 28 February.

My Mother always made a big fuss about the obligatory pancake pantomime, but nevertheless seemed reluctant to abandon the tradition entirely. We’ve had pancakes in New York with huge piles of fresh blueberries, and we love a visit to a Dutch Pancake House – pannenkoekenhuizen – but I don’t make pancakes at home on a regular basis.

Pancakes are quite popular in France. You can get very good pre-made pancakes in the chiller cabinets of the supermarkets, but they are really easy to make. The traditional savoury French pancake is the Galette Bretonne  which is made with buckwheat flour. This is not to be confused with the sweet crepe or the Galette des Rois, a King Cake traditionally eaten at Epiphany.

Like many traditional recipes the galette is peasant food. Its roots are in the north western peninsula of Brittany, where the galette could replace bread in times of hardship. Galettes were also eaten in other rural areas, including here in the Limousin and in the Auvergne.

 

Buckwheat isn’t actually wheat at all. In France it is called ‘blé noir’ or ‘farine de sarrasin’ and is widely available. Buckwheat isn’t a grass like wheat, but is related to sorrel and the rhubarb family. It grows well in poor soil and as it has a short growing season it is suited to areas where the summer is short, so it is well-suited to the windswept fields of Brittany (and to Russia, which is the world leader in the production of buckwheat). In 2014, France was the eighth highest producer of buckwheat, with Russia in pole position, narrowly followed by China.

 

There are various versions of the traditional French galette recipe. It was originally made on a flat cast iron griddle, but in modern times this has been replaced by an electric galette maker with a flat non-stick surface. These can often be seen at markets and fairs in the summer, selling both savoury galettes with various fillings or sweet crepes suzette. If, like me, you’re trying to keep control of the proliferation of kitchen gadgets then galettes can easily be made in a large flat frying pan. The mix is basically a pancake batter, and many recipes also suggesting adding a little plain flour along with the buckwheat to lighten the texture. However, if you stick to buckwheat flour then the galettes will be gluten free. The most common fillings in France are ham and cheese (obviously not vegetarian) but you can use spinach, chopped tomato, mushrooms.., whatever takes your fancy or is to hand.

Galette Bretonne

             100g buckwheat flour
             Pinch of salt
             One egg, beaten
             300 ml milk
             50g melted butter (optional)
             Oil for cooking

 

Mix flour, salt, egg and half of the milk in a bowl until it is thick, gradually beat in the remainder of the milk to make and batter. Rest in the fridge for at least half an hour. Melt butter and stir into the batter. Heat a little oil in a flat frying pan until it is very hot. Add a ladleful of batter mix, tilt pan to coat the surface and cook through for a minute or two. Flip over and cook the other side. Serve with filling of choice.

Of course, my research wold not be complete without a vegan version. In fact, many traditional French recipes suggest that the original French peasant version was vegan as it did not use either milk or eggs. The ingredients in the vegan version below are mixed following the same method described above, including resting in the fridge for half an hour.

Vegan version: galette bretonne

450g buckwheat flour

Three tsp salt

¼ tsp ground pepper

750 ml water

             Oil for frying