How to Make a Breton Galette
Known as a Galette Bretonne in its original French, a Breton galette is a type of French pancake which is eaten with savory ingredients. The term ‘galette’ is used to refer to a wide variety of French cakes, often sweet desserts which are made with a crusty base. The galette is usually folded over in part, with the filling exposed in the middle. This is the same with the Breton galette, with a few differences. The main difference is that the Breton galette is made with buckwheat flour. It is essentially a crepe, except larger and not made with wheat flour. Breton galette can be eaten sweet or savory, but it is a popular savory breakfast item.
If you want to see for yourself, oneHOWTO explains how to make a Breton galette. We provide this easy galette Bretonne recipe to get you started, but remember that you can add and finesse with your own personal preferences.
Ingredients:
You'll need:
- 1 non-stick frying pan
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 electric whisk
- 1 crepe maker (optional)
- 1 ladle
- 1 spreader
- 1 egg ring
- 1 grater
Steps to follow:
To prepare the dough for the crepes, you will first have to add the buckwheat flour and the salt into the mixing bowl. Mix the salt in with the flour. Beat the egg separately and add half the water. Combine these wet ingredients with the dry. Ideally, you can do this with an electric micer which should only take around 4 minutes. It can be done by hand, but it will take longer.
As you are mixing, add the rest of the water slowly. Do not stop beating while you add the water. Don't be worried if it looks a little too runny. Once the batter rests, the flour will hydrate and provide a thicker consistency. Ideally, this batter should rest for a minimum of 4 hours. Some even prefer to make it the night before.
To cook the Breton galettes, you should ideally use a crep maker. This is a special heated cast-iron plate that heats evenly and allows you to spread the batter perfectly. However, it is unlikely you will have one of these expensive machines available. If this is the case for you, we can replicate the process in a normal non-stick pan. You can make smaller Breton galettes, but the pan should ideally be 9.5"/24 cm across.
Heat the pan and add a little butter. The pan should be on medium heat and you should not allow the butter to burn. Place a ladleful of the batter into the middle of the pan. Swirl the pan so the batter is even. Put too little in to begin with, especially with the first attempt. This one is often the worst of the bunch and some people simply use it to prepare the pan for the rest of the batch.
Once you start to see bubbles appear on the top of the galette, wait until the bubbles are across the entire surface. This should take about 1 minute. Flip the galette and cook for another 30 seconds or so. Place the galletes on a plate and wrap it with a clean tea towel to keep the heat while you cook the rest of the batch.
After the Breton galettes are cooked, fry the eggs with a decent amount of oil and on a low heat. This will provide you with the perfect egg for a Breton galette (of course you can cook the eggs how you like, but this is the traditional way). You can even use a metal ring to keep the egg in the right position. Once the egg is cooked, quickly place a slice of ham in the middle of the Breton galette and then slide the egg on top.
Grate the Emmental cheese and sprinkle it over the top. Season with salt and pepper to taste. For the final stage, carefully fold the edges of the Breton galette so it is square, but the ingredients inside are exposed. Let the galette sit for a moment to allow the cheese to melt and sprinkle with some optional chopped parsley. Now your galette Bretonne recipe is finished and you can enjoy!
If you want to try your hand at a sweet version of this Breton galette recipe, you can check out our article on how to make crepes without eggs.
If you want to read similar articles to How to Make a Breton Galette, we recommend you visit our Recipes category.
Tips
- To this Breton galette recipe, you can add other ingredients. If you want to make it vegetarian you can add spinach or tomatoes. You can also add bacon or any thinly-sliced meats.
- The galettes can remain in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 days, but it is not recommended to leave them for too long because they will dry out.
- This recipe for galette Bretonne can be prepared without the egg. You will need to replace the egg with some more water.
