Baking Obsession

These are paper thin, almost translucent and very delicious French-Russian style pancakes. The recipe calls for baking powder and this is very unusual for this type of pancakes. But it doesn’t make them puffy and thick. They are both delicate and tear resistant at the same time which makes them perfect for different types of filling. Before I found this recipe I had made the crêpes as most of Russian women do – eyeballing everything. But isn’t it good to eliminate the guessing?

Makes about 3 dozens 8-inch diameter crêpes (only if you can guard them from little thieves trying to steal the pancakes while you are flipping the next one ).

You can scale the recipe down if this quantity is overwhelming. But you also can freeze them, filled or unfilled up to a month.

Ingredients:

4 eggs
¼ cup sugar (2 tbsp if planning to use with savory filling)
½ tsp salt
2 cups whole milk
2 cups water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ cup vegetable oil or melted butter (I use oil, but sauté them in butter later) + a bit of oil for a pan

About ½ stick of unsalted butter for brushing the crêpes later

Preparation:

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar and salt. Add milk and water, stir.
Sift the flour with baking powder and add to the wet ingredients in the bowl. Whisk well, you don’t need any lumps in the batter. Add the oil, whisk again.

Heat an 8-inch frying pan or a crêpe pan (if you have one) over medium heat. Very lightly brush it with oil and pour a shy ¼ cup of batter onto the pan (use a measuring cup). Wait until the surface doesn’t appear wet and the crêpe is lightly browned on one side, about a minute, flip the crêpe onto the other side. Brown this side as well, take it out off the pan, put on a plate and brush the crêpe with some melted unsalted butter. Or you can just dot the crêpe with tiny piece of butter and let it melt by itself. This will give the crêpes even more flavor and prevent them from sticking together. Go on with the rest of the batter. You can serve them right away with sour cream, honey, maple syrup, lemon curd or your favorite jam. Or wait until they are cold enough to handle and fill them with the filling of your choice. Before serving, sauté the crêpes in melted butter over medium heat until they nice golden brown.