Crêpes

Ingredients

• 150 g plain flour
• 3 eggs
• 400 ml whole milk
• 60 g butter, melted and browned
• 20 g caster sugar
• 2 lemons, in wedges
• a pinch of salt

Method

1. Blend, do not whisk

   Blitz the flour, eggs, milk, sugar and salt in a blender for 20 seconds. It gives a completely smooth batter in a fraction of the time and with none of the lumps.

2. Brown the butter

   Melt the butter and keep going until it smells nutty and the solids turn golden, then beat it into the batter. Beurre noisette in the batter itself is what makes a good crêpe taste of more than milk and flour.

3. Rest the batter

   Rest for at least 30 minutes, or overnight in the fridge. The flour hydrates fully and the gluten relaxes — an unrested batter gives rubbery crêpes that tear.

   30 min

4. Thin it if needed

   The batter should be the consistency of single cream. It thickens as it rests, so loosen with a splash of milk before cooking.

5. Hot pan, thin layer

   Wipe a hot pan with butter, pour in a small ladle and swirl immediately to coat. Cook 45 seconds until the edges lift and lace, then flip for 20 seconds. Accept that the first one is always a failure — it is calibrating the pan.

   1 min

6. Serve simply

   Sugar and lemon is the classic and hard to beat. Stack them on a warm plate as you go; they steam each other soft and stay foldable.