Ham, cheese and egg crêpe, French galette bretonne recipe

Total: 30 min Diners: 8

The origin of the galette is undoubtedly the famous crêpes. And, although these are famous everywhere in France, the first as such was born in the Brittany area of France using buckwheat flour – which grew well in that area in the northwest of the country even in the less fertile lands – although they are also made with normal wheat flour or, as in this case, incorporating a little spelt flour; more or less refined, according to the whim of each one.

Galettes were actually considered on a par with bread and served as an accompaniment until the end of the 14th century when they began to be filled with all kinds of ingredients. The possibilities are endless, but what is clear is that the galette par excellence is the one with ham, cheese and egg inside. The typical mixed sandwich with egg from Spain but in a French version.

If you have never made crepes, you will have to know that here there are two aspects to evaluate: the consistency of the dough and the handling and temperature of the pan when cooking your galettes. Once you get the hang of these two aspects you will be comfortable preparing any kind of related recipe such as stuffed bell pepper crepes or caramelized apple and blue cheese crepes.

How to make a ham, cheese and egg crepe or galette bretonne

Ingredients

For the crêpe batter

. Egg, 1 pc Buckwheat flour, 200 g Spelt flour, 130 g Water, 650 ml Salt, one teaspoon Olive oil, 2 tablespoons Free-range eggs, 8 pc Grated Havarti, Emental or Gouda cheese, 300 g (approx) York ham, 250 g (approx) Salt, c/s Black pepper, c/s Butter, to make the pancakes

Step 1

The first thing we will have to do will be the dough for our galette bretonne. To do this we will only have to put all the ingredients in the same bowl and mix them well: the flours, the salt, the egg, the oil and the water. You can mix it with a whisk or, to make it smoother, with an electric mixer being careful not to put too much air. When the dough is ready, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest for 2 hours so that the wheat hydrates and absorbs a little water.

Step 2

When the dough is ready we will start cooking the pancakes. We will have to have ready the grated or chopped cheese and the ham also chopped or diced.

Step 3

Heat the pan and melt some butter in it, with the help of a paper spread it all over the pan (or crepe maker, better) and remove the excess.

Step 4

With the pan very hot, place a ladle of the batter, lift the pan from the heat and move it to spread the batter all over the surface. If you have the tool to spread the crepes it will be very helpful. Lower the heat to low and let the crepe cook.

Step 5

If we want to make only the galettes themselves, that is, without the filling, when we see that bubbles come out and it changes color, we will turn it over with the help of a spatula and cook it on the other side for another minute. We will then remove it to a tray and we will stack them one on top of the other.

Step 6

If, on the other hand, we want to make our galette bretonne complete, when the dough changes color we will arrange the cheese forming a kind of volcano. In the center of the volcano we will crack the egg and season it with salt and black pepper. We will let it cook over low heat, we could cover the pan to lighten the process. We will also put the ham of York on top.

Step 7

We can make some slits in the dough so that the egg white cooks better. When it is ready and with the cheese melted we will fold the edges towards the center, forming a square that leaves the creamy egg yolk right in the heart.

Tips and tricks

A perfectly valid option is to cook the grilled egg separately and put it on top of the melted cheese with the ham at the last moment just before closing the galette.