Buckwheat pancakes
Whisk up golden, crispy buckwheat pancakes with Regula Ysewijn’s authentic Belgian recipe. These traditional crepes are filled with cheese, and we’ve got some sweet filling and topping ideas, too.
Ingreadient
- 15g fast-action dried yeast
- 1 litre whole milk or water, or 500ml milk mixed with 500ml water, lukewarm
- 250g buckwheat flour
- 250g wholemeal or plain flour
- 1 medium free-range egg
- 20g unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus plenty extra to fry
- 10g sea salt
- 250g mature gouda or cheddar, grated
Instruction
- Pour the yeast in a bowl and mix with half the milk/water. Combine both flours in a separate bowl, then make a well in the centre and add the egg, followed by the yeast mixture and butter. Stir to incorporate, then gradually add the remaining milk/water, stirring until smooth. Stir in the salt, cover the bowl with a tea towel and set aside to rest for 1 hour (or refrigerate overnight).
- Put a frying pan over a medium heat and add a generous amount of butter. Add a ladleful or two of the batter and cook for a few minutes until solid. I tend to use a 20cm frying pan and add 40ml batter for each pancake.
- Once you have 2 cooked pancakes, scatter some grated cheese over one, leaving a 1cm border around the edge, then put the second pancake on top (like a sandwich). Set aside and continue making pancakes, sandwiching them together with cheese, until all the batter and cheese is used up.
- Refrying is essential to obtain the crisp exterior of the pancake; we don’t want soggy pancakes, we want crispy crêpes! To refry, add some more butter to the pan, then put a filled pair of pancakes in it and cook for 2 minutes, turning halfway, until crisp.
