What Can You Cook on a Crepe Maker

We already know that crepe makers are the best for making fluffy, golden crepes and pancakes — but crepe machines are not only good for just this one thing! They are actually a pretty versatile piece of cooking equipment to possess. Let us explore the types of interesting and delicious dishes that can be whipped up on a crepe device. Originally, sweet crepes were cooked on a 350 mm diameter crepe plate, while the savoury “galette” crepes were done on 400 mm diameter crepe plates. We find that nowadays, both sweet and savory crepes are often baked using the same crepe equipment, usually on a machine with the larger diameter of 400 mm.

Crepe Recipes

Traditionally, crepes are served with sugar and/or cinnamon. Crepes, pancakes and galettes are synonymous with typical French cuisine. But there are plenty of other mouth-watering crepe dishes out there. One might also simply get creative and experiment with different sweet and savory recipes, using the crepe as the base. So many ingredients work well in a crepe.

Some well-known crepe recipes are:

● Crepes are often served plainly with sugar, cinnamon or syrup. ● Crepe complete – Traditional fare from Brittany, France. This is a famous savory crepe recipe. It is a crepe cooked with ham, eggs and cheese. ● Sausage galette – Galette cooked with sausage slices. You can add other ingredients to your liking, such as potato and cheese for a delicious filling. ● Crêpe suzette – French dessert consisting of crepes with beurre Suzette, which is a sauce of caramelized sugar and butter, orange or tangerine juice and zest, and topped off with a liqueur. ● Topping ideas for sweet crepes – Sliced fruit such as diced strawberries and bananas, Nutella or chocolate sauce, whipped cream, ice cream, yoghurt, mascarpone, lemon curd, and powdered sugar. ● Topping ideas for savory crepes – Bacon, green peppers, cheese. Basically, anything you can use as a filler in an omelette can also be used in a crepe. Breakfast crepes can be another option to an omelette.

International Pancake Culture

The pancake is the most difficult product to cook because of its very fine dough (hardly 1 mm), and its large surface area; so homogeneous cooking is a must. The crepe plate must first be greased uniformly with fat, butter, oil or non-stick spray, and preheated at 180-200°C max.

Traditional Sweet and Savory Pancakes

Many countries enjoy their pancakes prepared in different ways: ● American pancakes are characterized by their thick and soft texture. In USA and Canada, they are often referred to as flapjacks, hotcakes or griddlecakes. They are usually served at breakfast time; in a stack of two or three, and topped with maple syrup and butter. They are commonly served with eggs, bacon, sausage and toast. ● Piadina – Italian specialty, fine pancake made from wheat flour and lard. ● Dürüm – Turkish galette which can replace the bread in a kebab sandwich. It just takes one minute of cooking on either side on an ungreased, hot plate and it's ready! This hot and sour galette is then rolled around pieces of meat and vegetables. ● Mexican galettes or tortillas for fajitas, wraps and tacos. These are cooked in 2 minutes on a pancake maker! ● Crepioca or "tapioca crepe" is native to Brazil. This Brazilian pancake looks like an egg and tapioca omelette sold as a salty or sweet wrap. ● Ploye – Yellow buckwheat pancake. It is a specialty of the Madawaska region of New Brunswick in Canada. It is cooked on one side on a crepe machine. It can be eaten as a savoury meal or sweet dessert.

Crepe Machines Used to Make Bread Alternatives

Around the world, professional crepe makers are used to produce culinary specialties as replacements for bread or galettes. If one mixes up the recipe and uses a thicker dough, then we can integrate the Russian blini into French cuisine. Served plain, the blini is an alternative to bread. Around ten pieces of blini can be cooked simultaneously on a professional crepe maker. The savory version often accompanies salmon well, as an appetizer. It can also be eaten as a sweet variation with jam, spread, etc. Bread plays a major part of the staple Indian diet. A wide variety of breads are baked here, but they have their own specific way of cooking flat breads on a cast iron plate, with or without leavening agents. They will often make use of a crepe maker to produce their bread products. It’s also popular in India to bake crispy breads in the oven, as well breads deep-fried in hot oil from a deep fryer. ● Chapati – Unleavened flatbread, dry-baked on both sides for a few seconds on an ungreased crepe plate. ● Paratha – Light flaky bread coated with vegetable oil, baked on each side using a crepe machine or contact-grill, and then eaten plain or wrapped with garnish like a wrap. ● Dosa – Crispy dough made from rice cooked on one side on a griddle, then folded and garnished with potatoes, sauces and spices. ● Naan – Small pieces of bread generally baked in a tandoor (oven often immersed in the ground and in the form of a jar). Naan can be baked on a crepe maker at 200 ° C with a lid. The bubble bread then swells when baked. ● Roti prata – Indian flat bread used for Murtabak preparation in Singapore, and includes meats and onions. ● Lebanese pita bread – Unleavened bread. It swells with air during the cooking process making it extremely light. It is served as a kebab sandwich pocket with hummus or tabbouleh. ● Maghreb semolina breads – Bread of Algerian origin, such as matlouh bread. It is the favored bread of choice consumed during the holy month of Ramadan. It gets cooked on a griddle on both sides.

A Professional Crepe Maker Functions as a Plancha Grill (Griddle Plate)

A commercial crepe maker is in fact the best machine for contact cooking, as it has the same features as a griddle plate. It has a thick and smooth plate enameled in cast iron, which is essential for appealing cooking results by contact. This produces the Maillard effect (chemical reaction that gives browned food its distinctive flavor) and caramelization. It has a heat source that encompasses the entire cooking surface. Uniform cooking is ensured by a star-shaped burner in gas crepe units, while electric models possess a circular heating element. There is precise temperature regulation via thermostat, which varies the cooking to the nearest degree. Anything you can cook on a griddle pan, you can also cook on a commercial crepe maker. You can sear meats, cook fish and sauté vegetables. You can prepare smaller or larger pieces of meat, fish, sea food, duck, skewers and omelettes, etc.

Some delicious grill recipes on a crepe machine:

● Latin style grilled chicken a la plancha – “A la plancha” translated from French, literally means to cook on a flat grill or griddle. This is a common way to cook meats and fish in Latin America and Spain. A tasty idea is to serve with some avocado salsa. ● Shrimp a la plancha – Spanish method for preparing shrimp on a grill plate. It’s a very fast recipe, as the shrimp only need three minutes to cook. They are cooked using lemon and spices. ● Ribeye steak a la Plancha – Steaks take only three minutes on either side for rare steak. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with sides of your choice. ● Cuban-style pollo a la plancha (marinated and griddled chicken) – Marinate the chicken breast in Cuban-style adobo or mojo. An appetizing idea is to serve this dish with Cuban black beans and rice. Now we know that crepe machines are capable of doing so much more than just churning out those crepes! Their adaptability, convenience and durability make them a very valuable appliance to own.