Traditional Breton Buckwheat Pancakes

The first crêpe is invariably a soggy mess and traditionally gets thrown to the dog. You should not need to re-oil the pan between crêpes. I freeze any leftovers in a plastic zipperlock bag for future use. I've read that you should stack crêpes between sheets of wax paper, but I've never had any problems with them sticking together so I don't bother. You can enjoy these « nature » (fold in quarters without any topping whatsoever), spread lightly with salted (always salted, in Brittany!) butter -- traditionally, a plain or buttered crêpe is eaten before filled crêpes to start the meal, or filled with your favorite savory filling. For an easy filling, simply top each crêpe with a thin slice of ham and/or cheese and roll up. Another of my favorite fillings is seafood in cream sauce (roll up the crêpes, top with more sauce, and heat in the oven). Another traditional way of folding the crêpes in Brittany is to place the filling in the center of the crêpe while still in the pan, then fold up four sides almost to the center to make a square packet. In Brittany, buckwheat crêpes traditionally are filled with savory--not dessert--fillings, but they're also good filled with sauteed apples, or sliced strawberries and topped with a dollop of whipped cream.

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