Savoury galettes

I am talking about thin blintzes with buckwheat. They say crêpes are made with no yeast, but crêpes is the best way to describe this dish.

My galettes are made by pouring a thin liquid batter onto a hot frying pan and tilting the pan to embrace as much of cooking surface as possible. 

My version is lactose-free, dairy free and therefore vegan. When I try it with milk or sour milk or yoghurt I'll tell you all about it. But for now let's stick to the recipe that worked for me.

2 1/2 glasses of warm water, 3 eggs, 6 rounded tablespoons of buckwheat flour, 8 rounded tablespoons of of wheat flour, a teaspoon of yeast, a teaspoon of salt (flat), a rounded teaspoon of sugar... Mix all the ingredients well with a wooden spatula. Let it stand for 20-30 minutes. Add some water to make the batter perfectly liquid. Meanwhile heat your favourite crepe pan, grease it with oil. I use grape-seed oil  and I dip half or an apple or potato into to it to then create a thin oil film on the hot surface. I use ladle to pour batter onto the pan and then tilt the pan to spread the batter evenly. I flip crepe once it produced myriads of tiny holes and thickened.

Warning: these  are not gluten free. I experimented with proportions of buckwheat and wheat flour and 3:4 ratio worked best for me.


Now you can add anything you like to your crepe, roll it or fold it as an envelope. You may simply put some sour cream and chopped strawberries and roll it. You may stuff the envelope with ground beef or farmer's cheese and lightly fry it. Possibilities are endless.  

Sieves, sifters, shakers

In old times every kitchen had a sieve in heavy use - flour came from the mill with  bran and germ, and sifting was used not just to air the flour (practice long forgotten) but to separate these extras.

Nowadays one will consciously pay extra money for the whole wheat flour.
Great for making something like cauliflower or broccoli cheese quiche or bread (don't take whole as a substitute, just add some) but troublesome when it comes to baking of something that is supposed to be light, white and tender. Why don't skip the desert instead of spoiling your dough or batter? But I digressed.

I see the following principally different kinds of sifters:

de Buyer® Stainless Steel Flour Tamis @ Sur La Table, $32

a mesh spoon or strainer for powdering (sizes vary), crank-handle flour sifter, drum mesh sieve (also called tamis) and coffee-shop style sifter / dredger  one can use for sifting powdered sugar, cinnamon, cocoa etc. over his cappuccino, pancakes, donuts or like. 

Sur La Table® Stainless Steel Sifter, 5 cup @ $13

Rösle® Fine Mesh Kitchen Strainer @ Sur La Table, $48

Donuts (photo credit)

Here are homemade donuts (milk-eggs-sugar-yeast batter). Sprinkled with powdered sugar dispensed with the shaker.

I own one and you can get one for a few bucks at random store or Amazon.
Won't use it for cinnamon at home since turnaround it low and the spice will loose its flavour.

Dredger shaker with handle @ Amazon.com

labels: amazon, consumer review, cookware, de Buyer, dessert, food, gadgets, recipes, sur la table

Curiosity kitchen gadgets: slicers continued

Continued from slicers-1. 

That is a curious one - vertical spiral veggie slicer at Sur La table  $60 or at Amazon (Benriner Cook Help Spiral Vegatable Slicer) $47 with curious customer reviews

I primarily eat raw /living foods. When I asked the chef at our Whole Foods supermarket how she gets the zucchini into angel hair pasta and some other attractive cuts to the vegetables,                                    

she/the chef recommended the Cook's Help. I was surprised to see the price however I have not regretted the purchase<...>The sliced/cut vegetables are quite pretty and makes eating raw vegetables easier to chew, to digest, and even quite enjoyable.

Vegetable turning slicer (horizontal), you watch this 1-minute video, you want to own the slicer (and the helping hand that operates it too).

Mandoline slicers come in all colors , materials and prices. I really like this one. It's red, it's French, it's metal, it's dishwasher safe.

de Buyer Mandoline, Willaims-Sonoma $100

Crate&Barrel $12

OXO® Pizza Wheel - the one I actually use in my kitchen for cutting cakes, pizzas, raw dough. Ups, I actually use KitchenAid red one in my kitchen. Recommended by 9livesofkate!

Butter slicer - isn't it totally useless?  Mind  avocado cuber, I think they are cousins. 

Butter Slicer, Sur La Table $5

Egg tools and cheese tools deserve separate entries. More to come.