A French revelation: how to make Breton galette complête

When we were little we used to go on holiday to the same place in Brittany, a picturesque, quiet coastal town. There wasn’t a lot to do there for children, but I always looked forward to the holidays because of the food. It was the first time I was exposed to French food, and it was a revelation.

The finished galette, unlike paler, softer crèpes, is dark gold, crisp and lacy

I was an adventurous eater, taking after my father. Anything he ordered, I would try. Even as a little girl, I remember a sense of pride in my fearless eating: huge pots of mussels, big shell-on prawns, strong cheeses – I was game for anything. But there was one exception.

Brittany has its own crèpe, the savoury galette, and I could not get on with it. It looked great: fried egg, chunks of ham and lots of melted cheese – but the galette itself tasted so weird. I tried again and again, but it wasn’t for me. Other sweet, standard crèpes were fine, but they were for children! They had Nutella on them, for God’s sake! I wanted to be precociously intrepid in my eating, but I was being felled by a pancake.

Thankfully, as tends to be the case with acquired tastes, it was a taste I eventually acquired. Who’d have thought? And now there are few lunches I love more.

Breton galettes are made with buckwheat flour rather than normal wheat flour. Buckwheat flour has an unmistakable flavour: earthy and nutty, extremely savoury, and a little bitter. It’s not actually a grain but a ‘pseudo-grain’ – which means that it’s gluten-free. In baking, you would usually use it alongside another flour, but there’s no need in pancake batter, which doesn’t need gluten development. It means that the finished galette, unlike paler, softer crèpes which are made with normal wheat flour, is dark gold, crisp and lacy.