Authentic French Buckwheat Crêpes with Egg, Ham & Cheese

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A French traditional Buckwheat galette to make a savory crepe with ham, cheese and eggs. Read the full article for all the information you need.

Galette complète, ham cheese and egg savoury crepe

In France our love for crepes is big, traditionally in Brittany we use buckwheat crepes to make our savory crepes with regular flour dough to make sweet crepes. In reality both doughs can be used whenever you wish to, if you would like to use a regular flour dough for this recipe I have a recipe for you.

With only three ingredients, you will obtain a savory and filling crepe. Serve with a green salad (and some cider!), you now have in front of you a nourishing dish that is well-balanced and not too rich.
A complete meal, for a reasonable budget, and super easy to make.

The ingredients

Buckwheat crepes

The base of these garnished crepes is a galette made with buckwheat flour. Make no mistake, buckwheat is not a plant from the same family as wheat. It is gluten-free and rich in nutrients, which makes it a healthy choice for a crepe.

There are a multitude of basic galette recipes, with just buckwheat flour and water as here, or with the addition of a little wheat flour (soft wheat flour), egg, dairy, etc. You can either buy your crepes commercially or make them at home.

Ham

Use thin slices of ham dispersed all over the crepe; or take a thicker slice of ham and cut in small cubes to lay all over.
Your choice, depending on what you have. What I do recommend is not to leave the slice whole but to cut it so that there is ham everywhere.

Egg

Crack an egg on each crepe first before adding the other toppings, this is the ingredient that needs the most time to cook. Ideally use very fresh eggs as we do not want to overcook the crepe and want a runny yolk which will help bind to the other ingredients when you eat the crepe, the aim is to just cook the egg as needed, not too long.

Cheese

Choose the cheese you prefer: Comté, Emmental, Gruyère… The cheese can either be grated or cut into thin strips or slices. Not too big, we want the cheese to melt in the crepe.

A splash of heavy cream

This ingredient is my own little personal touch. I don’t know if in Brittany they add cream but as crème fraîche is one of the basic ingredients of cuisine in Brittany, I don’t think I’m making a culinary mistake! Or is it a Norman variation of the complete Breton galette?

Jokes aside, I like to add a few drops of thick or semi-thick crème fraîche here and there as soon as I turn the crepe over, and before adding the garnish ingredients. This adds softness to the pancake and prevents from having to add too much cheese or the crepe being a little dry.

It is of course optional!

runny egg on a perfectly cooked ham and cheese savory crepe

In what order should you add your ingredients

It is slightly up to you, the order is not the most important but what I will however recommend is:

If you are making your own crepes at home: cook the dough and when the edges start to come off easily, flip it over and start adding your garnishing
If you bought your crepes, whether that be at the grocery store, local supermarket, etc: butter your pan and immediately start adding your garnishes without needing to flip the crepe over

You can use two pans to make your 4 crepes in two batches, this will avoid having to wait too long for all the crepes to be done, makes sure the first ones aren’t a little cold. It’s good when the cheese is still melted and runny.

Prepare all your ingredients because it goes fast.
First, add a little heavy cream here and there
Break the egg by placing it in the center. If necessary, tilt your pan a little in several directions so that the white is distributed better.
Then put pieces of white ham all around the egg
Then sprinkle generously with grated cheese, avoid covering the egg yolk.
Cook gently until the egg is cooked, then fold in the edges, I’ll explain this below, and serve.

How to fold the crepe

The last step is to fold the crepe. To do this, take the edges of the pancake and fold them towards the center.
It is important not to add too much pressure when folding the crepe to prevent it from breaking and letting the filling escape or breaking the egg yolk.

The most classic folding is in four to obtain a square shape as seen in the photos. You can also make a triangle by folding three sides. You can of course serve your crepe as is, flat on a large plate but then no room for the salad or raw vegetables which you will have to serve in a bowl on the side.

There are a multitude of possible folds, I have written an article to show you the range of possibilities when it comes to folding crepes.
However, all the folds that I show you in this article and video cannot be used for this recipe because we do not want to damage the egg which is at the heart of the presentation.

Explore all garnish possibilities

Changing the ingredients will mean it is no longer what we call a galette complete in French, but as always in cooking, starting from a base there are tons of adaptations possible. Vary:

choosing cheese that melts well. Why not goat cheese,
choose bacon or raw ham instead of ham, or even salmon,
add previously fried vegetables such as mushrooms, leek fondue, onion compote…

Here is my recipe for a homemade ham and cheese savory crepe, cooked in a pan, like in a real creperie.

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French Egg, Ham and Cheese Buckwheat Crepe