Why crêpes and galettes?
It’s an unusual choice, we’ll give you that. But in true Northern Cobbler style we believe that’s what sets us apart. As with pairing shoes and coffee we believe it’s good to do something different and getting a fresh galette with your coffee isn’t something you’re likely to find anywhere else.
Like many of our ideas, introducing crêpe and galette came to us whilst on our travels. Galettes aren’t something you find often in the UK but the traditional galettes of France, especially in the northern regions like Brittany, are absolutely incredible. Every time we’d leave France we found ourselves wishing we could find galettes being served everywhere. Luckily we found ourselves in a position where we could make this wish a little closer to a reality and in 2018 we launched our crêpe and galette menu.
Since then they have become infamous around Leicester and the surrounding areas. We’ve even had customers tell us they’ve driven 2 hours just for one of our galettes!
The Galettes
What is a galette? We get asked this a lot. The simple answer is that a galette is a savoury crêpe.
Galettes are made with buckwheat flour instead of usual flour varieties. This gives them a slightly stronger flavour than a normal crêpe or pancake and also means they’re gluten free.
Because the buckwheat flour is what makes a galette different from most other types of crêpe or pancake and, therefore, we decided we really needed the best flour possible.
Having tried a few different options from different suppliers we decided on Shipton Mill to provide our flour. We have small frequent deliveries, which means that the flour is always fresh and hasn’t been sitting around for ages waiting to be used.
Shipton Mill is based in Gloucestershire and the mill itself has been around since medieval times. In true keeping to its history the new mill still operates tradition French Burr Millstones, this is what gives the flour its rustic quality and adds some substance and weight to the crepes and galettes.
Shipton Mill are always striving to be environmentally friendly and considerate in their sourcing. This is very in keeping with our own ethos here at Northern Cobbler and makes them a perfect partner.
The crêpes
Whilst our crêpes are made from the same batter as our galettes (to ensure both are gluten free) they are entirely different. The crepes are cooked a little bit softer and are always topped with icing sugar as well as any of our wide range of sweet toppings. We also cook the crepes with a bit of butter to give them a richer sweeter taste and a lovely golden colouring.
We offer some pretty extravagant combinations of toppings. A personal favourite is Cinnamon Crumble, Banana and Ice Cream with a drizzle of honey on top. The clean flavours of the fruit really goes well with the crepe. Of course you can always keep it simple and traditional with lemon and sugar. There’s a huge range of toppings and as with our galettes we’ve got a few combinations which we think work great but you can always get creative and choose your own toppings.