SEATTLE — Want to learn the art of making authentic crepes?
A French citizen who calls Seattle home is sharing her knowledge.
Emma Le Du runs Crepes and Travel, a small business sharing the beauty of France’s west coast.
"It's a little cheesy, but my mission here now is to make the Pacific Northwest the second-best place to have a beautiful crepe,” she said.
The first-best place is France’s Brittany region, where Le Du was born and raised.
"Crepes are almost a culture in Brittany. If you go to Brittany, about half of the restaurants will be creperies,” she said.
At age 4, her grandmother and mother taught her how to make crepes as part of their Friday meal tradition.
Le Du now hosts travel tours of the region for small groups.
"There are a lot of similarities between the Northwest and Brittany,” she said. "The landscape. There is something about an absolutely stunning landscape that is still lightly touched. There is something about the simple, beautiful things of nature, of life, that I think both of these cultures really nurture."
She also brings Brittany to Seattle by teaching crepe making classes at local culinary schools like The Pantry in Ballard.
The 3-hour long class includes supplies and step-by-step instruction about the preparation of sweet crepes, and Brittany’s traditional savory crepes known as galettes.
The dough recipe uses buckwheat flour, salt, eggs and water. It dates back to World War II Britons had few supplies.
"It's something that I think reflects a little bit on the culture of Brittany. There is something that's really interesting about simplicity when it's really good,” Le Du said. “And, resilience.”
The “Le Complete” galette is topped with ham, cheese and an over-easy egg.
Le Du hopes her classes and tours bridge the two worlds she loves most.
"Finding ways to get these two to make sense and be together is wonderful for me, and I can solve that through teaching crepe making and bringing people to Brittany,” she said.
Le Du’s tours and classes can be booked online.
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