FOOD NEWS
Julia Child's Flour Pro-Tip For Lacy, Tender Crepes
By Haldan Kirsch
Julia Child is certainly not the first American to travel to Paris and fall in love with crepes, but she is one of the best sources for translating the French crepes recipe for American kitchens. Her secret weapon for her own crepes seems to be a particular type of flour that is used in this versatile French treat.
Child says that the right flour will make the difference between perfectly tender crepes and chewy frisbees, and her recommendation for achieving the former is to use instant flours like Wondra. Martha Stewart claims that instant flour is made using a process known as pre-gelatinization, which means it has been pre-steamed and then dried to render a super fine powder.
Instant flour also tends to have a low protein content which reduces the formation of gluten during the mixing process. These two qualities help to render perfectly light and tender crepes, since they will easily absorb the water and won't toughen up thanks to the low protein content.