Buckwheat Camp Crepes
A blender batter turned into a shaker-bottle batter, cooked in a skillet and folded around whatever protein you carried.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 76
- protein
- 18 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 45 min
- water
- 600 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Breakfast
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Buckwheat flour | 1 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 1 cup | half and half keeps the crepes pliable instead of crumbly |
| Whole egg powder | 2/3 cup | stands in for 8 eggs |
| Powdered whole milk | 1/2 cup | reconstitutes into the 2 cups of milk the batter wants |
| Honey | 3 tbsp | squeeze packets or a small bottle |
| Ghee or oil | 1/4 cup | ghee holds at ambient temperature and does not go rancid fast |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Water | about 600 ml | cold, for the batter |
| Basil pesto | 1 small jar | shelf-stable jarred, not refrigerated tub |
| Canned or foil-pouch chicken | 2 pouches | smoked chicken also works |
| Preserved lemon | 2 tbsp, chopped | packed in its own brine, keeps unrefrigerated once opened for a weekend |
| Feta in brine | 4 oz | the brine jar survives a cooler-free weekend better than a block |
| Sun-dried tomatoes | 1/3 cup | the shelf-stable replacement for cherry tomatoes |
| Dried spinach or kale flakes | 1/2 cup |
Method
- At home, mix both flours, egg powder, milk powder, and salt into one bag. That is the whole batter minus liquid and fat.
- In camp, pour the dry mix into a wide-mouth bottle or pot. Add about 600 ml of cold water, the honey, and half the ghee. Shake or whisk until no lumps remain.
- Let the batter sit 20 minutes. This is not optional. The buckwheat needs time to hydrate or the crepes tear when you flip them.
- Cover the dried greens with a little water in a cup while the batter rests.
- Get a wide skillet hot over the fire or on a grate, grease it with ghee, and pour in a thin layer of batter. Tilt to spread.
- Cook until the edges lift and the underside browns, about 90 seconds, then flip and give it 30 more. Stack the finished crepes on a plate.
- Return one crepe to the pan, pile pesto, chicken, drained greens, tomatoes, chopped preserved lemon, and crumbled feta on one half.
- Let it sit over low heat until the feta softens. Fold in half, then in thirds, and hand it off. Repeat until the batter is gone.
The original of this is a blender recipe with eight eggs and two cups of milk, which is a non-starter without a fridge. Whole egg powder and milk powder do the same job by weight and turn the whole batter into one dry bag plus water. Fresh cherry tomatoes become sun-dried, fresh greens become dried flakes rehydrated in a cup, and butter becomes ghee, which does not need a cooler.
The half-buckwheat, half-wheat ratio is doing structural work. Buckwheat has no gluten, so an all-buckwheat crepe wants to fall apart in the pan. The wheat holds it together enough to fold three times without cracking. The 20-minute rest matters for the same reason: a batter that has not hydrated tears on the flip and you end up serving scrambled crepe.
Packing
Flours, egg powder, milk powder, and salt premixed in one bag at home. Ghee in a screw-top jar, honey in packets, everything else in its original jar or pouch. The dried greens go in a snack bag.
Variations
- Skip the all-purpose flour for a gluten-free version. All-buckwheat crepes work but tear more, so make them thicker.
- Sweet version: leave out the savory fill and spread with jam and peanut butter.
- Nondairy milk powder and oil in place of ghee if you are avoiding dairy in the batter.
https://www.theseasonalhomestead.com/savory-buckwheat-crepes