Breville Traditional Crepe Maker March 2011
Crepe alternative for Pancake Day?
Breville offers an alternative to the frying pan this Shrove Tuesday with its new Traditional Crepe Maker. But is this kitchen gadget one for keeps or will the novelty wear off? We challenged a Which? researcher to try it out, to bring you our first impressions.
Crepe maker reviewed
Breville’s Traditional Crepe Maker promises to serve up pancakes in minutes – great if you have lots of mouths to feed this Shrove Tuesday.
It’s simple to operate (but the perfect crepe will require some practice and mess) and the results are worth serving up – but at £27.99, is it worth replacing the trusted frying pan for convenience and taste?
Making your Pancake Day with Breville
Breville's Crepe Maker claims to make crepes, pancakes, blinis and omelettes of up to 12 inches wide.
The instructions include some recipes – we tried the basic crepe mix with both sweet and savoury fillings (instructions recommend resting batter in the fridge for up to an hour). But while the recipe promises to make 'approximately' five crepes, when we tried it out, we found the batter mix yielded four at best.
Heating up to the recommended cooking temperature (setting four, of five) takes around four and a half minutes. A red light shows the crepe maker is on and a green light flicks off to signal that it’s ready for cooking. You simply pop a ladle of batter on top and then use the included wooden crepe shaper to prod the mix into the 'perfect' shape.
Making the perfect round crepe using Breville's crepe shaper was not a complete success
Breville Crepe Maker takes practice
Our first attempts ended with batter all over the surface and crepe maker base. The round 'lip' around the hot plate is not that high, so mess is likely for the first batch - not great if you're looking to impress in a matter of minutes. The wooden crepe shaper is also quite tricky to manoeuvre, which left us with pancakes that were far from perfectly rounded.
Once you've ladled the batter, move the shaper gently, but quickly as the heat setting means rapid cooking. Moving the crepe shaper around the batter repeatedly causes it to rip, so this too takes practice to get right. However, if you just ladle the batter in the centre of the pan and leave it, you get smaller, thicker, but rounder pancakes with no fuss.
The Breville Crepe Maker makes lightly cooked, not too crispy, crepes and pancakes. Although, as our pictures show, they aren’t perfectly round. It takes around 90 seconds to cook each side, but there’s no timer so you’ll need a keen eye to monitor when your delight is done.
The nonstick coating of the Breville Crepe Maker is impressive - a quick twist with a plastic or wood spatula is all you need to lift your cooked crepe - great if you lack confidence in your flipping skills.
Cleaning is easy, too. The hot plate doesn't detach from the base, so wait for it to cool and then simply wipe clean with a damp cloth.
We got better at using the Breville Crepe Maker after some practice
Which? first look verdict
The Breville will not revolutionise pancake making, as it offers few advantages over a traditional frying pan. If you’re confident in the kitchen then this is nothing more than a bit of fun that could make a bit of a mess, so may not be worth paying out for.
However, if you want to try something different this Pancake Day and you’re not an expert, then you may want to consider it, especially as you don't necessarily need the crepe shaper to make lovely small pancakes.
You can buy the Breville Crepe Maker nationwide at electrical shops, including at Argos or Amazon.co.uk.
Pros: Simple to use, good consistency in crepes
Cons: No cooking timer, crepe-shaping tool is fiddly to use, hot plate 'lip' could be a little higher for an at-home kitchen gadget
