WMF Lono crepe maker test: a touch of modernity that doesn’t hurt

WMF has made Cromargan a trademark that it displays without restraint on all its equipment. The Lono crepe maker is obviously no exception. The material, an 18/10 stainless steel, dresses almost all of its tower, but also the accessories that accompany it.

The manufacturer is thus moving away from the wood traditionally used for the rozell, the small rake used to spread the dough well – or at least to try. However, this one is not completely made of stainless steel, unlike the one that accompanies the Crêpière Pro de Lagrange. The part that pulls the dough is made of plastic, which makes it lighter and easier to handle. The same combination of Cromargan and plastic is used for the spatula. WMF does not provide a ladle to pour the correct amount of batter onto the baking sheet.

The cooking plate, moreover, measures 33 cm in diameter, but the pancakes will not actually be able to exceed 31 cm because of the wide rim provided to limit drippings. An attention that novices in the art of turning pancakes will perhaps appreciate.

Even without demonstrating perfect mastery, and that’s an understatement, we still prefer rimless plates, unfortunately rare outside of professional or semi-professional models. The rim is not high enough to prevent large overflows, but high enough to prevent the dough from spreading thinly around the rim. This is all the more annoying as the plate is slightly curved; the dough therefore tends to flow outwards. If you are afraid of not being able to tame the rozell, it is better to opt for the Diabolo de Krampouz. It comes with a dough “spreader” allowing you to make beautiful pancakes much more easily.

Overall, the Crêpe Maker Lono is still a very simple device to use. Its weight of 2.7 kg allows it to be moved without difficulty to take it out and store it, and just turn the dimmer at the front to turn it on after plugging it in; the cable is 1.15m long and can be rolled up under the base. Of course, we would have preferred to find a more precise thermostat, but it only takes a few tries to find the right settings. 6 levels are offered here, or rather six benchmarks, since no notch comes to stop the drive by turning it.

An indicator light around the dimmer also lets you know when the appliance has finished heating up to start cooking — but we will see in the “Cooking” section that it is still better to let it run a little longer beforehand — and it will be added that the plate is covered with a non-stick coating facilitating the take-off of the pancakes. A drizzle of oil is still recommended, but we are far from the seasoning ordeal that the Billig de Krampouz had made us undergo.

Finally, it should be noted that, if the plate of the Crêpe Maker Lono is removable, it is only to facilitate its cleaning and not to install another one which would allow for example to cook several small pancakes simultaneously, as the second plate supplied with allows it. EssentialB ECPM3.

The 1600 W resistance of the Lono crepe maker does not allow it to heat up as quickly as the Beper BT.710Y or even the Gourmet Crepe Maker from Tefal, but we were able to measure the 200°C expected on its hob after 3 minutes and 45 seconds. An honorable result, and which also places this model ahead of the Krampouz Diabolo or the Crêpière Tradi by Lagrange. By letting the crepe maker heat up on the highest power, we measured up to 268°C on its plate, but it never holds the temperature that high.

Although the hob of this Lono heats up fairly quickly, it does not heat evenly and it is important to let the appliance operate for several minutes so that the heat is well distributed in the hob, especially towards the back. WMF also recommends waiting 10 minutes after lighting before cooking the first pancake. In any case, things quickly return to normal and the difference between the hottest point and the coldest point ends up being reduced to less than 30°C when we try to approach our reference temperature of 210° vs.

We are certainly above the 5°C difference found on the Billig de Krampouz, but it is the only model in our comparison to have done better. In addition, the WMF crepe maker manages to stabilize the temperature very effectively over heating and standby cycles, even surpassing the Breton crepe maker on this point with variations of less than 10°C. However, this is not so surprising: Tefal’s Crep’Party and Gourmet Crêpière had also excelled in this exercise, and WMF also belongs to the Seb group, just like Krampouz for that matter…

After our measurements, we of course wanted to appreciate the good performance of the Lono crepe maker by the palate. And we were not disappointed. The pancakes are cooked fairly evenly, provided they remain at 210°C. If it is possible to lower the temperature to give yourself a little more time to spread the dough, the back of the plate is then no longer hot enough to maintain the same cooking result as in the center and the crepe may be less golden.

Finally, we will add that we had to select the highest power to reach 210°C. The cooking of the buckwheat pancakes requiring a slightly higher temperature, it will undoubtedly be difficult to obtain a perfect result with this model.