Categories: Main DishesNo-meat

Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi)

Using yeast in batter is pretty common in Russian cuisine. They not only make batter fluffy but gives it a distinctive taste.

Yeast are very picky about temperature: if it is too cold yeast will not start fermenting and if it is too hot yeast will die. Temperature of mixture should be warm and stable.

That is why I usually set my plastic mixing bowl in a cooking pot filled with hot water and I make sure bowl doesn’t touch water so it isn’t too hot to ensure comfortable conditions for yeast to ferment.

Consistency of the oladi batter should be a bit more stiff than kefir. If you fry pancakes and they don’t rise upon frying that may mean the batter is too liquid, to fix it mix in a bit more flour and let batter rise for 10-15 mins before trying again.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of milk
  • 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of dry active yeast
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt
  • 2 tablespoons of oil for batter and more for frying

How to prepare, step-by-step:

  1. Prepare ingredients: amount of flour the recipe calls for it approximate, depending on the qualities of the flour you may need to use a bit more or less:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 1
  2. Warm up all milk so it is warm enough for yeast to activate, but not too hot to kill them, pour it to the mixing bowl:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 2
  3. Add quarter of teaspoon of salt:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 3
  4. All sugar:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 4
  5. 2 tablespoons of oil:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 5
  6. Mix until salt and sugar dissolves completely and add active yeast:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 6
  7. Let them soak for 5-8 mins, don’t stir mixture during this time:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 7
  8. Mix in 1 cup of flour until homogeneous, cover with clean cloth and leave in warm place to initiate the fermentation process, for 15 mins approximately:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 8
  9. When batter began bubbling, mix in both eggs:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 9
  10. And gradually mix remaining of the flour, make sure batter doesn’t have any knots:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 10
  11. Cover bowl with a clean cloth again and leave it in warm place for 40mins to one hour:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 11
  12. By the end of the hour you will get fermented batter like this:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 12
  13. Warm up a skillet with a bit of oil over moderate heat; scoop batter with a ladle or a big spoon and form pancakes on the skillet (avoid stirring of batter):
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 13
  14. When a pancake is colored from one side, flip it to another with a spatula (carefully batter on other side maybe still liquid):
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 14
  15. Repeat with all batter, keep adding a bit of oil to the skillet if you feel like it is needed:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 15
  16. Move cooked pancakes to a plate:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 16
  17. Serve yeast pancakes with sour cream, jam, honey or plain dusted with confectioners sugar; tastes great with a cup of kefir or milk:
    Yeast Pancakes (Russian Oladi) Recipe: Step 17
Enjoy!