Russian Buckwheat Blini (Oladyi)
Russian blini come in all shapes and sizes, thin, thick, yeast, no yeast. I personally love these thick yeast buckwheat blini which are called oladyi. I like to make these buckwheat oladyi small and bite size. Top them with some sour cream and salmon and you’ve got a delicious snack.
While looking through my list of countries I still need bake something for, Russia caught my eye and buckwheat blini/oladyi were something that just kept popping in my mind to make. So I went out to find the best oladyi recipe I could find and I came across this recipe on the Guardian for blini. I loved the result so much I barely changed a thing to make the perfect oladyi for me.
Making these buckwheat oladyi isn’t difficult, but you will need some patience, the batter takes some time to make.
How To Make Buckwheat Oladyi
First you’ll need to get your ingredients together, strong white flour, buckwheat flour, milk, eggs, sour cream, yeast and salt. (The full list of ingredients including measurements can be found in the recipe card below).
Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites into separate bowls. (Please forgive the fact that I completely forgot the take a picture of this…)
Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring to a boil, once is starts to boil, immediately turn off the heat and take the pan off the heat. Don’t keep on boiling the milk, you want it to just reach that boiling point just so it’s warm, but not boiling hot.
Next, add the yeast.
And while mixing in the yeast, start to add the egg yolks.
At this point you’ll realize that mixing in the egg yolks with a spatula isn’t a big success so you switch to using a whisk… Whisk the milk mixture thoroughly till the eggs are fully incorporated.
Next, add in the sour cream.
And using your awesome whisk, mix it into the rest of the mixture. Stir well until the sour cream is fully incorporated.
Now it’s time to add your flours and salt to a separate bowl and mix them all up.
Now slowly pour in the milk mixture into the flour mixture and keep whisking while you pour in the batter.
You should end up with a smooth batter like this. Cover the bowl with some clingfilm and set aside in a warm place for about an hour.
In the mean time you can whip up the egg whites. If you haven’t done so already, add the egg whites to a big bowl.
Use an electric whisk to whip up the egg whites till they’ve got soft peaks. If you feel like working out your arm you can also whisk with a normal whisk.
After the batter has been sitting for an hour you can see that the batter has risen slightly. Using a spatula, gently fold in the egg white a little bit at a time into the batter.
Make sure the egg whites are incorporated into the batter completely. Once done, cover with clingfilm again and set aside again for 2 hours.
After 2 hours the batter is done and it’s time to start cooking! Put a bit of butter into a pan.
Add about a tablespoon of batter to the pan to create small buckwheat oldayi.
When the batter is dry at the top and you see little air bubbles form at the top, it’s time to turn the oladyi over for another minute or so. When the oladyi’s are brown at both sides they’re done.
And there you have it, a lovely plate full of buckwheat oladyi’s!
Serve them warm with some sour cream or cream cheese, topped with caviar or smoked salmon. Or any other topping of your choosing.
Original recipe: The Guardian.
Last update: 7 May 2019
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Passive Time | 3 hours |
| Servings |
blini/oladyi |
- 2/3 cup milk 150 milliliter
- 1 teaspoon dried yeast 4 grams
- 2 eggs medium
- 1/3 cup sour cream 80 grams
- 1/2 cup strong white flour 70 grams
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour 70 grams
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Ingredients
| |
- Mix strong white flour, buckwheat flour and salt into a bowl.
- Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites into separate bowls.
- Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring to a boil, once it starts to boil, immediately turn off the heat and take the pan off the heat. Don't keep on boiling the milk, you want it to just reach that boiling point. Just so it's warm and not boiling hot.
- While whisking add yeast and egg yolks. Keep on whisking till the egg yolks are fully incorporated. Add the sour cream and whisk till fully incorporated.
- Slowly pour in the milk mixture into the flour mixture and keep whisking while you pour in the batter. Keep on whisking till you've got a smooth batter. Cover the bowl with some clingfilm and set aside in a warm place for about an hour.
- Use an electric whisk to whip up the egg whites till they've got soft peaks.After the batter has rested for an hour you can see that the batter has risen slightly. Using a spatula, gently fold in the egg white a little bit at a time into the batter till fully incorporated.Cover the bowl with clingfilm and set aside for 2 hours.
- After 2 hours, heat up some butter in a frying pan (medium high heat) and pour in the batter a tablespoon at a time. When the oladyi starts to get dry around the edges and on top and you can see little air bubbles form at the top of the oladyi you can turn over the oladyi and cook it for another minute or so on the other side, till golden. When golden on both sides the oladyi is done.Repeat with the remaining batter till all blinis are done.
- Buckwheat oladyi's are best served warm. You can top them with sour cream or cream cheese and salmon or caviar, or any other topping of your liking.
Please note that the cup measurements in this recipe are approximate. I have added cups for those that prefer using cups. The recipe is most accurate using weights measurements.
- Buckwheat oladyi's are best served warm, if you want to make them in advance, simply quickly heat them up again in a frying pan before serving or pop them in the microwave for a few seconds before serving.
- If you're not able to get strong white flour you can substitute with all purpose flour. Using strong white flour will help the dough to rise more and create a lighter oladyi.
Usually we don’t add yeast to almost boiling liquid as it can kill the yeast. This recipe adds yeast to just boiled milk. Can you kindly explain this?
That’s why you need to turn the heat off immediately. The liquid should be warm, but not boiling hot. If you’re afraid the liquid is too warm you can leave it till it to cool a bit till it’s lukewarm.