Blini with Sour Cream
Small, airy yeast pancakes made from buckwheat, classically served with sour cream and chives.
- Preparation
- 20 min
- Cook/bake time
- 20 min
- Total
- 1 hr 40 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Calories
Small, airy yeast pancakes made from buckwheat, classically served with sour cream and chives.
Small, airy yeast pancakes made from buckwheat, classically served with sour cream and chives. The yeast dough needs an hour to rise, which makes the blini porous and light inside instead of compact like normal pancakes. Served warm, they are the perfect base for everything from sour cream to smoked salmon.
Buckwheat is not a grain and contains no gluten, so it cannot hold gas bubbles on its own. The wheat portion in the dough provides this structure, and the yeast fills it with carbon dioxide during the rising time. Baking powder would only release the gas in the pan where the dough is already setting. That is why a shortcut using baking powder stays compact, while the yeast dough rises to become porous.
Mix the lukewarm milk with yeast and sugar and let the mixture stand for ten minutes until bubbles form. Then stir in both types of flour and the salt until a smooth, thick dough forms. The buckwheat gives the blini their typical nutty, slightly tart aroma.
Cover the bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place for an hour until it has visibly risen and the surface forms bubbles. Exactly this yeast fermentation distinguishes blini from ordinary pancakes and makes them porous and fluffy inside.
Stir the egg yolks and the melted butter into the risen dough. Beat the egg whites separately with a pinch of salt until stiff and gently fold them in in two portions without stirring. The incorporated air makes the blini particularly light and must not be stirred out again.
Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and grease it thinly with butter. Add a good tablespoon of dough at a time to form circles of about 8 cm. Bake them for two minutes until the surface forms bubbles and becomes matte, turn them over and bake for another minute.
Stack the finished blini on a plate and cover them with a cloth to keep them warm and soft. Serve them with sour cream and chives, and add smoked salmon if you like. Blini taste best lukewarm and are traditionally eaten with your fingers.
Replace buckwheat completely with wheat flour, then the blini will be milder and lighter.
Serve with sour cream, honey and berries, then they are also suitable as breakfast or dessert.
| Calories | 626 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 24 g |
| Carbohydrates | 62 g |
| – of which sugar | 9 g |
| Fat | 32 g |
| Fiber | 5 g |
Blini contain yeast and thus become porous and slightly sour. Normal pancakes are denser and are only leavened with egg.
Traditionally yes, it gives the characteristic nutty taste. With pure wheat flour they become milder, but are still good.
Yes, they can be baked a day ahead and reheated in the pan or in the oven. Freezing also works well.
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Only 40 min of that is hands-on – the rest takes care of itself.
We add up reference values for every ingredient and divide by the number of servings. These assumptions are baked in:
A guide value, not a lab measurement: no two onions weigh the same, and fat content varies from pack to pack.
