Mom made these Ukrainian Oladi, or Blinchiki as we call them, all the time when we were kids and she still makes them regularly. These buttermilk pancakes are excellent with all kinds of toppings: sour cream, fresh fruit, jam, maple syrup…
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They are nothing like boxed pancakes or the junk from Ihop because they won’t taste like soggy bread the next day. These almost have the texture of homemade jelly donuts and they feel like a treat for breakfast! The yeast and buttermilk add great depth of flavor to these and they rise beautifully.
Ingredients for Yeast Pancakes:
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 cups warm water (about 115˚F)
1 egg, room temperature
2 Tbsp extra light olive oil, plus more to saute the pancakes
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast or rapid-rise yeast
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, measured correctly
½ cup raisins (optional)
How to make Yeast Pancakes
1. Whisk together the first 6 ingredients (buttermilk, water, eggs, salt, sugar and yeast).
2. Add the flour one cup at a time until it is the texture of cake batter. There should not be lumps of flour. My husband likes to add raisins at the end.
3. You have to put the batter in a warm place to rise. We use the oven. Warm your oven and then turn it off so it’s just about 90˚F in there. Not too warm. Pour the batter in an oven proof bowl and cover it with a kitchen towel. Let it sit in a warm oven for 1 hour. It will about double in volume. You can put it outside in summer.
4. In a large skillet, heat 3-4 Tbsp of oil over medium heat.
5. Place heaping Tbsp of dough onto the skillet and sauté until golden brown, then turn over. You can get better shaped pancakes if you use a wet Tbsp to put the dough in the skillet and scrape it off with a teaspoon.
6. Continue to oil your skillet in between each batch. They turn out nicer on a well-oiled skillet.
You know the pancakes are ready to flip when you see bubbles forming and starting to pop on the surface, or about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Be sure to oil the skillet between batches to help the pancakes form the golden crisp edges. They almost taste like donuts – so, so good!
Mom’s Yeast Pancakes (Oladi)
Ingredients
- 1 cups warm water, about 115˚F
- 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 Tbsp extra light olive oil or other neutral oil, plus more to sautee pancakes
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast , or rapid rise yeast
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, measured correctly – scoop and level
- ½ cup raisins, optional
Instructions
- Whisk together the first 6 ingredients (water, buttermilk, egg, oil, sugar, salt, and yeast).
- Add the flour one cup at a time until it is a thin cake-batter consistency. There should not be lumps of flour.
- Cover with plastic wrap and leave the batter at room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or in a warm place* for 1 hour. It's ready when has nearly doubled in volume and is very bubbly.
- Set a large skillet over medium heat and add enough oil to lightly coat the bottom.
- Place heaping tablespoons* of dough onto the hot skillet and sauté until golden brown on the first side and you see bubbles form and start to pop on top, about 1 1/2 minutes per side.
- Continue to oil your skillet in between each batch. They turn out nicer on a well-oiled skillet.
Notes
*You can get better shaped pancakes if you use a wet tablespoon to put the dough in the skillet and scrape it off with a teaspoon.
Nutrition Per Serving
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Love all your receipts. In this particular receipt when would you add the raisins?
Thank you Anna :). In this recipe you would add raisins after adding flour.
Hi Natasha,
Boy am I glad I’ve come across your site! Finally, traditional recipes at the tip of my fingers… and everything always tastes great!
Question for you – I’ve made your olad’i before, following the recipe exactly. Currently, however, I have an abundance of milk but no buttermilk in the house. Can the recipes somehow be altered to use regular milk? Hoping for a speedy reply since I’ve craving these badboys tonight 😉
Hi Alya, these really do need the buttermilk. It if was a smaller amount of buttermilk, I’d say you could sub with milk and vinegar or lemon juice, but these buttermilk pancakes need their buttermilk 😉
Hey
I love this recipe, Natasha
Ive made it a few times this past year….and I got compliments on it from my bf and his mom.
I actually dont put the dough in the oven. I just let it sit for a long time…then put it in the fridge. When I wake up in the morning, then I just stir it and start making oladi for breakfast.
I’m glad that you like the recipe Sarah. 🙂
I love your recipes. They are every day dishes that I remember from childhood and a lot of similar dishes that I still use to feed my family. Yours are very similar and yet they have your own personal family touch. So its nice to sometimes use someone else’s family recipes to improve your own every day “line”. :):) Thank you. Will be making these blini over the weekend.
You are very welcome Nelya.
my hubby loves em! my grandma made similar before she went to heaven she was amazing and i miss her! thanks for sharing this recipe!
Your grandma sounds like an amazing woman 🙂 I miss my grandma too…
Hi There! I cant wait to try this recipe.I am a foreigner working here in ukraine and was wondering what is buttermilk called here in Ukraine? As I cant seem to find it …. Either ways, your blog is awesome : )
We always called it kefir
I love this recipe I just made it and it’s so good and yummy thanks so much for recipe I’m so happy that i found this website and my mom likes this website to.
Thank you Anna. I’m so glad you like the site 🙂
I just found your website, and I am so exited about it. I wanna make everything on here! I love all the pictures you take, and how easy your directions are. Thank you for all the effort you put into this, I’ll defiantly be a regular visitor.
this pancake looks so yummy, reminds me of the lunch my old co-woker shared with me a long time ago. he was a russian man and the lunch was left over breakfast his wife made that morning. i would love to try making it on the weekend. is the flour supposed to be bread flour or all purpose?
All purpose. Enjoy!
Used your recipe to make these for the first time and loved them so much! Ate them with jam, sour cream, and honey butter.
You said the dough is supposed to double in size, but I didn’t feel like it did (I put it in a warm oven.. maybe it wasn’t warm enough?). I felt like they were dense, not fluffy. Is that how they are supposed to be?
You can see the ones I made here! http://bit.ly/igWIcp
Hi Julia! Thanks for writing in to tell me that. First time I made them, I noticed my first batch turned out nicely but the rest were a little dense and it was because I didn’t have a well-oiled skillet the whole time. They don’t rise well if there isn’t enough oil. Also, try just 2 tablespoons less of flour next time – that will make a big difference since just a little too much flour can make them a bit dense.
Your comment prompted me to make them again right now. I put in exactly 3 1/2 cups flour to see if they will turn out fluffier without all the extra oil. It is rising in the oven right now. Also, I talked to my mom and she said if she’s not in a hurry, she just leaves hers on the counter for awhile until it rises, so i don’t think it was the oven temperature. You should only be concerned about the oven being too warm so it doesn’t start cooking. I’ll let you know how this batch turns out!
Wow, thank you for taking the time to reply with suggestions and then go and make them again! You’re awesome.
Hi Julia – so, I tried it with exactly 3 1/2 cups of flour and it also turned out very good. So, to be on the safe side, I’d probably use 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 cups. I still had to use quite a bit of oil (almost covering the bottom of the pan for perfect results with every batch. I also found that canola oil works better than olive oil. I also let them stand on the counter about 30 minutes after I took them out of the oven and they rose some more. Hope that helps. I’ll adjust the recipe accordingly. 🙂
These pancakes look so good. I wish had a plate of them right now.
I also made them without the sugar and they were great!
love the blinchiki recipe Natasha! and thank you for the help with zapykanka! (thanks Chatskaa!) I have always done a Christmas Eve dinner on January 6th for our family. Any favorite Ukrainian Christmas recipes that you all use for this holy day? I love that my family gets to celebrate the birth of our Savior twice! Blessings all!
I know, we celebrate on the 6th as well. I love that the celebration doesn’t on on Dec 25th! I’ll probably be making my kiev cake again. I love that cake!!
I made this recipe this morning and mine turned out nothing pretty like yours =( but they were GOOOOOD! thank you for the recipe.. i’m bad at frying stuff so they were a little bit darker than yours.
Question: are they supposed to puff up on the pan when frying, a little bit ?
They are supposed to puff up on the pan. I noticed they turn out prettier if you use a little more oil.
Hi! I’m from Belarus. It will be difficult to come up with запеканка recipe because it is just general term like casserole. It could be made of anything and baked. The most popular with cheese or potatoes. Take a look @ koolinar.ru.
It’s probably this one, the one with cottage cheese
http://chatskaa.livejournal.com/197184.html#cutid1
They make lots of them in Ukraine and in Russia, but they don’t make them in every family :).
It’s called запеканка in russian :), hope this helps.
Great recipes Natasha by the way!
Thanks Irina, I don’t think I’ve ever tried that before. The name запеканка sounds familiar though. It looks really yummy!
Natasha… love your blog. I too am Ukrainian American. Lived in Kyiv for a year and spent time w/ my family in Kamanets-Podolsk… have not found a recipe for Zapykanka… do you know what this is? a friend in Kyiv made this and I want to make it.. Left my heart in Ukraine forever…
I’ve never had that before. I think its more of a Polish food. It looks like there are some recipes if you type in: “Zapiekanka”
I know what that is. There is different types one made with farmers cheese творог and other made with noodles. Very easy to make. Email me if you want a recepie
Natasha…………thanks for haring this recipe. They look so tasty.
My Baba use to make these when were small, I haven’t had them for years. I’m of Ukrainian background on both sides but was born here and have never seen the Ukraine, but have heard lots of stories and the foods that they use to have.
I love your Blog, there are lots of recipes that I’m going to try and make.
Irka
Thank you! I’m gad you like it! I have so many recipes that are Ukrainian/Russian that I have yet to post. Requests for specific foods are always welcome; if there is something your Baba used to make, I may just have a recipe for it! 🙂
Hopefully I can keep it up when my classes start up in a couple weeks! Can’t guarantee it will be this often.
My goodness, every time I check your blog there is a new recapie posting. You are out of control with your cooking, you cooking queen you.