It’s been a month since I dished out a pancake recipe. Now that I think of it, it’s been a month since I ate pancakes! Let’s fix that with Oladi, Russian Apple Buttermilk Pancakes.
Clearly more important things have taken over my life (though in retrospect I can’t figure what), but I’m back on track to share another country’s version of my favorite Sunday breakfast. In this case, Russia’s Oladi.
What makes this Oladi different? Well, first off…yeast. You know I am in a constant state of panic when I use yeast- will it rise? What if it doesn’t? Well, I figured that worst case scenario that this yeast did not rise, the rest of the batter is no different than regular crepe batter, and instead of pancakes, I’d be eating apple crepes. No big deal. Plus, the Korean Hotteok were SO good, as were those Belgian waffles, that it was worth the chance that the yeast wouldn’t cooperate.
Today- YEAST SUCCESS!
Second- these have diced apples. While I prefer chocolate chips in my pancakes, apples are not at all offensive, and they still go very well with peanut butter, with which I intended to slather on these babies.
Mwahahahahaha.
The recipe I found came from Natasha’s kitchen and , with rising time, took a bit over an hour. Again, one hour to let the yeast do it’s thing isn’t all that much time in the whole scheme of time.
That was deep.
Anyway, in a related, but not-related tangent-one comment from Natasha that I thought was interesting is that she said that “Flour in Canada makes the fluffiest pancakes.” Flashback 60 years to my grandmother calling up Pillsbury asking them angrily “what did you do this flour?” She grew up in Canada and when she moved across the Peace Bridge into Buffalo, New York clearly thought something was amiss with our American product.
No surprise there, if you ask me.
On to the recipe.
The verdict- well…unremarkable. I was admittedly disappointed, but I honestly don’t think that these had a “wow” factor that I couldn’t achieve with my regular pancake recipe. I admit they were nice and airy (thanks to the yeast), but I don’t think it’s anything that whipping the egg whites first wouldn’t fix.
Still- I don’t say no to pancakes when placed in front of me.
Oladi
Ingredients
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 cups warm water
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ½ TB salt
- 2 TB sugar
- ½ TB active dry yeast
- 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 medium apples, chopped (about 1 cup)
- butter for the pan
Instructions
- Whisk together the buttermilk, water, eggs, salt, sugar and yeast
- Add the flour, one cup at a time until this is the texture of cake batter. No lumps, please.
- Place, covered, in a warm place to rise (I use the oven since the ambient temperature in my apartment is about 61 degrees). Let rise about an hour.
- After the hour, carefully fold the diced apples into the batter, being careful not to deflate them
- In a large skillet, heat 1 TB of oil over medium-low, medium heat. Place heaping ¼ cup size mounds onto the skillet and let cook until golden brown, then turn over, about 3-4 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining batter.
