Maslenitsa buckwheat blinis
Small leavened buckwheat pancakes, light and airy, served hot with melted butter, smetana, and herring or fish roe.
Small leavened buckwheat pancakes, light and airy, served hot with melted butter, smetana, and herring or fish roe.
Ah, Maslenitsa! It was the only week I let the kitchen smell from morning till night. I would set the buckwheat batter to rise the night before with a little leaven, for a true blini must breathe and form its little holes. We stacked them while still hot, drizzled them with melted butter, and each person garnished them as they pleased — smetana for some, herring for others. Fyodor Mikhailovich, who so readily denied himself the rest of the year, did not need to be asked twice on those days.
- •Buckwheat flour — two measures (base)
- •Wheat flour — one measure (flexibility)
- •Sourdough starter or baker's yeast — a little (fermentation)
- •Milk — as needed (liquid)
- •Eggs — a few (binder)
- •Melted butter — as desired (serving)
- •Salted herring, smetana — at serving (topping)
Maslenitsa buckwheat blinis
Small leavened buckwheat pancakes, light and airy, served hot with melted butter, smetana, and herring or fish roe.
Why this dish? During Maslenitsa week, the great Russian festival before Lent, golden blinis appeared on every table, from the humblest to the richest. For a couple rooted in Orthodox faith and St. Petersburg customs, this was the time to receive guests and rejoice before the fast.
Ah, Maslenitsa! It was the only week I let the kitchen smell from morning till night. I would set the buckwheat batter to rise the night before with a little leaven, for a true blini must breathe and form its little holes. We stacked them while still hot, drizzled them with melted butter, and each person garnished them as they pleased — smetana for some, herring for others. Fyodor Mikhailovich, who so readily denied himself the rest of the year, did not need to be asked twice on those days.
Ingredients (period version)
- Buckwheat flour — two measures (base)
- Wheat flour — one measure (flexibility)
- Sourdough starter or baker's yeast — a little (fermentation)
- Milk — as needed (liquid)
- Eggs — a few (binder)
- Melted butter — as desired (serving)
- Salted herring, smetana — at serving (topping)
Ingredients
- Buckwheat flour — 150 g (base)
- Wheat flour — 100 g (flexibility)
- Fresh baker's yeast — 10 g (fermentation)
- Warm milk — 400 ml (liquid)
- Eggs — 2 (yolks + stiffly beaten whites) (binder and lightness)
- Butter — 40 g melted (cooking and serving)
- Salt — 1 pinch (seasoning)
- Smetana, herring fillets, dill — at serving (topping)
Method
- Dissolve the yeast in warm milk, add flours and egg yolks, cover and let rise 1 to 1.5 hours.
- Add salt, gently fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites just before cooking.
- Cook small pancakes in a well-buttered hot pan, 1 to 2 minutes per side.
- Stack the blinis in a warm dish, brushing with melted butter.
- Serve with smetana, chopped herring, and dill, letting each person garnish their own.
How it was made : Blinis were traditionally cooked in small cast-iron pans in the Russian oven; the buckwheat batter leavened with sourdough yielded thick, spongy pancakes quite different from thin French crêpes. The first blini was traditionally offered in memory of the departed.
The contemporary twist : Present a small stack of mini-blinis with three ramekins — smetana, herring, dill — for a build-your-own convivial plating.
Sources : Elena Molokhovets, A Gift to Young Housewives, 1861
Anna Grigorievna Snitkina · Charactorium
