Sourdough French-Style Blini

These sourdough French-style blini are little buckwheat pancakes that you can top with savory ingredients such as smoked salmon or caviar along with a spoonful of crème fraîche or sour cream. 

French-style blini are little appetizer-sized pancakes. They can be served warm or room temperature topped with savory ingredients such as crème fraîche or sour cream and smoked fish or caviar. 

They can also be served as a sweet treat with chocolate sauce, jam, or the traditional butter and maple syrup.

Traditionally, they are yeasted with a little boost of baking soda, however, for these, I used a good amount of sourdough discard along with baking soda and baking powder for leavening. 

How To Make Sourdough French-Style Blini

I recommend mixing all of the pancake ingredients the night before, with the exception of the baking powder and baking soda, and then refrigerating the batter over night to develop flavor.  

The next morning, remove the bowl from the refrigerator, sprinkle the baking powder and soda over the top through a sieve and stir it in thoroughly. Let the mixture sit for five to ten minutes. 

Heat a skillet or griddle over medium-low heat and melt butter, oil, or ghee on the pan. For appetizer-sized blini, drop individual tablespoons of batter onto the griddle and cook until the batter is bubbly, about a minute or two, and then flip and cook the other side. 

For slightly larger pancakes, drop two tablespoons of batter onto the griddle and cook. 

Ingredients in these Blini:

Sourdough starter: Use 100% hydration (equal weight flour and water) starter. It can be discard or freshly fed. 

Pantry Ingredients: All Purpose Flour, salt, oil, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. 

From the Refrigerator: Eggs and milk.

Buckwheat flour: Buckwheat is not really wheat. Instead, it's made from the seeds of flowering plants and has been grown for centuries in Asia. 

Buckwheat has a slightly nutty flavor and is also great added to breads. I keep it in the freezer to preserve freshness. 

This month, the Bread Baking Babes are skipping the oven and are griddling yeasted (instant or wild yeast) Ukrainian mlyntsi. Our host is Elizabeth of Blog From OUR Kitchen. She offered us an option for each. 

Typically, mlyntsi (the Ukranian word for pancake according to Google Translate) are thin and crêpe-like, however, the wild yeast version turned out puffy for me, more like pancakes, or French blini (do a search on "French blini" so see what comes up!). 

I went rogue and re-named these "French-style." 

I did make the thinner crêpe-like mlyntsi as well, but my husband ate the photogenic ones before I could take photos. Be sure to visit the other Babes' links after the recipe to see the various versions, including crêpes. 

Ingredient Substitutions and Recipe Variations:

If you don't have a sourdough starter, just add 120 grams of flour, 120 grams of water, and a pinch of yeast to the batter ingredients. 

If you can't find buckwheat (it's typically in the flour aisle), you can substitute whole wheat flour. 

If you want thinner pancakes, stir the baking powder and baking soda into the batter before refrigerating. You can also skip the overnight refrigeration and make these immediately. 

You can serve these with the crème fraîche and salmon already on the blini, or you can serve them (especially the larger ones) with the topping ingredients on the side for your guests to add their favorites. 

Once you've topped them, serve them immediately, typically at room temperature. 

This recipe makes quite a few pancakes. If you have leftover blini, you can stack them on a buttered plate with butter in between each pancake. They will stick together when cold but will separate when reheated for a few seconds in the microwave. 

While I haven't tried it, you can try freezing them between layers of paper towels. 

For another yeasted pancake, be sure to try mofo gasy, pancakes from Madagascar. 

Sourdough French-Style Blini

Yield: 30 small pancakes

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 15 MinInactive time: 12 HourTotal time: 12 H & 30 M

These sourdough French-style blini are little buckwheat pancakes that you can top with savory ingredients such as smoked salmon or caviar along with a spoonful of crème fraîche or sour cream.

Ingredients

• 125 grams all-purpose flour
• 65 grams buckwheat flour
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 240 grams 100 percent sourdough starter, either discard or active
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Oil, butter, or ghee for the griddle or pan

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, and salt.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the starter, eggs, milk, and oil.
3. Combine the two bowls and stir the ingredients together until smooth. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
4. The next day, sift the baking powder and baking soda over the batter and stir it in. Let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes.
5. Heat a skillet or griddle over medium low and coat the pan with oil, butter, or ghee. Drop one (for tiny pancakes) to two tablespoons (for 4 inch pancakes) of batter into the pan and cook on one side until the top is bubbly. Turn the pancake over and cook for an additional minute or two.
6. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

56.16

Fat (grams)

2.25

Sat. Fat (grams)

0.46

Carbs (grams)

7.51

Fiber (grams)

0.38

Net carbs

7.12

Sugar (grams)

1.27

Protein (grams)

1.6

Sodium (milligrams)

112.85

Cholesterol (grams)

13.74

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2022/04/sourdough-french-style-blini.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

Pancakes, blini

Appetizers, breakfast

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The Bread Baking Babes

Blog from OUR Kitchen

Bread Experience

A Messy Kitchen

Judy's Gross Eats

Feeding My Enthusiasms

Elizabeth adapted this recipe from The Clever Carrot