Recipe of Russian Blins. Bliny (blinches) Recipe with Pictures.

Bliny, or blini (plural from blin) are ultra- thin round flat bread, very close to French crepe. Bliny are essential attribute of Maslenitsa, Russian folklore celebration taking its roots in pagan traditions.

Maslenitsa (from the word "maslo"- butter), is the so-called "butter-week", celebrating beginning of spring. Young people in masks and costumes were going from door to door with songs and rhymes; it was time of merry parties, always with alcohol. Bliny were eaten as symbols of the sun.

There are lots and lots of recipes for this dish, as well as names for it. Russian "bliny" and "blinchiki", Yiddish "blinches", international "blintz". The original recipe for bliny include yeast (this recipe I'll describe later). Nowadays most house wives are doing them as I do, as my Russian sister-in-law is doing, as my friends are doing it.

Milk- 2 cups;

water- 1 cup (or half cup of butter milk, half cup of water);

1 egg;

Half tsp of salt and 1 tsp of sugar;

Quarter tsp of baking soda;

Flour, as needed to make liquid batter (approximately 1.5 cups)

1 Tbst of olive or vegetable oil.

Beat an egg with salt and sugar, mix with milk and water.

Take quarter of tsp of baking soda and fill the spoon with boiling water to slake soda. Add to the mixture.

Add flour and beat with electric mixer until the batter is smooth without lumps. The batter should be pourable.

Add Tbsp of vegetable oil into batter and mix well.

Heat a pan on a high-medium heat.

Oil the pan slightly with a brush. I just use a piece of butter on a fork, the same device I use to butter each blin after it's fried.

Pour some batter on a pan, move the pan while pouring to help spread the batter.

When the blin is golden brown on its underside (should happen in under 1 minute), flip over with spatula and brown the other side.

Pile ready bliny on a plate; don't forget to butter every blin.

It makes aproximately 15-20 blins

Russians have an expression "Первый блин всегда комом (pervyi blin vsegda komom)." It means, literally, "the first blin always lumps up"- it happens often, because the pan is not yet hot enough for a blin to be fried rightly. But this expression is also used in the context of "at first you don't always succeed..."

Bliny are eaten as they are, or with fillings. Spread some filling on blin, and fold blin as an envelope, or roll it. Fry filled blin on a pan to make it crusty.

Bliny can be served as a main dish and as a dessert. For the main course, bliny are served with mashed potatoes, sour cream, chopped chicken or beef, salmon, or sardines. As a dessert, bliny are served with honey, sour cream, milk, butter, fresh fruits, jams and cheese.

Ah, one important thing- you never make bliny beforehand, they should be eaten as soon as possible. Russians say, "bliny don't wait for an eater, an eater waits for bliny"

Here is the yeast recipe (I wouldn't do it, it's too much of a hassle for me):

Ingredients:

2/3 cup warm milk

½ tsp honey

1 pkt dry yeast

2 tbl melted butter, cooled

½ cup flour, plus 2 tbl flour

1/4-cup-buckwheat flour

1 pch salt

2 eggs, whisked together

vegetable oil or butter for frying

Preparation: Combine milk, honey and yeast in a medium bowl. Whisk together and let stand until foamy. Stir in cooled butter. In a separate bowl combine the flours, salt and baking powder. Make an indentation in the center of the dry mixture and stir in liquid mixture, slowly, until blended. Without stirring vigorously, blend in whisked eggs just until combined. Cover and let rise at room temperature for about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in volume.

Cooking: same as described before.