Gluten Free Buckwheat Blini

Gluten free buckwheat blini are leavened, buckwheat pancakes from Russia and the Ukraine. There are hundreds of blini recipes out there, some with added wheat flour. I made a traditional buckwheat blini using buckwheat flour only so they're wheat free and rice free.

Ingredients

Blini can be served with a variety of savoury toppings. Lox or gravlax are popular and my favouite.

• buckwheat flour
• active dry yeast
• milk
• butter
• egg
• buttermilk
• lox or gravlax
• sour cream or crème fraîche
• Optional garnish: fresh dill and lemon slices

See recipe card for exact amounts.

Variations

Leavening agent - You'll find many variations for blini among families and regions. Some recipes for this leavened pancake don't even have a leavening agent. Now that you know these are gluten free you can search recipes to find variations.

Size - Some families make pan size blini.

Buckwheat Blini vs Blintz vs Crepes

Blini, blintz and crepes are all pancakes with slight differences. Blintz is a thinner version of blini that is not leavened. It's most often filled with sweetened cheese, folded and baked then served with sour cream or a sweet sauce.

French crepes are also thin pancakes, unleavened, typically made with wheat flour and served with or without filling. Of course we can make traditional crepes gluten free and even make them into a Crepe Cake.

Savoury buckwheat crepes and the buckwheat galette are popular in northern France and naturally gluten free.

Crème Fraiche vs Sour Cream

Sour cream add a richness to these pancakes that goes well with lox. If you like sour cream you'll love homemade crème fraîche.

Years ago I couldn't buy crème fraîche so I learned to make it. You can't go wrong by adding whipping cream to anything so if you want a special treat, add whipping cream to sour cream and wait for the magic to happen. Here's my recipe.

Get The Tools

Every kitchen needs a few tools. Cook buckwheat blini in a regular non-stick skillet or a pancake griddle to get the job done quickly.

For cooks using yeast it's important that the liquid, water or milk, is hot enough to activate the yeast but not too hot that it kills it. Get an inexpensive kitchen thermometer and use it. It'll last for years.

Whether you have buckwheat flour or are ready to buy some, I hope you'll make these blini and let me know how they turned out.

Gluten Free Buckwheat Blini

These small round pancakes are traditionally made with buckwheat flour and served as an appetizer with lox and sour cream.

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Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Russian

Keyword: Buckwheat Blini, buckwheat flour

Author: Cinde Little

Ingredients

• ▢ 1¼ cups buckwheat flour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 cup warm milk (110°F)
• ▢ 2 tablespoon melted butter
• ▢ 1 egg, separated
• ▢ 1 cup buttermilk
• ▢ additional melted butter or oil for cooking

TOPPINGS

• ▢ thin slices of lox or gravlax*
• ▢ sour cream or crème fraîche**
• ▢ fresh dill
• ▢ lemon slices

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Instructions

• In a medium bowl mix buckwheat flour, yeast and salt.
• Add warm milk and stir. Cover and set in warm place to rise for 1 hour. (Can be prepared to this point and kept in the fridge over night. Bring to room temperature to continue.)
• Stir in the butter, egg yolk and buttermilk.
• Whisk egg white to soft peaks and gently fold into batter. Cover and let sit 30 minutes.
• Heat a large skillet or pancake griddle over medium heat.
• Brush with melted butter. Pour 2-3 tablespoon batter onto griddle or pan depending on the size of pancake you want.
• Cook until bubbles form on the surface, about 1 minute. Flip pancakes and cook a little less on the second side.
• Remove from pan and keep warm while cooking them all.
• Serve warm with lox, (gravlax or smoked salmon), sour cream (or crème fraîche), fresh dill and lemon.

Notes

*Gravlax, lox and smoked salmon are different ways of preserving salmon. Gravlax is cured in a mixture of salt, sugar and dill or other herbs. Lox is cured or brined in salt but is not smoked. Smoked salmon is cured or brined, and then smoked. It is also delicious with blini but the presentation isn't as fancy. Use any of them.

**Crème Fraîche Recipe - Stir together 1 cup whipping cream with ½ cup full fat sour cream. Cover and let sit overnight at room temperature to thicken. Stir and store in the fridge.