Quick Kefir Pancakes (Oladyi) - Fluffy, Ready in 30 Minutes

Name: Quick Kefir Pancakes (Oladyi) - Fluffy, Ready in 30 Minutes
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Wheat flour 200 g; Kefir 100 ml; Eggs 2; Sugar 2 tbsp; Vegetable oil for frying; Sour cream, apple butter, jam, butter, etc. for serving; Salt, baking soda or baking powder as needed

Making kefir pancakes for breakfast couldn't be easier. In under half an hour you can mix the batter and fry up golden, fluffy oladyi. Kefir is the most accessible base for the batter, and it can easily be swapped for soured milk or plain yogurt.

Oladyi are small, thick, fluffy flatbreads fried in a pan from a dense batter. Similar things are made all over the world, from paper-thin crepes and palacsinta to big thick American pancakes, the favorite dish of Chilly Willy the penguin. The main difference is size and thickness, and you can recognize them at a glance.

Oladyi don't have to be made from flour alone. A mix of grated vegetables or fruit is widely used, and the flour isn't always wheat either. My grandmother used to make oladyi with soured milk and buckwheat flour, and we ate them dipped in honey.

I once read that the word oladyi is closely related to the Greek ἔλαιον, “oleum”, meaning oil. I think that's right. In the vast majority of cases, “lots of oil” is the way they are cooked and served. A batter made on a fermented dairy base, like plain soured milk, fries well and turns fluffy, and it soaks up plenty of oil. Oladyi made with soured milk have a very delicate flavor.

Good kefir oladyi come together quickly from a simple, thick batter. It is much thicker than the one used for thin pancakes, and it has practically no flavorings.

The simple batter is mixed in a few minutes, and you can start frying right away. Before serving you can dress them with sour cream, honey, jam or apple butter, my favorite from childhood. Here you can let your imagination run wild. Often, especially in season, pureed or finely chopped fruit and berries go into the batter, and it doesn't change the basic composition at all.

More in Fluffy Pancakes

Japanese Soufflé Pancakes

Apple Oladyi: Thick Fluffy Pancakes with Grated Apple

Pumpkin Pancakes

Banana pancakes

Fluffy American Pancakes with Milk

Ingredients

12-15 pancakes

Wheat flour 200 g
Kefir 100 ml
Eggs 2
Sugar 2 tbsp
Vegetable oil for frying
Sour cream, apple butter, jam, butter, etc. for serving
Salt, baking soda or baking powder as needed

Step-by-step recipe

Turn on cook modeKeeps your screen from turning off while the recipe is open

The ingredient amounts are for a breakfast for two. You can fry this much in two batches in a large pan, 7-8 pancakes at a time. Preparing the batter comes down to simply mixing the ingredients while the pan with oil heats up. Be sure to sift the flour, so that no lumps or anything else that may be in the flour get into the batter.
Add a pinch of fine salt, 2 tbsp of sugar and a quarter teaspoon of baking soda to the flour, or half a sachet of baking powder instead. Don't “slake” the soda, or you lose the effect it's added for, which is to make the oladyi fluffy. The acid in the kefir reacts with the soda to form carbon dioxide and makes any pancakes airy. Mix all the dry ingredients and add the two eggs and the kefir. Nowadays you can buy “thick” kefir, which I like best, and it makes an excellent batter.
Mix the batter with a fork. Do it thoroughly, until it is completely smooth, with no lumps or specks. The consistency should be like thick honey. The batter is stretchy, easy to scoop with a spoon, and flows slowly off the spoon if you turn it over. If the batter is too thick, add 1-2 tbsp of kefir. If it is too runny, add a little flour.
By now the pan with oil has heated up. A little secret: at our home almost everything like this is fried in olive oil, as it has been for a long time. Pancakes fried in olive oil are something else! Scoop up the batter with a large tablespoon and drop it into the hot oil. The batter doesn't spread at all, and gaps stay between the little mounds.
Quick oladyi fry very fast and keep their shape and fluffiness. Frying takes about 4 mins per side, and you can extend it slightly depending on how browned they look. Ideally, aim for pancakes that are rosy and dark golden. They smell wonderful even without any toppings.
Put the hot pancakes on a large plate. From here on, it's all to taste. If you want to serve them with butter, pour melted butter over them and don't hold back. Some people say condensed milk is the best topping, and they know what they're talking about! Since childhood I've loved pancakes with thick apple butter or with sour cream.
Serve the pancakes while they are still warm. As they cool, like all such treats, they get somewhat tough. That's why I advise frying them for a single sitting. Given how simple they are to cook, that's the best option.