Yeast pancakes turn out fluffy even without soda. But if they turn out lumpy, then you need to ask for advice.
You mix the dough according to the recipe from the Internet, but the pancakes stubbornly refuse to rise. They stick to the pan, and instead of holes, you get "craters".
The culprit is the yeast, which you kill in the first 5 minutes.
According to Gastronom magazine, 70% of cooks put them directly into hot milk. "Yeast is a living organism. It needs to be awakened, not boiled," says bakery technologist Petr Ivanov in an interview with Culinary Review .
The main mistake is to use boiled milk.
The ideal temperature for yeast is 35–37°C. If the milk is hot, the fungi will die.
Recipe from chef Alexey Zimin :
Warm 500 ml of milk slightly;
Dissolve 1 tbsp. sugar and 1 tsp. dry yeast in milk;
let stand for 10 minutes until a “cap” appears.
Culinary lifehack
Add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil to the dough - the pancakes will not burn.
TikTok user @Babushka_2023 admitted: “Now my pancakes are like from a cafeteria in 1985!”
The Secret of the USSR Chefs
The dough should rise twice. The first time in the bowl, the second time after baking the first pancake.
“The steam from the frying pan activates the yeast,” explains culinary historian Olga Syutkina in her book Soviet Kitchen.
Historical context
In the 1960s, yeast pancakes were a symbol of the holiday. They were prepared for Maslenitsa and weddings. Chef Nikolai Baranov from the Prague restaurant recalls: “We added potato broth to the dough — thus saving flour, but maintaining fluffiness.”
Experiment
The KitchenTV channel conducted a test: two batches of pancakes - with single and double dough rise. The second batch turned out 30% fluffier.
Real reviews
"Blini used to be like rubber. Now I make them like in the article - the family licks the plates!" - Maria, Samara (comment on Yandex.Zen).
Adviсe
Use a cast iron skillet—it holds heat evenly.
The first pancake is always a flop: grease the pan with lard, not butter.
