Try these yeast pancakes that are so airy and fluffy, full of nooks and crannies. We love them served with a sweet sour cream and jam or fresh berries.
Yeast pancakes, Oladi, as we called them in Belarus, always bring me back to my childhood. My Mom would make a huge batch for breakfast and serve them with a sweet sour cream sauce, jam or fresh fruit. When fresh berries were in season, she would puree the berries with sugar, which kept the fresh taste of the fruit perfectly.
Oladi are an essential part of the traditional Russian kitchen. There are two types of Russian pancakes, blini and oladi. Blini are typically thin, like crepes, and oladi are thick, puffy pancakes. Thin crepes were always really popular too, with both sweet fillings, Cheese Blintzes, as well as savory - Chicken Mushroom Crepes.
Light as a feather, they are delightfully golden on the outside. The fluffy yeast dough sort of reminds me of yeast doughnuts, since they are also made from a yeast dough. The combination of the tart sour cream and the sweet jam with the pancakes is such a unique and delicious combination.
Ingredients
- warm milk(105-110 degrees)
- active dry yeast
- all purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- eggs
- oil (I use avocado oil)
- salt
- Sour Cream Sauce: sour cream + powdered sugar
- jam, optional, for serving
How to make Yeast Pancakes
This recipe makes a a large batch, if you have a small family, half a batch is more than enough.
- Make the yeast mixture.
- In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast, sugar and flour in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until the dough doubles, 30-50 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, the add the salt and oil. Mix until evenly incorporated.
- When the dough has doubled in size, add the egg mixture. Mix until thoroughly incorporated. Cover and repeat rising time, once again until the dough doubles, another 30 minutes or so.
- Cook the pancakes.
- Heat a few Tablespoons of oil in a nonstick skillet on medium heat.
- Gently scoop out the dough, trying not to deflate the dough. Cook the pancakes on medium heat until golden brown on both sides.
- Drain the cooked pancakes on a paper towel lined plate.
Since the dough is VERY sticky, the dough sticks to the spoon mercilessly and you will have a mess on your hands.
Fill a mug with water, and dunk your spoon in the water EVERY time you get more dough.
Gently scoop the dough, trying not to deflate it as much as possible. If you deflate the dough, the pancakes will be dense.
The dough doesn't stick to the spoon and effortlessly slides right off and into the skillet. Absolutely perfect!
Serving Yeast Pancakes (Oladi)
Oladi are delicious with sour cream and jam. We also love them with any kind of fresh berries when they are in season.
You can also make a very easy sour cream dipping sauce by adding some powdered sugar (or maple syrup or honey) to sour cream or Greek yogurt.
The way that my Mom always served these oladi was to make a double portion of the sour cream "sauce" and then dip each of the pancakes in it. Completely cover the pancakes in the sweetened sour cream, then layer all of these pancakes in a large bowl, on top of each other. The pancakes absorb the sour cream and become unbelievable tender and soft. They are such a treat!
These pancakes are great for meal prepping. You can make part of the yeast dough in advance.
Mix up the yeast dough in the first step - the warm milk, yeast, sugar and flour in a large bowl until evenly combined. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight. The dough will slowly rise overnight and will be ready for you to add the rest of the ingredients.
The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and continue with the rest of the process. You can also make the oladi and reheat them in the microwave, in a toaster or air fryer just until warmed through.
PrintYeast Pancakes (Oladi)
These yeast pancakes that are so airy and fluffy, full of nooks and crannies. We love them served with a sweet sour cream and jam or fresh berries.
- Prep Time: 1 hour 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 mins
- Yield: 25-30 oladi 1x
- Category: Breakfast
Ingredients
- 2 cups of milk, warm (105-110 degrees)
- ½ Tablespoon active dry yeast
- 3 ⅓ cups all purpose flour
- 4 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 4 Tablespoons oil for the dough, plus more for pan frying (I like avocado oil)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- sour cream + powdered sugar, for serving
- jam, fresh berries, for serving
Instructions
- Mix the milk, yeast, sugar and flour in a large bowl with a wooden spoon.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until the dough doubles, 30-50 minutes.
- When the dough has doubled in size, add the eggs, oil and salt. Mix until thoroughly incorporated.
- Cover and repeat rising time, once again until the dough doubles.
- Heat a few Tablespoons of oil in a nonstick skillet on medium heat.
- Since the dough is VERY sticky, the dough sticks to the spoon mercilessly and you will have a mess on your hands. Fill a mug with water, and dunk your spoon in the water EVERY time you get more dough. Gently scoop the dough, trying not to deflate it as much as possible. The dough doesn't stick to the spoon and effortlessly slides right off and into the skillet.
- Cook, until golden on both sides.
- Drain on a paper towel. Enjoy with sour cream, jam, berries, etc.
- One of my favorite variations from my mom are oladi in sweet sour cream. Whisk up sour cream with sugar and vanilla and dunk each pancake in the sour cream. Layer all the oladi in a bowl and the sweet sour cream will seep in to the oladi, making them even more tender and juicy.
This is an updated version of the Oladi recipe that was published originally on June 18, 2012. The recipe is the same; I updated the photos, added a video and clarified the instructions.
I hadn't had these since I was a kid and decided to make them for breakfast today. I modified your recipe and used half the sugar and out of the 3 1/2 cups of flour, 2 were whole wheat. I needed a bit more yeast because WW flour is heavier, but in the end, they were absolutely delicious. We served them with cottage cheese and apple sauce. Thanks!
I'm glad you enjoyed them, Svetlana. Great innovations!
Hi Olga, I'm sorry, something wasn't right, I spent more then 4 hrs in this recipe and they came out wrong, nothing like in the picture. MY first mistake was replacing 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of kefir also in the first rising I suppose to add the flour(which by the way 4 cups were too much), milk and yeast, and i added the sugar by mistake, i let it rise in the warm oven over 45 min and it rises very little, after that i added the rest of the ingredients and left to rise again but it didn't rise, i used Fleischmann's rapid rise highly active yeast, but it didnt rise as suppose too, I don't know if was the sugar or the kefir that didn't let it rise. They came out very flat and chewy. I was so frustrated that didn't came out right after spending so much time into it.
Thank you.
Hello Olga, I'm making your recipe right now and yes, like in other commit there is way too much flour, please correct the recipe.
Thank you!!!!
Olya I am trying to do oladi by ur recipe right now . When I added 2 cup of milk, yeast and 4 1/2 cup of flour it looked like there was not enough milk! My dough was almost dry and I couldn't put it together. I had to add 1 extra cup of milk in order for me to mix the dough. Did I do something wrong? I put everything as it says on your recipe. I'm not sure how thick the dough supposed to to be but I'm not giving up lol. I'm still waiting for testo to rise up I hope it all turns out still yummy 🙂 ...What is your advice for me?
You're right, it probably was too much flour, Anya V. I was measuring it by weight, so sometimes if you use the cup instead of the scale, the flour is packed in more than it should be. I'll remeasure it a few times and correct it. Sorry about that:(.
After adding more milk my oladi turned out fine. They were very tasty and my family loved the taste of it. Its the best oladi recipe I've ever try so far. Thank you for sharing with us ヅ
I had exactly the same problems as Anya did, only I made half if the recipe and used 1 cup milk and 2 cups of flour, and it was very thick, like bulochki dough or something, so I ended up adding another 1/2 cup or even 2/3 cup of milk and they turned out great!! I also added apples cuz I LOVE oladi with apples, and they turned out FANTASTIC!! :))) Thanx so much Olga!! :))
Olichka,
Can I use home made kefir instead of milk for oladi?
And do you have to use yeast?
thank you
Victoria,
For this recipe I always use milk and yeast is definitely necessary. If you are thinking of buttermilk pancakes made with baking powder/baking soda, try out this recipe, Buttermilk Pancakes.
Olichka,
On these oladi. Can I use home made kefir instead of milk? And do you have to use yeast?
Thanks
I have my eye on these for tomorrow! I've made oladi before with buttermilk but since I'm out, I'll try this recipe. They look so delicious!
I made these for breakfast today too:). Brought me back memories of my Mom's kitchen.
I have been eyeing these oladi for a while now but have not had a chance to make them yet, since they need some time to rise. I do not wake up hours earlier than the rest of the family (like a good housewife should:)) but this morning is different: I seem to be suffering from a little case of insomnia and these oladi keep calling my name. I know I will love these, hopefully not too much, though, for my sake, otherwise I will never get any sleep;)
God bless you Olga!
Ha ha, Marina,
Your comment just made me laugh so hard! I don't wake up hours earlier than my husband either, in fact, he usually wakes up earlier. I usually make these oladi on the weekend, when we're not in a hurry anywhere. Enjoy the breakfast:).
I am glad to know that I'm not the only "perfect" housewife out there:)
About the oladi, they are definitely going into my recipe book, my kids and my husband enjoyed them with sweet sour cream but I enjoyed them the most;) I made half a batch and it was more than enough for four. Thank you for sharing your talent with us, I know it takes lots of time to make up these tutorials, I really appreciate your hard work!
Hello again, I have a question. Do you have a good recipe for gingersnap cookies or gingerbread men. Like soft texture? Because around this time or year I really want to bake up something that will taste and smell like Christmas and winter:)
Sorry, Diana, I've never made gingersnap cookies or gingerbread men.I make a lot of different cookies for Christmas too:).
THANK YOU!!! :)))
Olya privet, just wanted to say that you do an awesome job!!
Thank you, Olita!
Hi Olga!!
Thank you for this recipe. I made Oladi this morning and loved the way they came out. We loved them with strawberry jam. Your recipe is the easiest and the best. Thank you:-)
Thank you Olga! I'm glad that I get to share the recipes that I love with others so they can enjoy them too. I grew up eating these Oladi:).
The drops from the spoon don't cause oil splatter? We recently made ponchiki (zeppoli) and I had a hard time getting off the spoon and into the oil. So this would be great, I am just concerned about having oil fireworks because of the water. Great tips on the blanket and keeping the dough fluffy. Now it makes perfect sense why ponchiki were so dense, we mixed the dough right before frying it.
I didn't have any problems with it at all. Of course don't use a spoon that's dripping wet. Besides, when you dip the spoon into the dough, that will take care of most of the water droplets.
Wow, they look very delicious! Thanks for the tip on dipping spoon into water for less messier oladi.... I will surely have to try that!:)
Olya, I am so making these! They look really yummy! You're a genius- your tip about warm blanket to help dough rise. Thank you!!!!!!! Last week, I was trying to make dinner rolls and I am not kidding you, it took an entire day and they did not turn our good at all. I was frustrated beyond words and started doubting my abilities to work with yeast. But with your encouragement, I am going to try again. Thank you!!!!!
You're welcome, Tanya. Using a warm blanket really speeds up the process and the dough turns out perfectly soft and bubbly.