Sourdough Einkorn Crepes

These crepes, called blinys, are a traditional Russian dish that every single family eats on regular basis. There is a holiday called Maslenitsa during which blinys are served and eaten in enormous quantities. Maslenitsa is a celebration of the end of winter, and these crepes symbolize a warming sun. It’s the week right before the Great Lent, which lasts 40 days, when most animal products have to be avoided so eating these with different kinds of stuffing and toppings is a real treat before the long fast.

These days folks don’t really take time to cook them with the sourdough starter, but in the past it was a standard practice. I buy 10 pound bags of organic Einkorn wheat berries from Jovial Foods, and use this grain mill (motor is sold separately) which I just adore. When you mill your own grains – the taste is so much better than of any flour I tried before – it has no bitterness whatsoever, and this light crisp freshness. Unprocessed whole grain flour is tricky in a lot of recipes but it works perfectly for crepes. Natural leavening makes the vitamins in the flour readily available for easy digestion. Read here about why fermentation is so good for you.

I feel better about using raw milk for the fermentation period, when it sits out, because it contains enzymes that prevent it from going bad. If you leave raw milk on the counter overnight – it’ll turn into a delicious yogurty drink similar to buttermilk. But if you leave pasteurized milk out – it will go bad and stink. The only exception is making kefir, because kefir grains are powerful enough to produce lactic acid very quickly, preventing milk spoilage. Everything that makes milk good for your health gets destroyed with pasteurization.

Some folks eat blinys plain, just roll them up, or stuff them with sweetened farmers cheese, or ground beef with onions, or salmon souffle, or caviar, or anything and everything that comes to mind. A couple of weeks ago my husband rolled leftover goulash into a crepe and loved it. I added the directions for sweetened farmers cheese (tvorog), but it’s completely optional. Here is how I make tvorog at home.

INGREDIENTS FOR SOURDOUGH EINKORN CREPES

• 1/2 cup active sourdough starter (I use rye starter, here is how I make it)
• 1 cup raw grass fed milk
• 2 cups freshly ground Einkorn flour
• 3 pastured eggs at room temperature
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup (optional)
• 1/4 cup grass fed sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• Ghee for oiling pan (how to make ghee)

FILLING INGREDIENTS (OPTIONAL)

• 8 ounces of farmers cheese (how to make farmers cheese)
• 1 pastured egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla syrup
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 cup raisins (optional)

EQUIPMENT:
Glass mixing bowl with airtight cover
Large spoon for mixing
10 inch frying pan
Soup ladle

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix sourdough starter, milk and flour in a big bowl. Cover, let stand for 6-8 hours but no longer than 12. I noticed that lactobacteria really like einkorn, and it sours a lot faster than regular wheat flour. The dough will rise quite a bit that’s why you want a big bowl.

After fermentation is done, whip eggs, add melted butter and mix until butter is fully incorporated. It’s better to use room temperature eggs because when butter comes in contact with cold eggs it starts to solidify.

Add flour mixture to the egg mixture. Add maple syrup if using, sour cream, vanilla and salt. Mix everything well. The dough should be very runny.

Preheat a 10 inch pan and oil it with ghee. Pour the dough onto the pan using a soup ladle.

Holding the handle, swish the pan around to spread the dough, and keep moving it to distribute the dough toward the edges, kind of like this:

Cook for a few minutes until the edges begin to brown a little. Flip like you would flip an omelet. Cook for a few more minutes until your crepe looks like this:

Repeat the process with the remaining dough. I got about 15 crepes out of this recipe but it can vary depending how thin or thick you make them. Stack the crepes on top of each other, they won’t stick together.

If you decide to stuff them, mix farmers cheese with egg, vanilla and maple syrup in a bowl, then place 1/4 cup in the middle of a crepe:

Fold the sides to make a pocket:

Then put all the pockets in a skillet and heat on low for the filling to get warm and outside to get a little crispy:

Or roll them:

We had some blueberry sauce that my mother-in-law Jackie made a few days ago so we poured it over everything and it was delicious!

Sourdough Einkorn Crepes

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