Rice Flour Blini Recipes

Steps:

• Stir together yeast, 1/4 cup milk, and sugar in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved, then let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. (If yeast doesn't foam, discard and start over.) Add 1 1/4 cups milk and rice flour, whisking until smooth. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sponge rise in a warm place until bubbly, about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, whisk together yolks, sour cream, 2 tablespoons butter, and remaining cup milk in a bowl.
• Whisk yolk mixture into bubbly sponge, then add all-purpose flour and sea salt, whisking until smooth. Stir in chives.
• Beat egg whites in a bowl with an electric mixer until they just hold stiff peaks, then fold into batter. Let stand 30 minutes.
• Put a buttered large baking sheet in oven and preheat oven to 200°F.
• Brush some of remaining butter onto bottom of a 10-inch nonstick skillet and heat over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Add 1 cup batter and cook until underside is lightly browned and surface is covered with holes, about 2 minutes. Turn over with a wide spatula and cook until golden on bottom and puffed, about 1 minute more. Brush top with some melted butter, then transfer to buttered baking sheet. Cover loosely with foil and keep warm in middle of oven. Make 5 more blini in same manner (you'll have 2 extra), stacking them on baking sheet in 2 piles with sheets of foil between blini.

Steps:

• Mix yeast and sugar in small bowl. Heat 1/2 cup milk to 110 degrees and mix with yeast. Set aside for about 5 minutes until the yeast mixture becomes bubbly.
• In large bowl, mix flours and salt. Whisk in eggs, remaining milk and yeast mixture. Stir in butter. Cover and set aside 1 hour.
• Place large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Drop scant tablespoons of batter in skillet to form pancakes 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter. When blini begin to look dry around edges, about 30 seconds, turn, cook second side briefly and remove. Repeat until all batter is used. Blini can be kept warm in a 200-degree oven, or reheated before serving topped with cream and salmon caviar, if desired.

Steps:

• In large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in 1 cup milk. Stir in 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and let stand until bubbly, about 10 minutes.
• Combine remaining all-purpose flour, the buckwheat flour and salt. Add 2 cups milk to the yeast mixture and gradually whisk in flour-salt mixture until you have a smooth, thick batter. Whisk in melted butter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Leave at room temperature and let batter slowly double in size, about 2 to 3 hours. (The batter may remain at room temperature even longer if necessary.) You may also mix batter and refrigerate overnight. Bring to room temperature before proceeding with recipe.
• When you are ready to cook blini, stir down batter, which will have become quite frothy. Beat egg yolks and whisk into batter. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Gently fold egg whites into batter.
• Spoon batter onto a hot, lightly greased griddle, using a large soup spoon to make blini that are 3 inches in diameter. Cook for about 2 minutes, until bottom is well browned. Flip and cook 1 minute more. (Wait until surface is covered in bubbles before flipping.) Keep warm in a low oven. Serve with a dollop of crème fraîche, a drizzle of butter, a generous spoonful of caviar and a sprinkling of chives.