Smoked Salmon Blinis

What is a blinis? It's a mini pancake made with some buckwheat flour and used as a base for a fancy appetizer. Blinis made with yeast or a quick yeast and buckwheat flour are a more authentic Russian type of blinis. I decided to experiment. Before you get intimidated, just think of these as fancy pancakes. See, not so bad. To be truthful, these first blinis were tasty, but I think my blinis are not small or round enough and are too brown (no they weren't burnt, but close). Read further to learn more.

Blinis:

2/3 cup of gluten free flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour (gluten free)
1 package of quick yeast
1 tbs white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warmed milk

Mix dry ingredients in bowl, add warmed milk, whisk till smooth, then cover, place in a warm place out of drafts to rise for one hour. I've just come back and dough is all bubbly and puffy, thankfully as it should be.

2 tbs butter, melted
1egg, separated

Add 2 tbs melted butter then egg yolks to risen flour mixture and stir to incorproate. Set aside for 20 minutes to rest. Beat egg white till stiff but not dry. Gentley fold beaten egg whites into blini mixture. Let mixture sit a bit to rest.

Heat a heavy bottomed pan or crepe pan and add some of the melted butter. Drop blinis mixture by tablespoon fulls into the warmed buttered pan. Wait till blinis start to bubble around the edges, then flip over to cook the other side. Watch closely.

Cook the blinis in batches not crowding them till batter is used up.

Once the blinis are cooked and cool, I added a dollop of cream cheese mixture. For the cream cheese mixture, I softened it and then added dried chives and dill to it. Then I added a roll of smoked salmon next to the cheese dollop and a garnish of fresh dill.

Blinis can be pre-cooked and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, which is what I did. I don't think my blinis rose enough to justify the use of a quick yeast. More research is needed.

I want my blinis more bite sized and uniform in shape, so I'll keep experimenting. If you don't want blinis you can eat them as pancakes. Stay tuned for more fancy smancy blinis coming soon.