Monday, April 16, 2007

Russian Apple Pancakes 2

I must have been really out of it last night, because I totally forgot to post the recipe! Here it is:

Russian Apple Pancake (makes one large apple-filled, carmelized pancake. Serves 2 for breakfast, or 3 for dessert)

(from HomeBaking)

Please note that the dough will be very think. It shouldn't be as thick as bread dough, but it will be noticeably thicker than normal, un-yeasted pancake batter.

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon vanilla soy milk
1/4 tsp dry yeast
3/4 cup flour: I use half whole wheat, half white
2 tablespoons sugar
Mix the above ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir for one minute, cover, and let sit for 30 minutes to 2 hours.

When ready to proceed, stir in:
2 tablespoons vanilla soy milk (sometimes needs a tiny bit more)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tblsp melted 'butter'

Let the dough stand for 6 to 8 hours. When ready to proceed you will need:
1 large or 2 small, tart apple cut into 1/4'' slices (not thicker but not thinner, or else they will burn to a crisp...read my previous post!)
2 tsp sugar
Generous amounts of cinnamon sugar
1 tbsp butter

Turn the broiler on. Melt the butter in a 8-9" heavy-bottomed, oven-proof skillet over medium high. Toss the apples in a stir a few times to get the slices coated in the butter, then spread evenly over the bottom of the skillet and sprinkle with the sugar. The apples should completely cover the bottom of the pan, because if the sugar gets on the bottom, it will burn. Turn the heat to medium-low, and evenly spread the dough over the apples. Cook until the top of the pancake has turned from looking wet and shiney to dull and spongy. This will take 8-10 minutes. Be patient. Run a knife around the edges of the pan a few times to keep them from sticking. When the top no longer looks wet, sprinkle with generous amounts of cinnamon sugar and pop the skillet under the broiler for 2 minutes, or until the sugar on top melts in. Flip the pancake out onto a plate (the apple side will be on top). You have to do this immediately, or else the carmelized sugar on the bottom of the pan will make all the apples stick to the bottom of the skillet, but be very, very careful because the skillet will be extremely hot.

Enjoy!

Also, I have a burning question: what does nutritional yeast taste like? I want to make some recipes that call for it (seitan pepperoni, "cheese", etc.), but when I went to buy it, I opened up the bin to scoop some out and it smelled so disgusting and yeasty in a horrible way that I felt sick!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh no! Nutritional yeast is so good--don't be turned off! It tastes "cheesy," which is why it is in all of the cheese recipes. The first time I had it I just tasted it on my finger and I did think it tasted a bit strange. BUT, then I used it in a recipe and loved the flavor it gave. And now I love it any way--sprinkled on top of steamed veggies, in sauces, in spreads, in hummus...even plain! You must try it!

Courtney

Connie said...

oh wow. that just looks AMAZING.

but 6-8 hours of the dough sitting around? hm, you really have to know that you want this waaay ahead of time

bazu said...

This recipe sounds so good. I'll have to remember to try it next time I have apples.

As for nutritional yeast, it is definitely an acquired taste. It took me a couple of years, but I like it just fine now. I still don't like to sprinkle it on everything, but like it on pop-corn. Two recipes that you should try with nutritional yeast are: the pepperoni, and the punk rock chickpea gravy from Vegan With A Vengeance. The reason is that the nutritional yeast "disappears" into the recipe- it is not the dominant flavor, so you can trick your tastebuds into adjusting to it. Save the cheese recipes for when you have a higher tolerance. It's worth getting used to, because of all the B12 nutritional yeast has.