Leavened Blinì

Blinis are small pancakes, typical of Russian and Ukraine cookery.

They are similar to crêpes but smaller, more similar usual pancakes.

I tasted them for the first time in Paris was in the russian restaurant , "À la Ville de Petrograd" in Daru street. This restaurant recently have changed management.

From that time I have tried to reproduce them and at last I had success.

Ingredients: 500g plain flour, 30gr baking yeast, 1 Tsp sugar, 1 egg, 50g butter, 250g yoghurt.

Dissolve the yeast in a glass of lukewarm water and add it to the flour, mixing in a bowl. Combine with it yogurt and sugar, melted butter and finally the egg .

How to cook red meat

This video from youtube is really well done, complete and clear.
It is in French but I think that no one will have trouble understanding.

Good cooking meat is measured by its firmness.

To help us to measure it well, we need the of our hand, as you can see in the video.

• Near Raw: join the thumb and forefinger, the muscle of your thumb will have the same firmness that must have meat with this cooking 
• Rare: join the thumb and middle finger 
• Medium: join the thumb and ring finger 
• Well done: join the thumb and little finger

Pâte Brisé e Pasta Frolla

I put toghether these two preparations because they are similar.

They are, however, both of ancient Arabic origin.
 
They share three important characteristics.

• The content of butter is always half the weight of flour. 
• The protein content must be low, so if possible, choose a low-protein flour that is different from the flour to make bread (so don't use Manitoba) and use only few egg whites. 
• Kneading should be very short in order to limit the formation of gluten. Do it only with your finger tips, as much as possible, to avoid to warm ingredients with the hand palm. 

Pâte Brisé

The dough Brisé is widely used in France not only for savory preparations but also for the sweet ones, such as Tarte Tatin 

The components are: flour, butter and eggs, proportions, two parts flour, one part butter, the yolk of an egg each 250g of flour and a pinch of salt.

Cut butter into cubes and let it soften at room temperature out of the refrigerator.
Then mix it with the flour very quickly, preferably using just your fingers so as not to heat the pasta.
Then add egg yolks and let the dough to rest in a cool place before use.
There also exists a version without egg.

Pasta Frolla (Shortcrust Pastry) 

We can say that this kind of dough is the queen of Italian tart dough, it is a cross between a pâte brise and a pâte sablée full of eggs. In Italy it is an traditional preparation and there are however several version of it, slightly different in doses.

This dough is great also for cookies and tea pastries.

Here are the proportions I prefer: 500gr flour, 200gr butter, 200gr sugar, 4 eggs (including 2 and 2 yolks).

These doses are enough for a nice amount of pastry which, if not completely used, you can store in the freezer wrapped in a transparent plastic film.
Knead quickly flour, sugar, butter (very softened), whole eggs and egg yolks, preferably by hand and only with the your finger tip to not heat the mixture with the temperature of your hand.

Kneading by hand or by a mixer, what you will get is always a cluster of small portions of dough that you'll shrink with hands.
In this case however, knead for a short time and at intervals to avoid that the preparation will warm. Make a ball and put it to rest in a cool place wrapped in plastic wrap.

Here are some photos of the various steps:
Here it is! There took more than 5 minutes. I wrapped in transparent film and is ready to be put to rest in the refrigerator. The rest is good but if you hurry you can also use it right away .

Small pieces of butter and flour

I recommend that you cut the butter while it is still solid, just taken from the refrigerator, and add it to the flour as in the picture and then let it soften.

Tthe dough when you begin to kead it

You feel impossible to get a homogeneous mixture but do not despair !
Add the eggs and butter that you can rely on is melting and you will see that in a few minutes , just by applying a slight pressure of the hands will come to get what they want.

Aggiungete le uova ed affidatevi al burro che si sta sciogliendo e vedrete che in pochissimi minuti, soltanto applicando una lieve pressione delle mani arriverete ad ottenere quello che desiderate.

Here it is!
I tooks no more than 5 minutes.

I wrapped in transparent film and is ready to be put to rest in the refrigerator.
The rest is good but if you hurry you can also use it right away .

The problem with the pastry is often to pull a thin sheet without losing time.

Here's how to do it .
Remove from refrigerator and slice it, because slices will soften quickly the whole piece.

To roll out, place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and it's  done.
What you see is my rolling pin.
It 's very thin and looks like a broom handle, but it is not. The type that is used in Greece to spread the sheets of pasta Phillo .