Buckwheat Blinis at Derby Summer Food & Craft Fair

Today we were at the Derby Summer Food & Craft Fair and what an amazing venue. The Roundhouse in Pride Park is a magnificent Grade II listed railway site where the locomotives and old carriages used to get repaired. It recently had a complete makeover as part of a £48 million pound regeneration programme.

At The School of Artisan Food stand, Joe and I prepared some tasty Buckwheat Blinis with creme fraiche strawberries & blueberries. 

The gluten free Buckwheat flour gives a distinct taste that reminds me a bit of sesame paste. It went really well with the sweetness of the blueberries, strawberries and the cool creamy finish.

Buckwheat Blinis with creme fraiche
strawberries & blueberries

So if you fancy making these at home here's the recipe:
Buckwheat Blinis
Ingredients:
70g Buckwheat Flour
70g Plain Flour
1/3tsp Baking Powder
1/3tsp Dried Yeast
175ml Warmed Milk
1 egg separated
125g butter
Toppings: Creme Fraiche, Strawberries & Blueberries


Method:
1) Prepare a pre-ferment by dissolving your dried yeast into warm milk.
2) Sift your Buckwheat, Plain Flour and Baking Powder together.
3) Add the yolk only to the milk/yeast mixture and 1tspn of melted butter.
4) Then whisk your milk/yeast/yolk mixture into the dry mixture to form a batter.
5) Next whisk your egg white until it forms stiff peaks. 
6) Then fold this into your batter mixture carefully to ensure you keep the aerated volume and whippy texture.
7) Clarify some butter by warming it up so that the white and yellow liquid separate. Keep the yellow liquid to use as a greasing agent before you drop a large teaspoon of batter into the hot pan to make your blinis.
Top with fresh fruit or a popular topping for these Russian pancakes is smoked salmon.