Yeast Pancakes – Oladi

Try these yeast pancakes that are so airy and fluffy, full of nooks and crannies. We love them served with a sweet sour cream and jam or fresh berries.

Yeast pancakes, Oladi, as we called them in Belarus, always bring me back to my childhood. My Mom would make a huge batch for breakfast and serve them with a sweet sour cream sauce, jam or fresh fruit. When fresh berries were in season, she would puree the berries with sugar, which kept the fresh taste of the fruit perfectly.

Oladi are an essential part of the traditional Russian kitchen. There are two types of Russian pancakes, blini and oladi. Blini are typically thin, like crepes, and oladi are thick, puffy pancakes. Thin crepes were always really popular too, with both sweet fillings, Cheese Blintzes, as well as savory – Chicken Mushroom Crepes.

Light as a feather, they are delightfully golden on the outside. The fluffy yeast dough sort of reminds me of yeast doughnuts, since they are also made from a yeast dough. The combination of the tart sour cream and the sweet jam with the pancakes is such a unique and delicious combination.

Ingredients

  • warm milk(105-110 degrees)
  • active dry yeast
  • all purpose flour
  • granulated sugar
  • eggs
  • oil (I use avocado oil)
  • salt
  • Sour Cream Sauce: sour cream + powdered sugar
  • jam, optional, for serving
Ingredients For Yeast Pancakes

How to make Yeast Pancakes

This recipe makes a a large batch, if you have a small family, half a batch is more than enough.

  1. Make the yeast mixture.
    • In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast, sugar and flour in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until the dough doubles, 30-50 minutes.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, the add the salt and oil. Mix until evenly incorporated.
  3. When the dough has doubled in size, add the egg mixture. Mix until thoroughly incorporated. Cover and repeat rising time, once again until the dough doubles, another 30 minutes or so.
  4. Cook the pancakes.
    • Heat a few Tablespoons of oil in a nonstick skillet on medium heat.
    • Gently scoop out the dough, trying not to deflate the dough. Cook the pancakes on medium heat until golden brown on both sides.
    • Drain the cooked pancakes on a paper towel lined plate.
How to make yeast pancakes
How to cook yeast pancakes

Serving Yeast Pancakes (Oladi)

Oladi are delicious with sour cream and jam. We also love them with any kind of fresh berries when they are in season.

You can also make a very easy sour cream dipping sauce by adding some powdered sugar (or maple syrup or honey) to sour cream or Greek yogurt.

The way that my Mom always served these oladi was to make a double portion of the sour cream “sauce” and then dip each of the pancakes in it. Completely cover the pancakes in the sweetened sour cream, then layer all of these pancakes in a large bowl, on top of each other. The pancakes absorb the sour cream and become unbelievable tender and soft. They are such a treat!

Yeast pancakes on the inside. So fluffy and airy. Oladi
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Yeast Pancakes (Oladi)

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5 from 1 review

These yeast pancakes that are so airy and fluffy, full of nooks and crannies. We love them served with a sweet sour cream and jam or fresh berries.

  • Author: Olga’s Flavor Factory
  • Prep Time: 1 hour 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour 35 mins
  • Yield: 25–30 oladi 1x
  • Category: Breakfast

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 cups of milk, warm (105–110 degrees)
  • 1/2 Tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 3 1/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 4 Tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 4 Tablespoons oil for the dough, plus more for pan frying (I like avocado oil)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • sour cream + powdered sugar, for serving
  • jam, fresh berries, for serving

Instructions

  1. Mix the milk, yeast, sugar and flour in a large bowl with a wooden spoon.
  2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until the dough doubles, 30-50 minutes.
  3. When the dough has doubled in size, add the eggs, oil and salt. Mix until thoroughly incorporated.
  4. Cover and repeat rising time, once again until the dough doubles.
  5. Heat a few Tablespoons of oil in a nonstick skillet on medium heat.
  6. Since the dough is VERY sticky, the dough sticks to the spoon mercilessly and you will have a mess on your hands. Fill a mug with water, and dunk your spoon in the water EVERY time you get more dough. Gently scoop the dough, trying not to deflate it as much as possible. The dough doesn’t stick to the spoon and effortlessly slides right off and into the skillet.
  7. Cook, until golden on both sides.
  8. Drain on a paper towel. Enjoy with sour cream, jam, berries, etc. 
  9. One of my favorite variations from my mom are oladi in sweet sour cream. Whisk up sour cream with sugar and vanilla and dunk each pancake in the sour cream. Layer all the oladi in a bowl and the sweet sour cream will seep in to the oladi, making them even more tender and juicy.

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This is an updated version of the Oladi recipe that was published originally on June 18, 2012. The recipe is the same; I updated the photos, added a video and clarified the instructions.

63 Comments

  • Tanya

    Olya, I am so making these! They look really yummy! You’re a genius- your tip about warm blanket to help dough rise. Thank you!!!!!!! Last week, I was trying to make dinner rolls and I am not kidding you, it took an entire day and they did not turn our good at all. I was frustrated beyond words and started doubting my abilities to work with yeast. But with your encouragement, I am going to try again. Thank you!!!!!

    • olgak7

      You’re welcome, Tanya. Using a warm blanket really speeds up the process and the dough turns out perfectly soft and bubbly.

  • Lena

    Wow, they look very delicious! Thanks for the tip on dipping spoon into water for less messier oladi…. I will surely have to try that!:)

  • Nelya

    The drops from the spoon don’t cause oil splatter? We recently made ponchiki (zeppoli) and I had a hard time getting off the spoon and into the oil. So this would be great, I am just concerned about having oil fireworks because of the water. Great tips on the blanket and keeping the dough fluffy. Now it makes perfect sense why ponchiki were so dense, we mixed the dough right before frying it.

    • olgak7

      I didn’t have any problems with it at all. Of course don’t use a spoon that’s dripping wet. Besides, when you dip the spoon into the dough, that will take care of most of the water droplets.

  • olga

    Hi Olga!!
    Thank you for this recipe. I made Oladi this morning and loved the way they came out. We loved them with strawberry jam. Your recipe is the easiest and the best. Thank you:-)

  • Diana

    Hello again, I have a question. Do you have a good recipe for gingersnap cookies or gingerbread men. Like soft texture? Because around this time or year I really want to bake up something that will taste and smell like Christmas and winter:)

  • Marina

    I have been eyeing these oladi for a while now but have not had a chance to make them yet, since they need some time to rise. I do not wake up hours earlier than the rest of the family (like a good housewife should:)) but this morning is different: I seem to be suffering from a little case of insomnia and these oladi keep calling my name. I know I will love these, hopefully not too much, though, for my sake, otherwise I will never get any sleep;)
    God bless you Olga!

    • olgak7

      Ha ha, Marina,
      Your comment just made me laugh so hard! I don’t wake up hours earlier than my husband either, in fact, he usually wakes up earlier. I usually make these oladi on the weekend, when we’re not in a hurry anywhere. Enjoy the breakfast:).

      • Marina

        I am glad to know that I’m not the only “perfect” housewife out there:)
        About the oladi, they are definitely going into my recipe book, my kids and my husband enjoyed them with sweet sour cream but I enjoyed them the most;) I made half a batch and it was more than enough for four. Thank you for sharing your talent with us, I know it takes lots of time to make up these tutorials, I really appreciate your hard work!

  • Olga

    I have my eye on these for tomorrow! I’ve made oladi before with buttermilk but since I’m out, I’ll try this recipe. They look so delicious!

  • Anya V.

    Olya I am trying to do oladi by ur recipe right now . When I added 2 cup of milk, yeast and 4 1/2 cup of flour it looked like there was not enough milk! My dough was almost dry and I couldn’t put it together. I had to add 1 extra cup of milk in order for me to mix the dough. Did I do something wrong? I put everything as it says on your recipe. I’m not sure how thick the dough supposed to to be but I’m not giving up lol. I’m still waiting for testo to rise up I hope it all turns out still yummy 🙂 …What is your advice for me?

    • olgak7

      You’re right, it probably was too much flour, Anya V. I was measuring it by weight, so sometimes if you use the cup instead of the scale, the flour is packed in more than it should be. I’ll remeasure it a few times and correct it. Sorry about that:(.

      • Anya V.

        After adding more milk my oladi turned out fine. They were very tasty and my family loved the taste of it. Its the best oladi recipe I’ve ever try so far. Thank you for sharing with us ヅ

      • Mariya

        I had exactly the same problems as Anya did, only I made half if the recipe and used 1 cup milk and 2 cups of flour, and it was very thick, like bulochki dough or something, so I ended up adding another 1/2 cup or even 2/3 cup of milk and they turned out great!! I also added apples cuz I LOVE oladi with apples, and they turned out FANTASTIC!! :))) Thanx so much Olga!! :))

  • Mariana

    Hello Olga, I’m making your recipe right now and yes, like in other commit there is way too much flour, please correct the recipe.
    Thank you!!!!

  • Mariana

    Hi Olga, I’m sorry, something wasn’t right, I spent more then 4 hrs in this recipe and they came out wrong, nothing like in the picture. MY first mistake was replacing 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of kefir also in the first rising I suppose to add the flour(which by the way 4 cups were too much), milk and yeast, and i added the sugar by mistake, i let it rise in the warm oven over 45 min and it rises very little, after that i added the rest of the ingredients and left to rise again but it didn’t rise, i used Fleischmann’s rapid rise highly active yeast, but it didnt rise as suppose too, I don’t know if was the sugar or the kefir that didn’t let it rise. They came out very flat and chewy. I was so frustrated that didn’t came out right after spending so much time into it.
    Thank you.

  • Svetlana C

    I hadn’t had these since I was a kid and decided to make them for breakfast today. I modified your recipe and used half the sugar and out of the 3 1/2 cups of flour, 2 were whole wheat. I needed a bit more yeast because WW flour is heavier, but in the end, they were absolutely delicious. We served them with cottage cheese and apple sauce. Thanks!

  • Mariya

    Olichka, just an FYI: the “printable version” of the recipe still calls for 4 cups of flour, NOT 3.5 cups of flour, so plz change it whenever u get a minute, for the ppl who will be printing the recipe 🙂 Thanks dear, and God bless you for all the hard work you are doing!! :))

  • Vera

    I just made these and they were the best Oladi that I have ever made!!!
    They were soooo FLUFFY!!!! And delicious!
    I wished I had condensed milk to dip them like we did when I was younger. 😉

  • Alina

    Hi Olga! I’m glad I stopped by to your website! You have amazing recipes to look into! I used some of your recipes to make something it turned out great and it was delicious!

  • Olga

    I’ve just finished making these. My husband said: “What ever you do – Don’t EVER forget how to make these!”
    God bless!

    Family of blessed 4*

  • Inga

    Thank you for the recipe! I have already tried to bake these several times before but always unsuccessfully. Your recipe is perfect 🙂

  • blueberry

    Hi Olga! I can’t believe I spent half of the night reading your blog!!! 🙂 (not for the first time by the way…) I really hope I will be able to get up in couple of hours and make these delicious oladi!!! Can’t wait to try them!!!

      • blueberry

        Yes, I did! My husband asked me to make some more already 🙂 I wish they take less time preparing them… Its really hard for me to get up in the morning 🙂
        Thanks for the recipe!

  • Annilyn

    This was a wonderful recipe! I’ve been trying for years to recreate the delicious oladi my host mom in Ukraine used to make and I had always been disappointed until I tried this recipe this morning. Thank you! I look forward to making more of your recipes.

  • Yelena

    Olga thank you for this recipe. Heard about your website from many people but just found it yesterday. I am glad I did. I am eating the Oladi now and they are amazing. I added blueberries as well and it is delicious. Do you know if I could prep this the night before and put in the fridge and make in the morning?

    • olgak7

      Thank you so much for stopping by, Yelena. A big “thank you” to whoever told you about my blog. I really appreciate it.
      I’ve never tried making the batter the night before, but you can try it out, as long as you refrigerate it. It might taste a little too “yeasty”, but it could also work great. I know there are many recipes for yeasted overnight waffles. Let me know if you experiment. I’ll have to try it myself at some point too.

  • Elina

    Hi Olga, I don’t know if this question was already answered but what if I prep the dough before bed and make the oladi in the morning. Would they still turn out?

    • olgak7

      Hi Julia!
      I haven’t tried doing this myself, so I can’t say for sure how well it will work. You could definitely give it a try. The only thing that might be a problem is that the Oldi will taste a bit too “yeasty”, but they just might work well too:). I’ve actually always wanted to try this. Let me know how it works out if you do try it. That would be such a great option.

  • Liana Ilyuk

    This is a very interesting recipe and I was hoping to find something that reminded me of my mammas oladi but either I did something incorrectly or they are supposed to taste like it but they tasted almost like the belyashi/peroshki dough and just a bit bland. With honey they were pretty good but I do think I did something wrong in the recipe as the dough did not quite turn out to look like it does in the pictures. The egg mixture was hard to mix into the dough and it took at least five minutes of mixing to get it somewhat incorporated. I did add the yeast into the milk before I added it into the flour, would that make a difference in how they would turn out? They did turn out super fluffy though! Like very very fluffy, hence why they reminded me of peroshki.

    • olgak7

      I’m sorry they didn’t meet your expectations. I’m not sure what you were hoping they would taste like, Liana. These are the yeast Oladi that I am familiar with. There are other types, that are made with buttermilk and baking soda/powder, but that is a completely different recipe.
      I hope you find the Oladi recipe that you will love.

  • Anu

    Made these and they were fantastic!! Thanks for a keeper recipe! And my kids loved the sweet sour cream! Love your blog and all your Russian recipes!

  • Olesya

    Hi Olichka! I made your oladi today, turned out so puffy and soft and so delicious, really good with honey! I was wondering if i can make the dough the night before and leave it in the fridge to rise so i can cook them in the morning, what do you think will that work? Thank you

    • olgak7

      Hi Olesya.
      I’m so glad you enjoyed the oladi. I haven’t tried making the dough the night before, so I’m not sure how well it will work. If you try it, I’d love to hear your results.

  • Olesya

    Hi Olichka! I made your oladi today and they turned out so perfect, puffy and delicious, so good with honey! I was wondering if i can make the dough at night and leave it in the fridge to slowly rise so i can cook them in the morning, what do you think will that work? Thank you!

  • Mitha Nasimova

    Seen Olga’s instagram story when I woke up and immediately I was intrigued by the story. She’s making Oladi for breakfast 😍 I quickly jumped into the link she’s provided and I’m glad I did because OMG *lost for words* Such an easy recipe to follow and the first bite successfully made me close my eyes and smiling and scream inside my heart! Thank u for this recipe! You are a legend! Y’all should try her recipe! (Make sure follow the recipe closely)

  • sara

    I’m so excited to find this recipe! Most oladi recipes I see use baking powder instead of yeast and these are so much better! We had them with our favorite jam this morning but I think next time I will add apples and cinnamon and maybe sometime later add these and chives and maybe even bacon for a savory twist. This is a phenomenal recipe, the dough fluffed up perfectly and it was so easy to make. I’ll be making these all the time now!



    • olgak7

      Thank you so much for taking the time to write, Sara. I’m so glad you enjoyed the Oladi – we love the yeast so much better too.
      Apples and cinnamon sounds like a wonderful addition.

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