Racuszki – A Kind of Pancake

A racuch – according  to my dictionary is  a kind of pancake.

Racuszki or racuchy are plural words for them- used much more as you never have just one!  They are small thick pancakes similar to dropped scones, Scotch pancakes or American style pancakes.

In my old Polish recipe book, the recipe uses soured milk, but as I do not have this, I use my own thick yoghurt instead.

Racuszki

• 1 egg
• 250ml yoghurt
• 200g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• large pinch salt.

Method

In a large bowl mix the flour, pinch of salt, the egg and some of the yoghurt, mix it with a wooden spoon. I found my new one with a hole in it which I bought in The Netherlands very good for this.

• Keep adding the yoghurt (and some water if needed) and mix till you get a batter which is thick and then beat it more till it is smooth and glossy.
• Then add the bicarbonate of soda and give this a final mix.
• Use a griddle or thick cast iron frying pan and use oil to grease it lightly and heat it up.
• You need to try and keep a low to medium heat so as not to burn the pancakes.
• Place tablespoonfuls of the batter on the frying pan and cook until the base is set and golden then turn them over and cook the other side.

They are traditionally served warm with jam or thick fruit syrup – caster sugar also goes well.

Yoghurt Cheese Pancakes

I have recently been to The Netherlands to stay with my friend and was looking at the local newspaper and saw a recipe for pancakes using qwark  (I can manage enough Dutch words to  figure out some recipes – especially if there is  a photograph!)

I thought they sounded very much like racuszki, so I jotted the recipe down and when I came home I adapted it slightly by using self raising flour, adding a little vanilla essence and used my own yoghurt cheese instead of qwark.

In the original recipe they served them warm with yoghurt & honey, I also tried them with melted butter & sugar, and with maple syrup – from the large bottle I got from my friend who lives in Canada.

They were super and ones I had left could be easily reheated and were still soft and not rubbery – I will be using this recipe lots from now on.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs separated
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 250g yoghurt cheese
• 200ml milk (you might not need it all)
• 125g self raising flour
• Pinch salt
• 2-3 drops of vanilla essence

Method

• Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff – I tend to do this first so you can use the beaters for the rest of the recipe – without having to wash them to remove the grease.
• In a large bowl mix the egg yolks, sugar, yoghurt cheese, flour, pinch of salt, vanilla essence and around half the milk.
• Keep adding more milk and mix well until you have a thick batter – like double cream.
• With a metal spoon fold in the stiff egg whites.

• Use a griddle or thick cast iron frying pan and use oil to grease it lightly and heat it up.
• You need to try and keep a low to medium heat so as not to burn the pancakes.
• Place tablespoonfuls of the batter on the frying pan and cook until the base is set and golden then turn them over and cook the other side.

Ciocia* Pola’s Apple Racuszki 

*Aunty

Many years ago I went to stay with my one of mother’s sisters (Apolonia) who lived in the area called mazury – the Masurian Lake District in North East Poland.

With apples from the garden she made  racuszki – using a thick yeast risen batter and roughly chopped apples – a cross between a pancake and a fritter. They were delicious.

I have made them here many times using her recipe. Whilst researching and checking other  variations I saw that several recipes used grated apples – these came out stodgy  with little taste of the apple – you need to keep the pieces fairly large.

Ingredients

• 125 ml of milk (full or semi-skimmed)
• 25g caster sugar and 1 teaspoon
• 10g  fresh yeast or 5g  dried yeast
• 25g  butter
• 1 egg
• 125g plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 2 Bramley apples
• *
• Icing sugar, caster sugar or cinnamon  sugar to dust.

Method

Warm half the milk and add a teaspoon of caster sugar and the yeast and mix it all together and leave it to froth up.

Melt the butter and leave it to cool.

Whisk the egg with the sugar until it is thick and creamy.

Put the flour and salt into a large bowl.

Use a wooden spoon (one with a hole works really well) and beat in the yeast mixture, the egg & sugar mixture and then the melted butter.

Slowly add the rest of the milk, mixing until the mixture has the consistency of double cream.

Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave this to rise.

Peel, core and quarter the apples and cut them into small chunks or slices cut in half.

Add the apples to the risen batter and mix them well in to coat them.

• Use a griddle or thick cast iron frying pan and use oil to grease it lightly and heat it up.
• You need to try and keep a low to medium heat so as not to burn the pancakes.
• Place large tablespoons of apple and batter onto the pan and cook them so that they are golden brown on both sides.

• Remove them from the pan and dust them with icing sugar, caster sugar or cinnamon sugar.

• Eat them whilst they are hot & as they say in Poland – Smacznego! (may they be delicious!)