Baghrir, Thousand-Hole Pancakes

📝 Ingredients

• 200 g fine semolina
• 50 g plain flour
• 1 sachet dried yeast (5 g)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 500 ml lukewarm water
• 30 g unsalted butter
• 60 g honey
• 400 g plain 0% skyr

🍴 Utensils

• Blender
• Mixing bowl
• Clean tea towel
• Non-stick frying pan (18 to 20 cm)
• Ladle
• Small saucepan

📖 Steps

1. Put the fine semolina, flour, sugar, salt and yeast into a blender jug. Add the lukewarm water, at 37 to 40 °C (pleasant to the touch, not hot): water that's too hot would kill the yeast and the holes wouldn't form.
2. Blend for 2 to 3 min on full speed until you have a very smooth, runny, slightly foamy batter, a little thicker than crêpe batter. This long blending is essential: it refines the semolina and incorporates air.
3. Add the baking powder and blend for another 20 seconds. Pour the batter into a mixing bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to rest for 30 min at room temperature: the surface should become covered in small bubbles.
4. Heat an 18 to 20 cm non-stick frying pan over a medium heat, with no fat. Gently stir the batter, then pour a small ladleful (about 60 ml) into the centre of the pan: it spreads by itself into a thick pancake about 14 cm across.
5. Cook on one side only for 2 to 3 min, never flipping: holes appear all over the surface, and the pancake is done when the top is no longer shiny or sticky. If there are no holes, the pan is too cold; if the underside browns quickly, it's too hot.
6. Lay each baghrir flat on a clean tea towel, without stacking them while they're hot, or they'll stick together. Carry on with the rest of the batter, stirring it before each ladleful: you'll get about 12 pancakes.
7. Melt the butter with the honey in a small saucepan over a low heat, stirring, just until the mixture is liquid and smooth. Don't let it boil, or the honey will caramelise.
8. Serve 3 baghrir per person, holey side up, drizzled with the warm honey butter so it seeps into every hole. Serve with a bowl of plain skyr per person for protein.