Polish Apple Pancakes (with yeast)

Polish apple pancakes look exactly like regular apple pancakes but the batter is leavened with yeast and not baking powder! They taste absolutely amazing – yeast adds a wonderful flavor and makes them super fluffy. They are filled with lots of apples, have crunchy golden edges, and soft plushy centers!

Polish apple pancakes

.. or in Polish: racuchy drożdżowe z jabłkami (literally translated: yeast pancakes with apples, the word pancakes can be translated either to racuchy or placki) – I challenge you to pronounce that! 🙂 it goes like this: rah-tsoo-he drosch-tsch-owee ze jah-boo-kah-mee (racuchy or placki is already plural).

They are traditionally made with yeast, although lots of recipes nowadays call just for baking powder (for convenience since you have to wait for the dough to rise) – BUT believe me – there is a HUGE difference in flavor. The yeast adds flavor and just fills your kitchen with the smell of fresh homemade yeast dough. YUM.

These pancakes are not overly sweet, they should be generously sprinkled with powdered sugar after being fried. I didn’t do this with the pancakes on the photos because if I dusted them with powdered sugar “grandma-style” you wouldn’t be able to see the pancakes at all, just the sugar 🙂

Ingredients

Here’s what you need to make Polish apple pancakes:

Apples – choose a soft apple variety, no crunchy/crispy/firm apples! I used Gala apples. Soft apple variety is important because you don’t want your pancakes with firm/crunchy apples inside.

Yeast – you can use any type of yeast in this recipe – fresh yeast, active dry yeast, or instant yeast (I tested all three types of yeast). Fresh yeast provides the best flavor. Traditionally, fresh yeast is being used – they are easily available in every grocery store. There is no active dry yeast in Poland, just instant yeast, which is also sometimes used in this recipe.

Vanilla – Polish people use rather vanilla sugar but I’ve used vanilla extract in this recipe since it’s more easily available in the US. If you have vanilla sugar (the best is with real vanilla !), add about a tablespoon instead of vanilla extract. What is vanilla sugar? It’s just regular sugar that has been infused with vanilla beans.

Cinnamon – just a touch, don’t add too much or it can overpower apple flavor.

Other ingredients (flour, milk, sugar, salt) are pretty standard for pancakes.

For frying the pancakes – you can use clarified butter or regular butter. Clarified butter is a type of butter that won’t burn as easily when frying. You can also use regular butter, but you may need to wipe the pan clean with paper towels from time to time.

Version without yeast: you can add 2 teaspoons of baking powder instead of yeast to the batter, the pancakes will turn out just fine, but they lack this ‘wow factor’ in terms of flavor and are less fluffy. I would recommend making these apple cinnamon pancakes with buttermilk instead.

How to make Polish apple pancakes step-by-step

STEP 1: Heat the 1 cup of (240g) milk until pleasantly warm to the touch (it’s best to check its temperature with a thermometer, it should be 100-110°F (38-43°C)). The milk can’t be too cold or too hot or the yeast won’t work.

STEP 2: Add milk to a medium bowl and add yeast (20g fresh yeast or 1 packet/7g instant yeast or 1 packet/7g active dry yeast), 1 Tbsp of sugar, and stir together. Set aside for 10 minutes for the yeast to bloom (they will become foamy). If there is no foam, you need to start over. Although it is not necessary for the instant yeast to be proofed (you can add it directly to the flour) I’ve found that this way the dough rises quicker and you can be sure that your yeast is working.

STEP 3: Add 2 cups (250g) flour, 2 large eggs, 3 Tbsp of sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or 1 Tbsp vanilla sugar), 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt into a large bowl.

How to correctly measure flour: I’m using the “spoon and level method” so 1 cup of flour in my recipes weighs 125g. Fluff the flour by stirring it in the bag/flour container with a spoon. Spoon the flour and sprinkle it into your measuring cup. Sweep off the excess flour with the back of a knife. Too much flour added to pancake batter will result in dry and dense pancakes. I recommend using a digital scale for perfect and consistent results.

STEP 4: Add the milk-yeast mixture.

STEP 5: Mix with an electric mixer for about 1 minute, until well combined (don’t worry about overmixing the mixture, it will have time to rest).

STEP 6: Cover the bowl with a piece of plastic foil or kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place until doubled in volume, this should take 45-70 minutes (I’m putting it in a turned-off oven with a light on). The batter will rise quicker when using fresh yeast, a little bit slower when using active dry yeast or fast-acting dry yeast, and the slowest when using instant yeast).

If you want to make the batter the day before and cook the pancakes in the morning, you can put the batter in the fridge at this point. 9 hours of raising time will be enough for the batter to double its size.

STEP 7: Peel and core 5 small/medium apples and cut them into very small cubes (small cubes are important otherwise the apples will not have enough time to cook and will be too crunchy, we want them soft).

STEP 8: Add the apples to the dough and stir until evenly distributed. Set aside for 10 minutes. If your batter was in the fridge overnight, set aside the batter for 20-30 minutes.

STEP 9: Heat about 3 tablespoons of butter in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat (you can add more or less oil, sadly, more oil = better-tasting pancakes, these pancakes are known for their crispy edges, so you need to use much more cooking fat than when cooking regular pancakes). The oil should be well-heated otherwise the pancakes will soak up fat, you should hear sizzling while adding batter to the pan.

Spoon about 1-2 heaped tablespoons of batter (1/4 cup) per pancake.

STEP 10: Cook on both sides until puffy and golden.

STEP 11: Transfer to a cooling rack lined with paper towels. Cut one pancake in half to make sure it’s cooked through in the middle (there is no raw batter). Don’t put anything on the pancakes or they won’t remain crispy.

Repeat with the remaining dough.

Dust the pancakes generously with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Storage

You can cook the pancakes, store them in the fridge for up to 3 days then reheat in a dry pan on both sides until warm. You can also reheat them in a microwave or a 320°F/160°C oven. Unfortunately, they taste best fresh.

Make the batter ahead of time: you can prepare the batter the day ahead and cook the pancakes in the morning. Prepare the batter late in the evening (about 9 PM) and then early in the morning add the apples. Set the batter aside for 20-30 minutes and cook the pancakes.

Tips for cooking all kinds of pancakes

• The pan and butter/oil must be well-heated or the pancakes will soak up the fat and be flat and dense instead of light and fluffy.
• The most important thing is to cook the pancakes over medium / medium-low heat. If you cook the pancakes over too high heat they will just burn on the outside and won’t be cooked through in the middle. Every stovetop has a different power so adjust accordingly.
• Cook the pancakes longer on the first side and just briefly on the other side.
• If the pancakes are hard to flip over, they fall apart or tear, which means they are not ready yet to be flipped over. Try to reduce the heat and cook them a little longer.
• Use a non-stick pan, the best is a pancake pan (shown on the photos) which has low rims – this makes flipping pancakes very easy. This recipe will work on any non-stick pan, though.
• Cooking time also depends on the type of the pan. The pancakes will cook a little longer on a heavy-bottomed pan and it won’t be so easy to burn them. If your pan has a thin bottom you need to reduce the heat as the pancakes will cook much quicker and it will be easier to burn them. Cooking time depends also on the material and color of the pan (black pans cook quicker).
• How to keep the pancakes warm: keep them on a heat-proof plate in the oven at 175°F (80°C).

More Polish desserts

• Sweet cheese pierogi
• Faworki recipe (Chruściki or Polish angel wings)
• Naleśniki recipe (Polish crepes with sweet cheese filling)
• Rogaliki recipe (orange walnut rugelach)
• Apple tart with meringue topping
• Fluffy sweet steamed buns with blueberry sauce
• Nut roll with chocolate 
• Polish rice with apples
• Pączki (Polish doughnuts)

Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!