Lívance

Ingredients

• 250 g plain flour
• 7 g dried yeast
• 300 ml lukewarm milk
• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• zest of half a lemon, finely grated
• 40 g butter, for frying
• 150 g povidla or thick plum butter
• 200 g tvaroh or dry curd cheese
• 2 tbsp icing sugar, plus extra to finish
• 2 tbsp ground poppy seeds

Before you cook

• Separate the eggs into two clean bowls.
• Grate the zest from half a lemon.
• Beat the curd cheese with two tablespoons of icing sugar until smooth and set it aside.
• Loosen the plum butter with two tablespoons of hot water so it pours.

Steps

1. Whisk the yeast and one tablespoon of the sugar into the lukewarm milk and leave it for 10 minutes, until the surface froths.
2. Beat the flour, the egg yolks, the salt, the remaining sugar and the lemon zest into the yeasted milk until you have a smooth batter the thickness of double cream.
3. Cover the bowl and leave it somewhere warm for 30 minutes, until the batter has doubled and looks bubbly.
4. Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl to soft peaks.
5. Fold the whites through the risen batter in two additions, keeping as much air in as you can.
6. Melt a knob of the butter in a heavy frying pan over medium-low heat.
7. Drop tablespoons of batter into the pan, spacing them well apart, and let them spread to about 7 cm across.
8. Fry the pancakes for 90 seconds, until the tops are set and pocked with holes and the undersides are deep gold.
9. Flip each pancake and fry for a further 45 seconds.
10. Move the pancakes to a warm plate and repeat with the rest of the batter, adding more butter each time.
11. Stack the lívance on four plates, spoon over the loosened plum butter and add a heap of the sweetened curd cheese.
12. Dust with ground poppy seeds and icing sugar, then serve hot.