My mom's katmas (or katmi, as it is in Bulgarian) - something very traditional

So to start it off, I chose something very Bulgarian and very traditional - katmi.

This is a type of pastry that originally has no filling, but you can pretty much put everything on it. Anything and everything that you like. It is neither sweet, nor salty, so you can add whatever you please and go both ways. My boyfriend loves them with jam and white cheese(here, in Bulgaria, we mostly use one type of white cheese that is typical for our country. Not sure how easy it would be to find it elsewhere, but you can substitute with Feta - it's close enough). It is often mistaken for pancakes. You might actually get sold a pancake for a katma. And here I need to clarify one more thing - our pancakes are quite different than the well known Americans - the batter that is used is different, they are wider and bigger and are very thin.

Usually they are served and offered as breakfast, but trust me when I tell you - you can eat them anytime you like - breakfast, brunch, lunch, supper, dinner or as a midnight snack. Yeah, that's right.

Here's what you're going to need for the batter:
3 large eggs
1/2 tea spoon salt
300ml milk
300ml water
2/3 of a cube of fresh compressed yeast
~450gr white flour

This is what I do:
First I crush the yeast into small crumbs. In a small bowl I add to it a teaspoon of sugar and 1 or 2 teaspoons of flour. Add warm water to it, mix it until well blended and no crumbs and then set it aside for 5 to 10 minutes. You will see that it will increase its volume several times and it will acquire one more... bubbly... and porous texture. It's ready.

While I wait for the yeast to leaven, I mix all the other ingredients. Starting with the eggs. First I beat the eggs well in a bowl, then I add the milk, water and salt ( stir so that all liquids are mixed well). Then I add the already leavened yeast mixture. Again, stir well and then I slowly start adding the flour while, of course, stirring vigorously. Now, we finally have the batter ready. It should have a thicker texture, but still be in a liquid-ish state. Again, it rests for 30-40 minutes until the yeast, again does its magic, this time to the whole thing.

Remember how the yeast looked after 10 minutes? Well you should have pretty much the same picture. The batter should be bubbly, airy and porous. Now we can bake.

I use a mid-size pancake pan, 23cm wide and 2cm deep - it is pretty shallow but that's what makes it so good for pancakes. And katmi. With this size of the pan and that amount of the batter you will get 8 perfect, round, airy, soft, 0,5cm-high golden katmi. Yum-yum.  Do not grease the pan - pour the batter into the dry pan. Set the hot plate on a medium high temperature (for example, my hot plate has 3 levels, I use the second one) - this way you won't burn them on the outside until they bake on the inside. Naturally, you have to flip on both side until you get that so-craved golden-brown colour. After you take every katma off the pan grease it with butter on both sides - this will make it soft and easy to roll. Only 7 more to go and you are ready to eat!

Well, that's it! I'm afraid you're gonna need to make some more, because they disappear with the speed of light and they are oh-so-delicious... As I said, you can have them salty - with some ham or salami and cheese and some mustard on top, or you can have them sweet with your favourite jam or maple syrup or, even better, with honey. And some powdered sugar. Ok, I have to stop now because I am drooling all over my keyboard. If you've had the patience to read everything to the end, thank you very much, I hope you try my mom's katmi, I hope you like them and I really hope they become a regular guest on your table. Some spoiler pictures, just to get the image :) Good night!