Pierogi/pirozhki

May 31, 2012 - 3:16pm

Breadandwine

Pierogi/pirozhki

Hi folks

I currently have a Polish family on my Family Learning course and I wanted to make pierogi with them in the last session - tomorrow morning.

I've previously avoided stuffed dumplings, preferring bread with a crust. However, I had a practice this morning with my special needs group and thought they were terrific.

http://nobreadisanisland.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/peirogipirozhki.html

I'm very much aware that these will be a poor imitation of the real thing - they were made from start to finish in less than an hour, for instance - but I know there'll be lots of experts on here who'll be able to post their own, more authentic recipes!

Looking forward to them!

Cheers, Paul

Log in or register to post comments
Printer-friendly version

kozulich

May 31 2012 - 5:41pm

The recipe looks fine. It is

The recipe looks fine. It is very easy and fast to bring the ingredients together into a dough by doing this in the food processor.

Isand66

Jun 1 2012 - 4:52am

I'm not polish, but I do love

I'm not polish, but I do love pierogi.

I've never heard of making them with yeast like your recipe. I'm sure they must be great.

My recipe below is very simple and tastes great so give them a try if you are so inclined. I actually use the same dough to make meet kreplah (not sure of the spelling), for my chicken soup.

I usually make cheese pierogi and also potato with cheese (usually cheddar) mixed in.

Soft dough:

1 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups flour

Beat the first 4 ingredients. Mix in the flour, adding more flour if

necessary., until the dough forms a soft ball. Divide dough in half. On a

floured board, roll each half of the dough into a thin sheet. Cut circles

in the dough with a cutter 3 1/2 -4 inches in diameter.

Cheese filling:

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon butter

1 pound farmers cheese (solid cottage cheese), mashed (Note: you can use cottage cheese, but you need to drain over cheese cloth first)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

Cream yolks and butter. Combine with other ingredients and mix. Put 1

teaspoon of filling on each dough circle, being careful to place it off

center. Moisten the rim of the circle with water. Fold the unfilled side of

the circle over the filling and press the edges of the resulting crescent

firmly to seal them. Drop the pierogi into boiling salted water. Cook

gently for 5 minutes. Remove with perforated spoon.

Cut up an onion and dice roughly. Add a half a stick of butter to the pan and add onions. Saute onions and butter until butter is brown and now add pierogi to pan.

Let them get slightly brown and then remove into serving dish. Pour onions and butter over pierogi and serve.

Note: Never crowd or pile pierogi: uncooked pierogi stick to each other;

when crowded or piled, cooked pierogi become misshapen and heavy

Yield: 6 servings

Taken from "Best of the Best from Pennsylvania:

Isand66

Jun 2 2012 - 5:40am

I don't remember exactly, but

I don't remember exactly, but I would say about 1/4". You don't need to make them paper thin but you don't want them to thick or they will be too doughy.

Regards,
Ian

kozulich

Jun 2 2012 - 7:55am

traditionally, thinner is

traditionally, thinner is considered better, and smaller dumplings are considered "fancier". Big dumplings are sometimes called "lazy" pierogi. For practical purposes rolling out to 1/8" thickness is about right.

Isand66

Jun 3 2012 - 6:50am

One other note: sometimes it

One other note: sometimes it helps to refrigerate the dough for a short time to help relax it and it will roll out easier. I usually cut the dough into a couple of pieces and cover one plastic wrap and refrigerate it while I'm working on the other one.

Good luck and let us know if you decide to try the recipe.

Ian