Latvian Perogi
My Oma's recipe. To get the recipe I had to watch her make these and measure ingredients as we went along because she did it all by feel.
My Oma's recipe. To get the recipe I had to watch her make these and measure ingredients as we went along because she did it all by feel.
- Carbohydrate 7.28668659066398 g
- Cholesterol 5.50272404618585 mg
- Fat 2.17369270416928 g
- Fiber 0.379329122422887 g
- Protein 1.23736075456583 g
- Saturated Fat 1.33087183598413 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (19g)
- Sodium 348.65362299238 mg
- Sugar 6.9073574682411 g
- Trans Fat 0.177385421307809 g
- Calories 54 calories
Step-by-step
- To prepare dough:
- Warm milk on stove in 1 quart saucepan to almost boiling. While that is warming, beat one of the eggs in a bowl. Put packet of yeast in a cup with 1/4 cup lukewarm water (add a pinch of sugar to this to help activate the yeast). Set aside.
- Add salt and sugar to milk. Stir to dissolve. Take milk off stove. Add butter to it and allow to melt and allow the milk to cool a bit. Add your beaten egg to mixture.
- At this point I transfer mixture to my Kitchenaid mixer. Add about 1/2 of the flour and mix. Add yeast. Add remaining flour a little at a time until dough is sticky but not wet.
- Grease a bowl and place your dough in bowl to rise. I turn my dough over so that it has a little bit of the grease all over it. Cover with plastic (or clean kitchen towel) and put in warm place to rise for about 1 1/2 hours until it's doubled in size.
- To prepare filling:
- In saucepan cook your bacon, onion and pepper on medium high heat until bacon is cooked but not crunchy and your onions are translucent (not brown). Drain.
- Grease your cookie sheets very well or line with parchment and spray w/ Pam. After dough has risen place a small amount of it on a floured work area. Roll this piece until it is about 1/8" to 1/4" thick. With the top of a drinking glass or biscuit cutter, cut out circles. I usually roll each circle out a little bit more so that it's even thinner (I like a less doughy peragi). Place a small bit of your filling in the center of circle. Fold over and pinch edges to form half moon shape. Make sure no bacon grease is in your seam or they won't seal. Continue doing this with small sections of the dough until all of it is used up. Rolling only a small portion of the dough at a time helps to prevent the dough from being overworked. Put on cookie sheet and allow to rise again for about 20 minutes.
- Beat your remaining egg and brush each peragi with egg mixture. Bake at 400 until light brown; about 7-10 minutes.
Monitoring the liquid temperature precisely ensures the yeast activates properly without killing the micro-organisms; keep the warmed milk between 105 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit before introducing the active dry yeast and sugar. Developing a supple yeast dough requires working the gluten gently, adding the all-purpose flour incrementally until the mixture pulls away from the bowl yet remains tacky to the touch. Letting the dough double in volume takes approximately 90 minutes in a draft-free environment maintained at roughly 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Utilizing double-smoked bacon yields a deeply savory flavor profile that standard cured pork lacks, while cooking the diced yellow onions only until translucent prevents bitter caramelized notes from overpowering the filling. When sealing the half-moon shapes cut from the rolled dough, absolute cleanliness is paramount; any residual grease on the edges prevents the gluten strands from bonding, causing the pockets to burst open in the oven. Brushing the assembled pastries with a beaten egg wash right before baking promotes a glossy, golden-brown crust. Baking these yeast buns at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 7 to 10 minutes sets the structure quickly before the interior dries out. Cooked batches freeze exceptionally well for up to three months when stored in airtight containers, and frozen perogi reheat directly in a 350-degree oven without requiring prior thawing.
