Pierogi Ruskie
A hot-water dough that rolls out thin without fighting back, filled with potato, curd cheese and deeply browned onion.
- Prep
- 55m
- Cook
- 40m
- Waiting
- 30m
- Total
- 2h 5m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Involved
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 400 g | Make a soft dough with hot water and rest it 30 minutes 12m Hot water partly gelatinises the starch and slackens the gluten, so the dough rolls thin and stays put. | Fill, fold and pinch the edges shut with dry fingers 30m Any filling on the rim and the seal fails. Keep a damp cloth over the ones you have made. | Boil in batches until they rise, then a minute more 6m A wide pot and a gentle boil. A rolling boil tears the seams open. | Fry the boiled pierogi in butter with the onions until the edges crisp 8m Not traditional at every table, but a boiled-then-fried pierogi has two textures instead of one. | ||
| 220 ml | ||||||
| 2 tbsp | ||||||
| 2 tbsp | ||||||
| 1 tsp | ||||||
| 700 g | Boil the potatoes, drain and steam dry in the pan 25m | Mash the potato with the cheese and the fried onion 20m Season it hard. The dough around it is unsalted as far as your tongue is concerned. | ||||
| 1 tbsp | ||||||
| 200 g | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 1/2 tsp | ||||||
| 1 1/2 tsp | ||||||
| 60 g | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| to serve | ||||||
| a small handful | ||||||
-
Make a soft dough with hot water and rest it 30 minutes
12m- plain flour 400 g
- just-boiled water 220 ml
- soured cream 2 tbsp
- melted butter 2 tbsp
- salt 1 tsp
Hot water partly gelatinises the starch and slackens the gluten, so the dough rolls thin and stays put.
-
Boil the potatoes, drain and steam dry in the pan
25m- floury potatoes 700 g
- salt 1 tbsp
-
Mash the potato with the cheese and the fried onion
20m- from 2 Boil the potatoes, drain and steam dry in the pan
- twaróg 200 g
- onion 1
- white pepper 1/2 tsp
- salt 1 1/2 tsp
Season it hard. The dough around it is unsalted as far as your tongue is concerned.
-
Fill, fold and pinch the edges shut with dry fingers
30m- from 1 Make a soft dough with hot water and rest it 30 minutes
- from 3 Mash the potato with the cheese and the fried onion
Any filling on the rim and the seal fails. Keep a damp cloth over the ones you have made.
-
Boil in batches until they rise, then a minute more
6m- from 4 Fill, fold and pinch the edges shut with dry fingers
A wide pot and a gentle boil. A rolling boil tears the seams open.
-
Fry the boiled pierogi in butter with the onions until the edges crisp
8m- from 5 Boil in batches until they rise, then a minute more
- butter 60 g
- onion 1
- soured cream to serve
- dill a small handful
Not traditional at every table, but a boiled-then-fried pierogi has two textures instead of one.
Why the water is boiling
Cold-water dough builds a strong gluten network that springs back the moment you roll it, and a thick pierogi wrapper is a chewy one. Just-boiled water denatures some of that gluten before it can organise and swells the starch, so the dough is slack, pliable and rolls to two millimetres without recoiling. It is also more forgiving to seal, because a gelatinised surface is naturally tacky. The half-hour rest lets whatever gluten did form relax the rest of the way.
Notes
- Roll one small piece at a time and keep the rest covered. The dough skins over fast.
- Freeze them raw in a single layer, then bag. Boil from frozen, two minutes longer.
- Twaróg is the flavour. Ricotta is too wet and cottage cheese too mild, but either works if you drain it overnight.