Hungarian Short Crust Pastry: the perfect base for luscious fruit desserts!

If you're not into Hungarian food, you should be.  Hungarian gastronomy is filled to the brim with tantalizing savory dishes, and desserts that will make you want to cry.  

So, what are you waiting for! Jump into Hungarian food like a true foodie!  Don't know where to start? Well, life is short- eat dessert first! Here is an easy pastry crust recipe that will get you started............

Hungarian Short Crust Pastry:

Ingredients:

3 1/3 cups (500 gm) flour

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (250 gm) unsalted butter,  cut into chunks

1 1/4 cups (125 gm) powdered sugar

2 teaspoons (10 gm) baking powder

1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

1 whole egg, plus 1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons sour cream

Zest of one lemon

pinch of salt

Method:

Add all the dry ingredients, and the lemon zest, into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment.  Pulse briefly to combine.

Next, add the wet ingredients, excepting the butter.  Again, pulse briefly to combine.  While the machine runs on low speed, add the butter a few pieces at a time, until it is all added. Pulse a few times until your dough looks like this:

The dough should be crumbly, but hold together when grasped in your hand.

Dump your dough out onto your board........

And knead it by hand until you have incorporated all the crumbs, and the dough is smooth (this takes a light amount of work, stop sighing about it :P).  When you're finished, it should look like this:

Don't like hearts? Then make a horse shoe shape- for good luck......

Divide your dough into two pieces, and form flat disk shapes.  Wrap them in plastic wrap, and let chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

You can make this dough the night before, and let it sit in the fridge until you are ready to use it the next day.  Alternatively, you can wrap it tightly and throw in the freezer!  The dough will keep for one month.

Don't know what to make with this? May I suggest Meggyes Pite- Hungarian Sour Cherry Pie..........

Meggyes Pite:  Hungarian Sour Cherry Pie (OMG)

Have you ever wondered how other countries make pie?  I did! I found a delicious, and easy to make cherry pie in Hungary!  It's kinda like American style pie, but more European-pastry like.  A gorgeous, and flavorful leavened pastry surrounding plump sour cherries......Can I have seconds?

Here's how to make this simple and delicious Hungarian pie!

The first thing to do is to make the short crust pastry.  To make things easier, here are the instructions for that.

Ingredients for the filling:

1-2 Twenty-four ounce (700 gm) jars of sour pitted cherries, well drained
1/2 cup (50 gm) powdered sugar
1/4 cup (30 gm) breadcrumbs
1 egg yolk wash (1 egg yolk, 1 teaspoon water, whisked together)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 Celsius).

Mix the drained cherries and the powdered sugar, and set aside.

Place a sheet of parchment paper down on your board.  Roll out one disk of your prepared pastry crust on top of this paper.  You can make it as thick or thin as you like, just keep in mind that this is a leavened pastry dough, so it will rise a bit when baking.  I'd recommend 1/4 inch thickness.

Place the dough (still on the paper) into your baking pan.  Press it in.  Cut off any extra dough that hangs over the sides and use it to 'fill in' on the sides of the pan if your dough does not reach up the sides of the pan.  Next, sprinkle in some of your breadcrumbs.

Now you are ready to dump your sugared cherries into the unbaked crust! Go ahead.........

Sprinkle some more breadcrumbs over the cherries.  Don't worry, you don't have to use all of them.
Now its time for the top crust.....and some options!

You can roll out your other half of the dough tot he same thickness as the base crust.  Now's the time to get creative!  Want to cover the whole thing? Go ahead!  Evenly cut any overhanging crust, just like you would do with an American style pie.  It will come out looking like this......

After baking, that is.

Or, you can roll it out, cut long strips, and make a lattice top!  It looks like this.......

Before you bake it, there is one last step!  Brush the top of your masterpiece with your egg yolk wash.  You can also sprinkle with a little sugar, if you'd like.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees, 50 to 60 minutes.

Let cool in the pan.  When it is cool, lift the pie out of the pan using the paper.

Cut into squares, and dust with powdered sugar, or crown with whipped cream.......

Congrats! You're about to enjoy Meggyes Pite!
(meggyesh peeteh). Hungarian Sour Cherry Pie!

Czech Sweet Kolaches!

Alright, friends, it's time to satisfy your sweet tooth!  If you love pastry, you can't miss with this recipe!  Czech sweet kolaches are fruit filled pastries that are sure to please anyone!  These pastries are easy to make crowd-pleasers, that will leave people wanting more.......................

Here's how to do it.

Hungry yet?  Then, let's begin!

The best part about this recipe, is that you can make the dough the day before, and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.  This is a beautiful dough that can be used for both savory, and sweet kolaches.

Dough: 

4 teaspoons instant yeast (20 gm)
1 1/2 cups warm milk (2.5 dl)
1/3 cup sugar (70 gm)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (115 gm)
5 cups of flour (775 gm) plus extra for dusting

Posypka or Drobenka (Sugar Crumbs):

1/2 cup (105 gm) sugar
1/4 cup (25 gm) flour
2 Tablespoons (30 gm)unsalted butter, melted 

Fillings:

Pie or pastry fillings of your choice!  You can find these in the baking aisle of your local grocery store.  I chose to use cherry pie filling, raspberry, apricot, and prune pastry fillings.  Amounts will vary.

Begin by making the dough.  This process takes approximately 15 minutes.  Ten of those minutes will be used by your mixer, as it kneads the dough for you.

Step 1. Warm the milk. Don't heat it all the way through, 110 degrees F is perfect. Throw it in the bowl of your stand mixer, along with the yeast and the sugar. Mix it up, and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until the yeast grows up. 

Now we can mix up our dough. Place the mixing bowl into your mixer, and affix the paddle attachment. Add the eggs, butter, salt and flour. Blend with the paddle until everything is incorporated. Now let's change to the dough hook. Once the dough hook is on, let the machine do your work for you. I set my mixer at #3, and let it go for 8-10 minutes. After 8-10 minutes, the dough should have pulled away from the sides of the bowl, and should spring back when touched.

 Now we have two options: 
#1- let this dough rise for 1-2 hours at room temperature, then use immediately. 
#2.  Cover the bowl of dough tightly and refrigerate overnight.

Before you are about to roll out your dough, mix together the ingredients for your sugar crumbs.  They should turn into very coarse looking sand.  Set this aside.

 When you are ready to use your dough, lightly flour your work surface, and dump the dough out onto it.  Roll it out to about 1/2 inch thick (1 cm for my beloved metric users in the matrix). 
Use 2-3 inch round cookie cutters to cut out your disks.

Cut out as many disks as you can, re-rolling your scraps as you go.

Place your disks on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper.  Cover with a tea towel, and leave them in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes to one hour.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees (190 Celsius).

When they are done rising, it's time to make our indentations to hold our fillings!  I used a shot glass, but you can also use a spoon, or even your fingers.  The idea is to make a place that is big enough to hold about a teaspoonful of your filling.

Next, let's crack an egg into a small bowl with a bit of water in it to make an egg wash.  Mix this up furiously, until very well combined.  Brush this egg wash onto your indented disks.

Now it's time to fill!  Use about 1 teaspoonful of your chosen filling, and place it into the space you made in the center of your disks.  Repeat until all kolaches are filled.

Sprinkle the tops of your filled kolaches with your sugar crumbs.  Aren't they pretty?
Put your beauties in the oven to bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they achieve a lovely golden brown color.  Let them cool in the pan for about 15 minutes.

The wait is over! Try not to fall on them like a pack of wolves........at least, not while others are watching.

Sausage Kolaches

Sausage Kolaches

These are some of my favorite snacks!  They are great for breakfast, lunch, or as a Game Day goodie!  Similar to Pigs in a Blanket, Sausage Kolaches are great for kids of all ages.  Serve them with pickles, your favorite giardiniera mix, or even sauerkraut.

The recipe is easy to make, and if you can roll a burrito, you can make kolaches!  Here's how...........

Ingredients for dough:

4 teaspoons instant yeast (20 gm)
1 1/2 cups warm milk (2.5 dl)
1/3 cup sugar (70 gm)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (115 gm)
5 cups of flour (775 gm) plus extra for dusting

Filling:
1-2 pounds (1 kg) of your choice of smoked sausage or pre-cooked meat.
Other filling suggestions:  shredded cheese, mustard, spicy relish, sliced jalapenos, sliced banana peppers, sauteed onions, anything you want!  Just make sure they are well drained.  Don't be putting wet, soppy stuff into your dough, or it won't cook properly.

Begin by making the dough.  This process takes approximately 15 minutes.  Ten of those minutes will be used by your mixer, as it kneads the dough for you.

Step 1. Warm the milk. Don't heat it all the way through, 110 degrees F is perfect. Throw it in the bowl of your stand mixer, along with the yeast and the sugar. Mix it up, and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until the yeast grows up.

Now we can mix up our dough. Place the mixing bowl into your mixer, and affix the paddle attachment. Add the eggs, butter, salt and flour. Blend with the paddle until everything is incorporated. Now let's change to the dough hook. Once the dough hook is on, let the machine do your work for you. I set my mixer at #3, and let it go for 8-10 minutes. After 8-10 minutes, the dough should have pulled away from the sides of the bowl, and should spring back when touched.

Now we have two options: #1- let this dough rise for 1-2 hours at room temperature, then use immediately. #2.  Cover the bowl of dough tightly and refrigerate overnight. 

If you decide to make the dough ahead of time, after you take it out of the refrigerator, let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.  This will take the chill out of the dough, and it will be much easier to roll out.

Next step:  Dump your dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Scrape the bowl if necessary.  To the best of your ability, roll out the dough into a rectangular like shape, to about 1/4 inch thickness (that's .5 centimeters for my metric peeps ;) ).  No need to be terribly fussy, though, just roll it out thinly.
Place a piece of your meat of choice onto the dough.  Cut the dough so that the meat is in the middle.  Leave about 1/4 inch at either end of the meat, lengthwise.

Sausage in the middle, 1/4 inch on each end.  You can even fold it over the ends of the sausage, as shown here.

Now we can begin rolling up our little burritos.  Fold the top half of the dough over your meat, and then the bottom half over that.  Now pinch together all the seams, and give it a roll on the board.  This will create your nice shape.

Continue in this manner, until all the dough is used.  this recipe should yield approximately 24 rolls, depending on size.  Place the rolled kolaches on a parchment lined baking sheet, and cover with a towel.  Allow to rise for 30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (that's 190 degrees C for my metric peeps).  Make a quick egg wash with one egg and a bit of water.  Whisk until incorporated.  Just before placing the kolaches in the oven, brush the egg wash over the tops of each one.  Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Behold! You did it!  Now, just brush the tops of your kolaches with some butter for a beauty treatment, and a bit of extra decadence.........

I've made these with different filling options.  I used Hungarian sausage, Kielbasa, cheese, jalapenos, and spicy relish.

This one has kielbasa, cheddar cheese, and spicy relish.  Hungry yet?  What are you waiting for?  It's So Worth It, So Make It!