Make Your Own Pierogi
Pierogi seem to be one of those dishes that few people make from scratch. A little similar to fresh pasta there is technique involved, but with a pasta machine these delicious dumplings are worth the time and effort. We went with a not so standard savory filling. Generally you find pierogi with a few simple ingredients for the filling. Potato and cheese is common. Our version is a little bit more varied but equally delicious.
Our 3 Tips
- Use a pasta machine to roll out your dough. You create even sheets of smooth dough. With smooth dough you get easier cutouts and no tearing. You can roll the dough with a rolling pin, but nothing beats the pasta machine. This is certainly not traditional, but a big time saver. Once the dough is rolled you can use a standard biscuit cutter to punch out circles. With your fingers, you can feel that one side is tacky and sticky. The best way is to fill the sticky side up, so when you fold them in half you get a good seal. Otherwise you are left using some kind of crimper that mangles your pierogi into odd shapes while generally wasting dough.
- Place your dough under a metal bowl. You can only roll out so much dough at a time. Plus the leftover bits from your cutouts go underneath. This is the fool proof way to keep your dough pliable. By just popping the dough underneath the bowl you can reroll your dough endlessly. You can mush it back together and cutout circles until you there is not enough. The same trick does not apply to sugar cookie dough, but that is ok because we eat the scraps. Those scraps are for your trouble and suffering during the rolling process.
- Boil your pierogi before pan frying. Boiling is the traditional way to cook pierogi. Yet after you boil them, you can pan fry them for amazing amounts of golden crispy skins. This is our absolute favorite way to consume them. With some butter you can have luxurious crisp outsides with gooey centers. With spinach, bacon and cheese this a savory dumpling that will have you coming back for more no matter what time it is. The only con is water in your pan will cause smoke. Vast amounts of smoke with just a minimal amount of water. So during transfer from the pot to your pan remove as much water as possible or risk your smoke alarm blaring. You do not want your neighbors to be trained to come to your house for pierogi each time the smoke alarm goes off.
Perfect Dough Recipe
The dough turns out perfect each time with this recipe. We experience no tears or toughness during rerolling. Each pierogi turn out equally tender after boiling. There is debate as to how best cook the pierogi. Some prefer to add onions or sauerkraut, while some prefer them with sour cream. However, everyone agrees that the best pierogi are fresh pierogi.
More Recipes Like This:
- Spring Stuffed Alfredo Shells
- Sweet Corn Elotes Pasta
- Lemony Chicken Mushroom Lasagna
- Futomaki Sushi
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2-3/4 cup very warm water (110-120 degrees)
- 1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into large chunks
- 6 slices of bacon, diced
- 2 tablespoons shallot, diced
- 2 1/2 ounces fresh spinach, chiffonade cut
- 1 cup ricotta
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- On a clean counter top, make a mountain with your flour. Using your fingers or a spoon, make a well in the middle of the mountain. To that well add your large egg, oil and kosher salt; scramble together with a fork.
- Add warm water 1 tablespoon at a time working until it forms a shaggy dough. At this time switch to using your hands and continue incorporating water until dough is tacky to the touch but not sticky.
- Knead dough for 5-8 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Cover with an inverted metal bowl and let sit at room temperature at least an hour.
- Put potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer until fork tender. Drain and return to pot.
- In a large non stick frying pan, cook bacon until brown and crispy. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels.
- Leaving bacon grease in the pan, add your shallots and cook 2-3 minutes until soft. Add spinach and cook until wilted and liquid has evaporated.
- Add to saucepan with potatoes and rest of ingredients. Use a potato masher to bring ingredients together. Filling is now ready to use.
- Now is the time to roll the dough, you can use a rolling pin or go the easy route and use a pasta machine to roll your dough. Roll out to 1/8-inch thick and cut into 3-inch rounds. With the sticky side of the dough facing up fill with 1 teaspoon of filling. Fold dough over in half and press to seal. Repeat until all of dough is used, re-rolling scraps as needed.
- At this point you can either boil pierogi until they float and then pan fry in some melted butter to get them golden brown and crispy. You can also place on a lined baking sheet and place in freezer. After frozen transfer to freezer bag to store.
- If storing your pierogi raw, then you can dust them with some cornstarch to prevent sticking and tearing before refrigerating.