Ewa’s Pierogi Dough

• One of my Polish friends, Ewa, came round and we made pierogi by her method.
• It is not so different to mine but she uses spelt flour- orkiszowa.
• Spelt flour is a more ancient wheat flour and and is a little different to work with,
• Ewa used cup measurement but I have converted these into weights.
• The amount of water needed depends on the flour and this is something you learn to gauge as you work with the dough.

INGREDIENTS

• Around 300 – 350g Spelt flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
• Large pinch of salt
• 150 – 190ml water – depends on the flour.

METHOD

• Place the flour in a heap on a large pastry board.
• Make a well in the centre and add the salt, yolk and oil.
• Start to add the water and combine the liquid with the flour.
• Keep adding water and mixing until you have a soft dough.
• (if you add too much water – add more flour).
• Make a ball with the dough and knead it well for 5 minutes – set a timer.
• *
• Use the dough as you would normally –
• Best to divide into half and roll each portion out into a thin sheet.
• *
• Make the pierogi in the usual way with your favourite fillings.
• *
• This  amount of dough should make at least 50 pierogi.
• Fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to the boil.
• Add half the pierogi and boil them until they rise and float to the surface.
• Use a slotted spoon to remove them – serve or keep warm with a little butter or oil.
• Repeat for the other half.
• (Note this is a slightly different way of boiling than I usually use).
• *
• Serve with the toppings you would normally use to go with the filling such as butter, fried onion, skwarki (bacon bits) or soured cream etc.

The ones we made were filled with chicken – made in a different way to how I do a chicken filling – see a later post for this – not yet written.