Pillowy Pierogies

Pierogies, dough with potato and cheese inside. Maybe you pan fry them in butter with some onions and bacon or maybe you don't. Either way you're going to love them, it's carbs stuffed with carbs!

Ingredients 

Dough

4 cups flour-500 grams

1 cup + 2.5 Tbsp water-280 grams

3 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil-40 grams

1 teaspoon salt

Filling

2 pounds russet potatoes

1 tablespoon kosher salt

8 ounces dry curd or farmer's cheese, room temperature; or ricotta

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons onion, finely minced

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Kosher salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

The dough

Add the flour and salt into a large bowl, mix together.

In a small saucepan, warm the water with butter until they are very hot, but not boiling

Pour hot water with butter into the bowl with flour, mix with a wooden spoon until roughly combined.

Knead the dough using your hands or with a stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment, for about 5 minutes. A food processor can also be used (fitted with the dough blade). The dough should be smooth, soft and elastic, it shouldn’t stick to your hands. When you follow the recipe (especially if you weight the ingredients, instead of using measuring cups), the dough should be perfect, but if for some reason it’s not, add some water if it’s too dry, or a little bit flour if it’s too wet. If the dough already forms a ball, is relatively smooth, but still tough, it means that it’s not ready, it must be further kneaded until soft and elastic (after resting time it will be even softer).

Wrap the kneaded dough in plastic foil (so it doesn’t dry out), leave to rest for about 30 minutes (it will be easy to roll out).

Time to make the filling!

First, start by parboiling the potatoes. Scrub them, put them into a large saucepan, cover them with cold water, and add 1 tablespoon of salt.

Bring the potatoes to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium-low, cover with a lid, and simmer for 30 minutes, or until fork-tender. Remove and let cool slightly.

While the potatoes are parboiling, place the tablespoon of butter in a small pan and sauté over medium-low heat for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Peel the cooked potatoes and fork blend or rice them in a large bowl.

Add the farmer's cheese or ricotta and sautéed onion, garlic powder and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.

Back to the dough!

Rolling out, stuffing and shaping the pierogi

Divide the dough into 4 parts.

Onto a lightly floured surface, roll out thinly the first piece of the dough, to a thickness of approx. 2 mm / 1/16 inch. If the dough is hard to roll out, set it aside for about 5-10 minutes to rest.

Use a cup, wine glass or a pierogi/pastry cutter to cut out rounds. Place one ball of filling 1/2 teaspoon of filling on each round.

Gather scraps, cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

Fold the dough over the filling to create a half-moon shape. Press edges together, sealing and crimping with a fork or your fingers. Do not leave any gaps or pierogi may open during cooking.

Place the pierogi apart on a towel lightly sprinkled with flour (this is important, they can stick to the board), cover loosely with a kitchen cloth so that they don‘t dry out.

Repeat with the remaining dough.

Cook the pierogi

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Cook the pierogi in batches, I cook about 10-12 dumplings at a time.

When they float to the water surface cook them for 1-2 minutes, then remove from the water with a slotted spoon. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of the dough.

Drain well and transfer onto a plate. Serve warm, pour over some melted butter, sour cream and chives. If you like crispy Pierogies I highly suggest pan frying them with some onions they taste amazing!