Pogácsa from Milk - The Transylvanian Cookbook

It is time to pick a recipe from the Transylvanian Prince's Cookbook!

This is the digital translation of a book in Hungarian that I have tried recipes from before.  Here is the book reference:

The Prince of Transylvania’s court cookbook 

From the 16th century 

THE SCIENCE OF COOKING

You can find a copy of it here:  http://www.medievalcookery.com/etexts/transylvania-v2.pdf

The recipes I have tried are here:  Prince of Transylvania's court cookbook

Today I picked recipe number 804, found on page 154.


Pogácsa from milk. 

Pour milk onto the pan, don’t let it boil all the way, put flour into a plate; once the milk is hot, pour it onto a plate, mix it well, don’t add too much, the dough should be dense and big; whip some eggs into a pot afterwards, add salt and pour it onto it, then whip it again; have lots of eggs so that the pogachas will grow and swell. Afterwards, cut these while the dough is warm; don’t add too much milk, there should be more eggs than milk. The butter shouldn’t be too hot, else the upper part could come down. 

Obviously I needed to do some interpreting on this!  I looked at a variety of modern pogacha recipes, but they all used yeast and this one does not mention it.  So I started looking at modern bread recipes that don't use yeast, and cobbled together a basic strategy for making this bread.

My primary guide was from the glossary of the Prince's book (the 7th page of the PDF, not a numbered page in the book):

Pogácsa: a small short cylindrical baked good, similar to the American biscuit (the rolled and cut version as opposed to the drop variety), often with flaky layers.

My Redaction

6 cups flour (I used about half bread flour and half all-purpose), divided into 3 cups/3 cups
1 cup milk
6 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
about 3 tablespoons butter, melted

This attempt was rather hit-and-miss, "give it a try and see what happens."  In reality, it was quite fun to test my skills and senses.  I decided that the butter is not mixed into the dough but brushed over the top of each biscuit before baking.

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  Heat the milk in the microwave until quite warm but not boiling.  I did 1/2 cup increments, each heated for 30 seconds on full power.

3.  Add the milk to 3 cups flour.  Mix, first by hand and then with the mixer, until it is lumpy and moist.

4.  Beat the eggs in a bowl, add the salt, then pour the whole mixture into the bowl with the flour and milk.  Stir by hand for a while then let the mixer stir it.  It will break up the lumps and become very wet.

5.  Mix in the rest of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time so it mixes in and doesn't fly all over the kitchen.  I stopped mixing when the dough was sticking to itself more than the bowl.

6.  Put a dusting of flour on your work surface and also dust the dough and your hands.  Put the dough on the surface and pat it into a mass that is uniformly thick, about 3/4 to 1 inch.  That is the depth of my small biscuit cutter.

7.  Cut out pogachas and place them on a greased baking sheet.  I reshaped the remaining dough as needed until the sheet had enough pogachas on it.

8.  Brush melted butter over the top of each pogacha.

9.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until the bottom is light brown and there might be some coloring on the tops or sides.  I tried one at 15 minutes but it was still doughy-moist on the inside.

This recipe made about 3 dozen pogachas.

The Verdict

They puffed up slightly and did not spread much.  They were a little crispy on the outside.  Inside they were denser than yeasted bread but I was surprised that they were not as dense as I thought they might be -- I worried about making small rocks.  The crumb was finely textured and there were a few air bubbles inside.

Right piece is upside down to show the bottom

The flavor was bland.  I think they needed more salt.  One guest taster thought they were too salty and two guests thought the salt content was about right.  But overall, the flavor was acceptable for a bread that would accompany a stew or soup -- I think it would be very good at sopping up juices or gravy without competing for flavor attention.  I tried them plain, with butter, and with butter and jelly.  All were good, just not exciting.  Even completely cool, where they were a little harder and the crust crunchier, they were fine.

When warmed up in the microwave the next day, with a moist towel, they were surprisingly good.

Success!  I would try these again some time, but I would play with the mixing procedure to see if I could make them lighter. 

Kazakh Food from a Guest Cook!

My friend GW is a marvelous cook who also happens to be from Kazakhstan. I have eaten her cooking several times and wished I could capture her recipes for my blog.  It finally happened!  Not only that but she let me help with the preparation and it turned into a fun, social time that represented exactly what good cooking is.

She chose two dishes.  The first was a bread popular in Kazakhstan, which we just called "Kazakh Bread."  It is a slightly leavened bread that is stuffed with an onion, herb, and cheese mixture.  The other was a steamed dumpling called Manti.

GW is experienced and knows her recipes by sight and by touch.  She does not measure, and I did not ask her to.  My notes list her ingredients and my description of her methods.  Come, join us in our cooking adventure!

Kazakh Bread

GW made the dough ahead of time and she used these ingredients:

flour
sour cream
a little milk and water
salt
baking powder

She said she mixed the dough then let it rest for a while.  She cut it into pieces and shaped them into rounds.  Each round was rolled out until it was thin.  She used flour to dust the pieces when she needed to, so they wouldn't stick.

Then she put on a spoonful of filling, which was a mixture of

herbs (this time she used basil, parsley, and cilantro), chopped
garlic, pressed
green onion, chopped
hard cheese (she used mozzarella), chopped
1 egg

She folded the dough around the filling to make a round.  This is the stage where most of them were at when I arrived.  They were resting, lightly covered, waiting for the final step.

Resting

Rolled and ready to fry

When she was ready to cook them, she heated some oil in a frying pan.  Each stuffed round was rolled out fairly thin, so you could see the filling through the dough, but it was still mostly enclosed.  Then she put the bread into the oil and fried it until golden brown on one side.  It was flipped and fried on the other side.

The finished rounds, 5 to 6 inches in diameter were stacked on a plate.  They stayed warm for quite a while!

Manti

GW put us to work preparing the main part of the filling, which was

beef, trimmed and chopped into small pieces
pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and grated
onion, grated

while she prepared the dough:

flour
water
salt, dissolved in the water
egg, beaten into the water

She mixed the dough by hand, adjusting the flour and water amounts until the dough was sticking to itself and cleaned the sides of the bowl.  It was a soft dough and not very sticky.  She let it rest, covered for about 10 minutes.  Then she kneaded it until smooth.

The dough was cut into four pieces, kneaded some more, and shaped into balls.

Then each ball was cut in half, and the halves rolled into a log shape.  The log was cut into pieces about the size of a large walnut.  I noticed she would make a cut, then roll the log a quarter turn before cutting the next piece.  Each piece was shaped into about 2 inch diameter rounds.  She used flour to dust the dough as needed to avoid sticking.

You can see the balls, the logs, and the pieces (foreground to background)

GW finished off the filling by mixing the beef, squash, and onion, then adding some

oil
pepper
salt

She commented that if the mixture was to sit while the dough was being prepared, you should wait to add the salt until just before you are ready to use it, or the filling gets watery.

The rounds were rolled thin, about 3 to 4 inches in diameter, to prepare it for the filling.  She showed us how to fill them:  turn the round so the floured side was down, put in a generous spoonful of filling, then pinch the edges together in a specific pattern.  Then she put everyone to work making the dumplings while she rolled the thin rounds.  Great fun!

Here is the pinching pattern for the manti:  fold opposite sides up and over the filling, and pinch them at the top, in the middle.  Now the shape is roughly a rectangle, so go to the narrow sides and lift them up to form walls around the filling.  Pinch the corners together (four corners, four pinches) to keep the sides up.  GW said it was good to leave some of the filling showing so air could get out.  At this point you have two choices.  You can either bring up opposite corners over the middle and pinch them all together (one pair of corners is one pinch, then bring the other pair up and pinch again).  This forms an enclosed ball that has a pretty gathering of dough at the top.

The first fold.  A finished manti is towards the back.

This is the Kazakh bread but the folding pattern starts off the same:  this is pinching the corners

The other choice is to bring two corners on the long rectangle side together, on the side of the manti, and pinch them.  Then repeat with the other two corners.  This makes a flatter top but, I think, a more visually interesting pattern of dough and a little filling.  I made sure I tried both patterns many times.

The front one is the second choice of pinching, the back one is the first choice

Once the manti were filled, she poured some oil on a little plate.  One dumpling had its bottom dipped in the oil, then another dumpling was rubbed against it.  This had both mantis oiled on the bottom.  When they were placed in the steamer, the oil kept them from sticking to the tray.

The manti were steamed for 40 minutes.  When they were placed on a serving tray, GW put a little butter on the top.  They were served, Kazakh style, with sauces.  I was told many sauces are appropriate; here in the US we had tomato salsa and a pineapple-habanero sauce.

Buttering the manti

The Verdict

What can I say other than these were wonderful!  I tried one manti with no sauce and was astonished at the depth of flavor it presented.  Remember, the filling was meat, veggies, salt, and pepper.  The taste was rich, slightly meaty, a little juicy, and I would swear there were more spices in it, although I knew better.  The dough around it was tender but not soggy.  It held the filling well, without breaking.  You could eat the manti by using a fork or by holding it with your fingers (once it cooled down!).

Heavenly, moist, flavorful

Of the two sauces, I liked the pineapple-habanero sauce on the manti best.  There was something about the sweet with spicy that complemented the manti flavors well.  I noticed the people who are not sweet eaters preferred the salsa.

I was given some manti to take home and when I served them, I put out a mango-ginger chutney that had a little cayenne pepper kick to it, and that also went well.

The Kazakh bread was also quite good.  Frying it resulted in a fairly dense bread texture, but it was not oily or hard.  The herbs and green onion flavors added a lovely lightness to the bread flavor, making the whole eating experience a fun blend of chewy, herbal, and rich.  I couldn't taste the cheese but I suspect it contributed to the rich mouthfeel of it all.

It was a success for all who participated and I thank GW profusely for sharing her expertise and food with me.  Kazakh food is good!