The pierogie is a traditional Polish dish most commonly found in northern states, specifically Pittsburgh. The pierogie is basically a dough dumpling with filling and typically served with onions or sour cream. The most common types include potato and sauerkraut. Pierogies are becoming more and more expensive and harder to find. My favorite is the sauerkraut pierogie, which cannot be found where I live in Florida. What better way to have access to pierogies than to make them yourself? Listed below is a homemade recipe for pierogie dough. You can really add any filling you’d like: potatoes, chicken and chives; spinach and feta cheese; or even prunes if you want to make more of a dessert pierogie. This fantastic recipe was altered to perfection from years of practice with pierogie-making and is, without a doubt, the closet you will get to the perfect pierogie.
Dough Ingredients:
- 5 cups flour
- 1 egg
- 1 cup 2% sour cream
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1/4 tsp. salt
Tips:
- Don’t use wax paper to layer pierogies after boiling; use foil.
- Drain sauerkraut, don’t rinse. Grill onions until light and yellow. Add kraut, until soft; don’t burn.
- Potatoes – boil and mash. Add a little skim milk. Keep them as dry as you cna. Save potato water to mix with the dough. Add low fat cheese – sharp cheddar.
- Prunes – buy and stuff in pierogies.
Instructions
Step One: Mix all dough ingredients together. It’s best to use leftover potato water (from boiling the potatoes) as a substitute for lukewarm water because of the extra starch. If you do not have access to a Kitchen Aid, knead dough by hand.
Step Two: Lay ball of dough out on a flat surface, sprinkle a little flour on top so it doesn’t stick and roll to an even consistency.
Step Three: Use the filling of your choice to stuff the dough. The top picture shown here is a potato/sauerkraut mixture and the bottom picture is a prune filling.
Step Four: Fold dough over so that the dough from one side can be pressed with the dough on the opposite side. Be sure not to get any filling inside this crease line. Press along this line with your fingers until the pierogie is molded into a dumpling-like shape and completely sealed with no holes. Line pierogies up on a pan when they’re ready to be boiled.
Step Five: Boil pierogies for five minutes and place back onto pan. If you’d like, thinly coat pierogies with butter so that they stay moist when freezing (you do not have to do this, though). Add a layer of foil over the first batch of pierogies so that you are able to add the second batch on top to save space and prevent them from sticking together.
Step Six: Divide pierogies up into freezer bags however you choose. Personally, I took the same amount of each type of pierogie and split them up into freezer bags so that when I decide to cook them, I will get a little of each type for my meal. This bag contains six potato, six sauerkraut and two prune.
Step Seven: Saute pierogies with some onions, add some sour cream on top and enjoy!
