Bacon Biscuit (Škvarkovník)
Ingredients: 1lb flour, yeast, ground-up bacon bits
Prep Time: 30 minutes to an hour for the dough to rise, some 20 minutes to prepare the biscuits, another 20 minutes for dough rising and finally 20 minutes for baking.
In Slovakia, we make this amazing bacon-flavored biscuit (pagáč) called škvarkovník. The name is derived for the word for bacon bits, škvarky. When done properly, the biscuits are extremely fluffy and the dough comes apart in layers. I actually like to eat them like that, layer-by-layer.
To make these biscuits, you will need ground up bacon bits. These are quite easy to find in Slovakia. They come in a margarine-sized tub, as shown in the photos below. However, I don’t know if anything like this available in the States. You can probably start off by buying bacon bits and grinding them up yourself.
As with any leavened dough, start off by preparing the yeast culture, kvások. This is done by dissolving the packet of yeast in luke-warm milk and adding about a teaspoon of sugar. Once it bubbles up (as in the recipe for knedla), add it to your flour (múka). Then add about two table spoons worth of bacon bits (škvarky) cooked with butter (masľo). Add a dash of salt and enough water (voda) to end up with dough having the consistency shown on the right.
Next let the dough rise. This will take somewhere between 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the temperature of your room. My grandma fills a pot with hot water, and places the dough on top of it to speed up the process. Roll the dough out to a pancake approximately the width of your finger. Use a pastry brush (one made out of goose feathers works great!) to spread on a layer of bacon bits dissolved with butter.
Fold the outer end over one third of the way. Spread the bacon sauce onto this side and fold the bottom third over.
You now have a dough rectangle containing two layers of the bacon sauce. Spread on another layer on top and then roll the dough into a cylinder.
Take this cylinder and hand pat it down into a circular shape. Then take a rolling pin and roll the dough out to about an inch thick. Don’t forget to work on a surface dusted with flour and to dust the top of the dough to keep the pin from sticking. Take a drinking glass and also stick it in flour. Use a circular motion to cut out the biscuits. This is identical to making pierogi.
Place the biscuits onto a greased baking pan. Let rise for about 20 minutes. In the mean time, preheat your oven. My grandma likes to bake them on the bottom and they took only about 20 minutes in her wood burning stove. Serve pagáče as a snack or instead of bread with soups.
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Posted by lubos Date: Monday, February 22, 2010
Bryndza Pierogi (Bryndzové Pirohy)
Ingredients: about 2 potatoes, some 2 cups flour, one egg, salt, bacon, bryndza
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Pirohy (pierogi) are not as common in Slovakia as in, let’s say Poland. There they are stuffed with all kinds of fillings. There are pierogi filled with meat, mashed potatoes, curd cheese, onions, or even sweet jams. But one kind you will surely find on your travels in Slovakia are bryndzové pirohy, pierogi filled with the special Slovak sheep cheese, bryndza. This cheese is also used to make the Slovak national dish, bryndzové halušky.
My family did not use to make pirohy. But lucky for me, a lady named Helka helps out in my dad’s restaurant and she makes amazing pirohy. So I had her show me how they are made. Below is the recipe for the authentic Slovak pierogi. All the cooking was done by eye, so the above ingredients are only my best estimates.
Start by cooking few potatoes (zemiaky). Cook them until they are quite soft and mash them by hand. Add about a cup of flour (múka), one egg (vajce) and about a tablespoon of salt (soľ). Mix everything together by hand. Then add more flour until you get a fairly stiff mixture. Also place a large pot full of salted water onto the stove.
Form the dough into a loaf and place it onto a dusted board. Dust top with flour to prevent the pin from sticking. Roll out to an about 3 millimeters thick pancake.
Then take a drinking glass and cut out circles. Do this by pushing down with the glass and twisting your wrist left and right few times. The dough will come out with the glass. Top each circle with a teaspoon worth of bryndza. If you don’t have bryndza, you can imitate it by mixing feta with sour cream.
Fold the circle over and pinch the seal closed with the tip of your fingers. Then, to make the pirohy look prettier, grab the seal between your fingers and twist about 60 degrees. Do this at few spots.
Place pierogi into the pot of boiling water. I found it really neat that Helka uses the same technique for transporting dumplings as my grandma – by placing them onto the back side of her arm. Right after placing them in water, scoop them up with a wooden spoon to keep them from sticking to the bottom. Pierogi are ready when they float to the top. Scoop them out using a large strainer.
Bryndzové pirohy are topped with škvarky, fried bacon bits. Prepare these by cutting good thick smoked bacon into pieces about inch long and frying them until the white fat part dissolves away. Top pierogi with few spoonfuls of grease and then with the bacon bits. Finally top with sour cream (kyslá smotana).
And there you have them, delicious Slovak homemade bryndzové pirohy. Serve with a glass of žinčica, sour sheep milk which is bit similar to kefir.
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