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On the weekend I had a few people over to learn the art of the perogie. We made about 36 dozen (give or take a dozen…you know, no big deal). This post is fulfilling my promise to make the recipe we used available to all of my lovely guests. Thanks for a fun day lovely guests.

NB. My guests asked how to spell perogie and I had to admit that I have no idea what the correct spelling is…  I use perogie and perogies but I’ve seen pyrogie, pirogy, pergoy, pierogi…

Dough Recipe (~16 dozen perogies)

2 cups boiling water
2 cups milk
1 cup vegetable oil (The cheapest kind you can find. I totally ruined several batches of dough trying to use nice Olive oil which results in a chewy dough.)
2 tbsp salt
9-10.5 cups flour (all purpose)

We began by mixing the wet ingredients and salt.

Then we added 9-10.5 cups of flower (one cup at a time).

The amount of flower depends on the humidity, elevation and other things I don’t understand.  (I think the number of gnomes that live in your garden are involved in the equation.)  Just keep adding flower until it feels right.

Did you ever have your grandmother say “I don’t know how much flower (or whatever) I use to make the recipe dear” and think they were just trying to make it look hard, or easy, or whatever made you feel worst?  Same kind of thing.  Except I’m not trying to emotionally manipulate you (this time) it’s just how you make perogies.

The perogie “feel” is why it’s best to have someone show you how to make dough the first time so you can feel a sample then try to replicate that feel.

(I married into the world of perogies so this part took me a while to learn. I’m sure if I was born to the craft I would have had some sort of innate feel for it but a very patient mother-in-law made sure I got it right in the end…so her boy wouldn’t have to suffer through a married life bereft of carbs wrapped in carbs.)

When the dough gets too stiff to stir with the spoon it’s time to get your hands dirty. (Clean them first though. Pre-dirty hands are gross. Do I need to say that? Well I did. Ew.) This part takes a while. Keep kneading the dough to activate the gluten and work all the flower in.  It should be tacky, but not sticky when you’re done.

Put the dough in a covered bowl and set it aside.  (To prevent the dough from drying use a damp cloth to cover the bowl or wrap it in plastic and put it in the fridge.) Dough can last in the fridge for up to three days but should really be used within 24 hours.  Or, you can put it in sealed plastic bag (no air) and freeze the dough for later use.

(Frozen dough can last 6 months in the freezer. It may be longer. I’ve always used it within six months. For all I know frozen perogy dough lasts forever; it might be the Twinkie of eastern Europe. Mmmm, I want a Twinkie.)

Perogie dough is best when it has rested over-night so I had several batches of dough pre-made like a cooking show.  “Ding! Let’s see how it turned out.”

When the dough has rested it’s time to roll. Take  a small piece of the dough and roll it flat, adding flower and flipping regularly to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter.  The dough should be thin but not transparent.

When you have a nice flat piece of dough, use a circular cookie cutter (or old can of Campbell’s soup concentrate, they are the perfect size) to cut circles from the dough.

Place a small amount of filling into the centre of the perogie.

Fold the edges over.

And, pinch the edges closed. To make sure the perogies don’t fly open while boiling, make sure that the seal at the edge of the perogie is not visible. (The pretty pinched edge and perfect perogie shape come with time. Don’t be discouraged if your first several hundred turn out looking like perogie blob creatures, they’ll still taste good.)  

Lay the perogies on a clean cloth or parchment paper on a cookie tray or other flat surface that will fit in your freezer.  (Fresh perogies stick together easily so do not allow the perogies to tough each other.)  Cover with a slightly damp cloth and repeat until you have a full tray then pop them in the freezer.

Once frozen solid, perogies can be removed from the tray and bagged by the dozen or two or more. (Use freezer bags and be sure to remove all of the air to preserve the perogie at its best.)

When you’re ready to eat, take the perogies out of the freezer and drop them directly into boiling water.  After about two minutes (at a rolling boil) the perogies are ready.  Drain the water and add some oil to prevent a perogies-sticking-together mess.  Serve with fried onions and sour cream.  Yum. (Note, fresh perogies can be boiled and served the same way.)

Be sure to make extra.  Day old perogies are best fried with onions.  Mmmmm.

Filling:

Potato and cheese perogies are generally made with mashed potatoes.  I use grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, onions fried in butter, garlic power, salt and pepper to taste.  It works best if you make the mixture in advance and chill it before use.

You might also want to try…

Acorn Squash Cinnamon Perogies.

1 small acorn squash (remove skin and seeds) – boil until soft then mash
2 small sized apples (peeled and cored) – steam until soft, mix with squash
Cinnamon (~3/4 tsp)
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Mushroom/Swiss Perogies.

3 oz grated swiss cheese
5.5 oz white mushrooms (chopped fine)
2.5 oz soft brown mushrooms (chopped fine)
5.5 oz Shiitake mushrooms (chopped fine)
One medium white onion (chopped fine)
Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.
(Fry the mushrooms and onion in butter until soft, then mix in grated cheese.)

Blueberry/Cayenne Perogies

1/8 cup water
1 pint blueberries (fresh)
1 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
salt to taste

Thanks for joining me friends: