PEROGIES

3 cups flour
1 cup warm potato water or milk
1 egg
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

The secret to this dough being light and fluffy is the warm potato water,

and a soft but not sticky dough
Boil about 6 large potatoes, SAVE THE WATER, I tend to forget
Mash them and add cheddar cheese, bacon, cheese whiz, what ever your preference

TO PREPARE IN ADVANCE, LAY ON FLOURED COOKY SHEET AND FREEZE THEN TRANSFER TO PLASTIC BAGS AND SEAL.

Mix and knead dough for 5 minutes cover and let rest for ½ hour (also important) before rolling out. Then divide dough into portions, keep the extra dough covered so it does not dry out.Cut off about 1/3 of the dough and roll in a cylinder shape, cut in approximately 1 inch chunks, roll into balls about the size of a walnut. Roll out in circle shape and then put in filling and fold over to seal. Can use a glass to trim if you want them nice and neat.

Stuff mixture with your favorite potato mixture. To cook, put in boiling salted water and cook till done, approximately 15 minutes


To steam them, spread a small amount of oil around a large pan. Fill the pan with dumplings—as many as you can fit without them sticking to each other. Turn the heat to medium and let them sizzle for about a minute. Once the dough has absorbed most of the oil, add about ½ cup of water to the pan, then quickly cover with a lid. The water will splatter and sizzle loudly. Leave the lid on for about a minute to steam the dumplings, then turn the heat down to low and remove the lid. Let it keep cooking until the water evaporates, then turn off the heat. Your dumplings should be steamed on top with crispy, brown bottoms. To pan-fry them instead, start following the technique above, but use more oil. Skip the water and the lid entirely. Just keep frying! Once the dumplings are golden on one side, flip them to fry the other side. This method is awkward with parcel-style dumplings but works well for other shapes, so plan accordingly.

Perogie Dough Large Batch

8 cups flour
½ cup oil
1 egg beaten
1 ½ tsp salt
3 ½ cups warm water or potato water including the egg and the oil

Prepare as above