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A celebration in the scattered Latvian communities of Canada often include these bacon-filled buns.
They are fabulous with a salad for a quick lunch or, if you make them smaller, are great cocktail appetizers.
Dough
• 1 medium potato, peeled and diced
• 1 cup (250 mL) water
• 1 tsp (5 mL) salt
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) granulated sugar
• 2 tbsps (30 mL) butter
• 1 1/2 – 2 cups (375 – 500 mL) all purpose flour
• 2 tsps (10 mL) instant yeast
Filling
• ¼ lb (110 g) lean side bacon, finely diced
• 2 small onions, finely minced
• 1 green onion, minced
• ½ cup (125 mL) finely diced ham
• ½ tsp (2 mL) freshly ground pepper
Egg Wash
• 1 egg yolk
• ¼ cup (60 mL) milk
In a saucepan combine the potato, water and salt. Cover and bring to a boil: reduce heat and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes or until tender. Drain, reserving liquid and mash thoroughly. Stir in sugar, butter and reserved water. Let cool till lukewarm.
Beat in 1/2 cup (125 mL) of the flour. Add yeast, beating vigorously till well combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Add enough of the remaining flour to make a stiff dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead, adding flour as needed to keep from sticking, until smooth and elastic, about 4 – 5 minutes. Place in a well-oiled boil, cover with a damp towel and let rise till doubled, about 1 to 1 ¼ hours.
Meanwhile, make the filling. In a heavy saucepan, cook bacon, onions, green onion, diced ham and pepper, until onion is softened and bacon begins to crisp. Let cool completely.
When the dough has doubled, punch down and divide into 16 pieces. Roll each piece to flatten slightly. Place a spoonful of the bacon mixture onto the centre of each bit of dough. With floured fingertips, pinch edges together to make crescent. Place each piradzini about 2” (5 cm) apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Slash tops with a sharp knife. Cover loosely with a towel; let rise until doubled, about 50 – 60 minutes.
Whisk the egg yolk and milk together. Brush over crescents. Bake in a preheated 375’F (190’C) oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until very well browned.
Makes 16.
Recipe from Anita Stewart’s CANADA: The Food, The Recipes, The Stories (HarperCollins Canada 2008)
As a Latvian-Canadian, I can say that Latvians never, ever slash the top of their pirags/piradzini. I’ve never seen a recipe with potato used in the yeast dough though there might be the rare one out there, and I’ve never seen green onion in the filling. Fillings are classically bacon and onion,or ham and onion (nothing wrong with both ham and bacon with onion either). There’s no need to try to fancy them up because they taste amazing with just the basic ingredients – a yeast dough baked around a bacon/ham and onion filling. The dough is pinched and sealed around the filling but then the seam is placed on the bottom so they are oval, not crescent-shaped. If the seam opens during baking (your piragi “smile”) it’s usually because you got grease from the filling on the edges of the seam while pinching it closed. They are usually made in large batches (think 50/60 to 100 or more)because small batches like the above literally don’t last 5 min out of the oven before they’re devoured, and I can’t believe anyone would spend all those hours and effort on making yeast dough and not have anything to show for it a few minutes later. Re: size,newbies usually end up with larger heftier piragi, experienced bakers make more delicate and elegant smaller ones (maybe 3 inches long)with a thin layer of bun around the meat filling, each a couple of mouthfuls of deliciousness at most.