Ukrainian's eat a variety of stuffed buns as snacks, filled with everything from cabbage, to cheese, meat, and fruit. I was intrigued by this recipe for a cheese-onion filling because of the photo of layers of buttery dough, but was also interested in one that showed soft buns stuffed with cherries. Since it appears that every household has its own recipe, I figured I didn't have to be held to any particular one, so I made up my own variations.
Translating the recipe from the original Ukrainian was interesting -- I think someone has "interfered" with Google's Ukrainian-to-English dictionary, because the results were about as clear as if I'd used a random word generator. Curiously, translating first into German (or French) and then into English worked almost perfectly. (This was the case across all pages, not just this recipe.) Some words, particularly those related to cooking, don't translate well no matter what. Case in point is the "federation" of green onions. When you think about it, it makes sense... but I had to think about it. (Another interesting translation was the nutritional information that showed the amount of "squirrel" per serving; process of elimination indicated that had to be "protein".) Measuring units or proprietary products particular to a country are always the biggest challenge; in those cases I research as best I can, then ultimately just have to use my best judgement.
These are the unit translations I used:
e I never did figure out what this was, but logically it seemed to approximate a tablespoon
cube Assuming this was fresh yeast, I couldn't find a product quantity, so used a standard amount of dry yeast
tl teaspoon
el tablespoon
federation bunch
I had to measure flour by volume because my scale is broken. Fortunately, the filling recipe and bread recipes in general are fairly forgiving, depending a lot on personal preference. The biggest problem was not knowing what I was looking for with the bread dough. Initially, I assumed I was kneading to the window-pane point, but then I thought perhaps they don't want all that gluten development, since the recipe called for low-gluten flour. So should the dough remain sticky, more like batter? Or should I add more flour until it's manageable, but knead only enough to get it smooth? In the end, I kneaded it to the window-pane point, but it was probably not as wet as it should have been since I didn't have any problems with sticking later, even without flouring anything. The recipe lacked other critical information, like what size pan to use (although it does recommend a "round tepsi") and how long to bake it. (For reference, I put the original Ukrainian -> German -> English translation at the bottom of the page.)
I cut the recipe quantities in half and that is what is below. (I've shown the original quantities and their original units in parentheses.) Then I split the filling into thirds and left one third with just the onions, one third with onions and spinach, and one third I sweetened and added tart cherries. Here's what I used:
2½ tablespoons
warm milk (5 e)
1 teaspoon active dry yeast (½ cube)
½ teaspoon sugar (1 tl)
2 cups type 405 (pastry*) flour (500g)
1½ tablespoons neutral oil (3
el)
¾ teaspoon salt (½ el)
5 ounces warm water (300ml)
100g cow's milk feta cheese (200g)
100g sour cream (200g)
½ bunch (3-4) green onions, cut into small rings (1 federation)
salt to taste
5½ tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (150g)
Prove the yeast in a small bowl with the milk and sugar, then mix it together with the flour, oil, salt, and warm water; knead to form a smooth dough, adjusting flour or water as necessary. Cover the dough and let rise for about an hour. (It will triple in volume.)
For the filling, place the feta in a bowl and mash until smooth. Add the sour cream and onions; mix well and season with salt if necessary, along with any other herbs or spices of choice.
Lightly butter a 10 x 7.5-inch baking tray. Divide the dough in half. On a floured work surface, cut one of the halves into 8 roughly equal pieces and form into balls. Roll each ball out to a 4-inch disc, sprinkling with a little flour if necessary to prevent sticking. Brush each disc (except the last) lightly with the melted butter and stack them on top of each other. (Leave the top piece unbuttered.) Roll the stack out to a 10 x 7.5-inch rectangle and fit it into the baking tray. Spread the filling evenly over the top almost to the edges (the cheese will burn against the sides of the pan) and brush with a little melted butter.
Do the same with the second half of the dough as described above and place it on top of the filling. Cover the tray with a cloth and let it rise for about 15 minutes while the oven preheats to 480F (250°C). When the dough has risen slightly, cut it into small squares or diamonds (about 5 cm). Brush with a few tablespoons of butter and place in the oven, immediately turning it down to 390F (200°C). Bake about 30 minutes, until golden brown.
Brown the remaining butter (about 2 tablespoons) in a saucepan, then carefully add an equal amount of water (caution: it foams and sputters!) and a little salt. Brush the browned butter (I strained it because the browned bits were unattractive) evenly over the crust and cover with a cloth and a plastic bag or cling film; leave to stand for at least 10 minutes. (The crust will be quite hard -- this helps to soften it.) Recut through all layers of the bread. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
*I
replaced 5 tablespoons of the AP flour with corn starch. This is a
little more than the recommended substitute because my AP flour was
already higher in protein than normal.
Spinach option
Defrost and drain about 1 cup of frozen, chopped spinach. Squeeze as much water out as possible, using a tea towel. You should have about 2 tablespoons. (You can use more or less -- it's really to taste.) Mix into the cheese and onion mixture, then follow the recipe as directed.
Cherry option
Soften about 2 tablespoons of dried, tart cherries in a little warm water; strain out any excess liquid. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar to the feta and sour cream mixture. (Omit the onions.) Spread the cheese mixture over the dough, then dot evenly with the cherries. Follow the rest of the recipe as directed. Sprinkle cooled pastry with powdered sugar.
Interestingly, the feta-sour cream mixture tasted remarkably like cottage cheese, which is a common bread filling in eastern Europe. I didn't get all the bread layers that others got, but this was never going to be a "flaky," pastry-like bake. However the bread was somewhat tough, and I'm not sure what causes this. I probably had too much flour in the dough, and I'm pretty sure I baked it too long. (I baked it 35 minutes. The recipe stated until "nicely browned", which I took to mean well browned, but the photos of other bakes show it much lighter.) The wetter the filling, the more the bread softened and the better the buns fared the next day. So on day two, the cheese-onion ones were a bit dry and firm, the spinach ones were a little nicer, and the cherry ones were fine. (The sugar made the filling much looser, and the cherries were wet.) Also, the sweetness of the cherry-cheese filling balanced the saltiness. The edge pieces were extra firm and had less filling, exacerbated by using a smaller pan; this recipe might be better made in a round pan and cut into wedges so that the edges are shared evenly amongst all pieces.
Conclusion: I'm pretty pleased at being able to muddle through the recipe and end up with something that was very tasty. Too salty for my tastes (try 1/2 teaspoon salt), and the bread texture needs improving (or just less time in the oven), but overall a nice snack. There are endless filling variations, even if just adding herbs and spices, like paprika, oregano, or black pepper.
Recipe: Ukrainian Special "Pi" (пі спеціальний) via Food CORS
Original translation
You also need a rolling pin, a tray with a high edge (a round tepsi is best) and a large tea towel.
For the dough, heat the milk in a cup in the microwave, but don't let it get too hot. Then stir in the sugar and crumble in the yeast. Leave it all for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, put the flour, oil and salt in a bowl and bring the water to lukewarm. Now put the yeast in the bowl and knead with the water to form a smooth dough. If there is not enough water, simply add a little more, if there is too much, simply knead in a little more flour. Cover this dough and let it rise for about an hour. For the filling, simply cut the spring onions into rings, not too coarsely. In a bowl, add the sour cream and grate or mash the feta cheese over it with your fingers. Mix well and season with salt if the feta cheese wasn't too salty. Divide the dough in half and cut one half into 8 equal parts on a floured work surface and form into round buns with your hands. Roll out these rolls to a diameter of approx. 15 - 20 cm and sprinkle with a little flour, otherwise they will stick. Then brush each flatbread with the melted butter and stack the flatbreads on top of each other. Then roll out this stack to the size of the sheet and place in the greased form. Spread the filling evenly on top and brush with a little butter. Do the same with the second half of the dough as described above and place it on top of the filling. Cover the tray with a cloth and let it rise for about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 250°c. When you can see that the volume of the pite has increased a little, cut it into squares or diamonds (approx. 5 cm) with a knife, brush them with a few tablespoons of butter and put them in the oven. However, switch it down to 200°C. When the pite is nicely brown, brown the remaining butter (approx. 4 - 5 tablespoons) in a pan, fill up with the same amount of water (caution: risk of splashing!) and add a little salt. Then spread this mixture evenly over the pite, cover with a cloth and put a plastic bag or some cling film over it and leave to stand for at least 10 minutes. You have to do this so that the pite softens a little as it cools down. Straight out of the oven, the batter is way too hard to enjoy.
