Lángos, a vegetarian recipe from Hungary

Name: Lángos
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Hungary
Ingredients: 300 g plain flour; 200 g cooked mashed potato, cooled; 7 g dried yeast; 200 ml warm milk; 1 tsp sugar; 1½ tsp salt; 1 litre sunflower oil, for frying; 3 garlic cloves; 250 g soured cream; 150 g firm cheese, grated

Method

Stir the yeast and sugar into the warm milk and leave in a warm corner for 10 minutes, until frothy.
Combine the flour, cold mashed potato and salt, pour in the yeasted milk and knead for 8 minutes into a soft, slightly tacky dough.
Cover and prove for 1 hour, until doubled in size and pocked with bubbles.
Divide into four, oil your hands and stretch each piece into a thin disc about 20 cm across, thinner in the middle than at the rim.
Heat the oil to 175°C and fry the discs one at a time for 1 to 2 minutes a side, spooning hot oil over them so they puff. Drain on a rack.
Rub the still-scorching surface with a cut garlic clove, spread with soured cream and pile on the grated cheese. Eat immediately.

Lángos is eaten standing up, at Hungarian markets and thermal baths. The potato in the dough is what matters: it keeps the fried bread tender even as it cools.

The techniques this recipe uses

Drain and rinse
Canning liquid clouds a sauce and salts it blind: rinse until the water runs clear.

Frequently asked questions

Why is mashed potato in the dough?

Potato starch holds water and keeps the fried bread soft even once it cools, whereas a flour-only dough goes hard within minutes. Use it cold: warm mash partly kills the yeast and makes the dough slack.

Why does my lángos soak up so much oil?

Almost always because the oil is too cool. Below about 170C the dough drinks it in before a crust can form. Watch the temperature, fry one disc at a time so the oil does not drop, and drain on a rack rather than paper.

Why stretch the dough by hand instead of rolling it?

A rolling pin drives out the gas bubbles built up during proving, and the bread stays flat and dense. Oiled hands stretch the dough while keeping those bubbles, which is what makes it puff in the oil. Leave the centre thinner than the rim, so there is a dip to hold the soured cream and cheese.

Lángos

Method

The techniques this recipe uses

Nutrition per serving

Frequently asked questions

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