Piragi Latvian Bacon Rolls
"A childhood favorite. Nothing compares to Grandma's warm Piragis!"
photo by JenniferS50
- Ready In:
- 3hrs 15mins
- Ingredients:
- 16
- Yields:
-
100 rolls
- Serves:
- 50
ingredients
-
Pastry
- 1⁄2 cup warm water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons dry yeast
- 2 cups whole milk, scalded
- 1⁄2 cup oil
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 egg yolks
- 1⁄2 cup butter
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 6 cups flour
- 1 egg, beaten
-
Filling
- 1 1⁄2 lbs bacon, finely diced
- 1⁄2 lb ham, finely diced
- 1 medium onion, chopped finely
- salt & pepper
directions
- Fry bacon and ham in pan for about five minutes. Drain and cool in fridge.
- Sprinkle yeast over warm water and sugar. let stand 10 minutes.
- Scald milk in a saucepan.
- Add sugar, salt, and butter. Allow mixture to cool until it is lukewarm.
- Add 3 1/2 cups flour, sour cream, egg yolks and yeast.
- Beat with spoon until smooth and shiny.
- Cover bowl and let rest for 1 hour.
- Turn out on floured board and gradually add remaining flour kneading until dough is elastic.
- Let rise another 45 mins Preheat oven to 400.
- Roll out dough until about 1/4 inch thick.
- Cut circles into dough. A small drinking glass is ideal size.
- Spoon 1 tsp of filling on to each circle.
- Fold over. Press and tuck under seam.
- Place rolls on greased cookie sheet and brush with beaten egg.
- Let rise about 20 minutes.
- bake at 400 for 10 mins or until golden brown.
Questions & Replies
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I have been looking for these since working in Houston, TX back in the 1980's. The crew I used to work overtime with on Saturdays would bring a box in and I always thought they were AMAZING and so delicious. I may not have found them because I thought they were called pirogi not piragi. Thanks so much for the recipe! My question is: by saying use a "small glass" to cut with do you mean maybe a 2" diameter cookie cutter perhaps? -
My god.mother and mom always added Crisco lard to her dough and only one fourth cup oil.her purified were delicious! Believe me it works.I'm making some today.can't ait!! -
I noticed 1/2 cup oil in the ingredients but no mention of adding. Also oil is not used in other recipes.
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I’m assuming you fry the onion with the bacon & ham? Recipe did not say that
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Is there a mushroom or cabbage alternative filling. I only need a small quantity as the rest of the family will eat the bacon and onion ones
see 4 more questions
Reviews
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This is the exact recipe my Latvian grandmother taught me when I was young and now I'm teaching it to my children. These are so yummy everyone you share them with will be begging for this recipe. It is a little time consuming, but definitely worth it!! -
I also grew up eating these delicious bacon rolls lovingly made by my Grandmother who came to the USA from Riga in 1915. Nothing says Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter better then the smell coming from the kitchen during baking these yummy treats !! The only difference was we also add a tiny amount of nutmeg with the bacon/onion filling. not to much, just a pinch. And we don't fry the bacon but just sauté on a very low flame for 10-12 minutes... bacon only we never used ham or even eggs in the dough. the high temp of baking in the oven finished off the cooking of the bacon. One last thing was to brush the tops of the rolls with a beaten egg wash before baking to give the rolls a nice sheen, and also poke each roll a few times before baking with the tines of a fork to allow the steam to excape from inside the rolls
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Love speka rausi as does every one of my family members in the USA. -
Have nothing to say about the recipe nor the delicious pirags, but as in many recipes that are presented you seem to speak to the experienced chief and leave things dangling. 1) You list sugar twice, but do not say which amount goes into the yeast mixture or the scalded milk mixture. 2) You list a half a cup of oil, but never say when to use it other to mentioned that pirags are to be placed on a 'greased' cookie sheet. 3) Are you seriously going to turn the oven on after you have set the dough to rise for 45 minutes plus the 20 minutes you want the ready to bake pirags to rise - that is 65 minutes of heating a empty oven? Sorry about these points, but someone, who is not an experience baker, would be confused. I realize that the more frequently one makes them, much of the work becomes second nature and is just simply understood, but I who am not as experienced likened it to my own grandmother's instructions: take some of flour and mix it with egg water, add a pinch of salt, mix together;l roll out of the dough. Fried the bacon and fill the dough and bake. For my grandmother who probably baked from the age of 7 or 8 in Latvia, everything was crystal clear.Everything was understood by her who had been baking since she was 7 or 8. Anyway, thank you again for the recipe.
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Grew up eating these every Holiday, made by my Latvian Grandmother. I was asking her for her recipe so that I can now make them for my kids. She is 84 and has Severe memory loss, and says she never wrote it down it was always in her head. Hah! Not anymore! So thankful for finding this recipe!!! Making them soon.
Tweaks
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No mention in recipe what happens to finely chopped onions. Remove sauteed bacon and ham from pan using slotted spoon. Sautee finely chopped onions in the same pan. When onions are translucent, remove with a slotted spoon, and mix in with sauteed bacon and ham. Set mixture aside to cool to room temperature while preparing dough. -
These are a family tradition passed down from my Latvian Grandmother. My own children and grandchildren make them with me for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. Thank you to my grandma Alida Treimann for teaching me. Miss you always, her name was Treimanis before coming to America
