PERFECT Stuffed Pierogi | How To Braid Pierogies | Homemade & Traditional Recipe

I don’t remember ever attempting at making pierogi without my mom, for me it always looked complicated, hard and time-consuming.

But I really missed it, and I thought to myself “what’s the worse that can happen?”

I’ll fail, that’s all!

So, my first time came out so good, that I couldn’t stop telling my husband how proud I am at myself, he usually will make some face and then he’ll say “have you ever had any doubts?”

He always believes in me, no matter what.
He’s the reason I’m more positive than ever!

So, in my second attempt we decided to make it into a full video recipe, and let me just tell you, it turned out even better and tastier.

On this day I also made gluten-free pierogies, because we are mostly a gluten-free family.

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The ingredients you’ll need:
Yeast
Sugar
Water
All purpose flour
Potatoes
Onions
Vegan grounds

For the dough:
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp can sugar
2 tbsp lukewarm water
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt, you can add more if you want
1½ cup water

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For the filling:
5-8, depends on the size
5-8, depends on the size
½ pack of vegan grounds, You can use whole pack if you want to have more “meaty” texture.
1 tsp salt
pinch or ¼ tsp pepper
2 tbsp vegan butter
2 tbsp oil

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I’ll suggest first start making the filling, instead of the dough and I’ll tell you why.

You’ll need to boil potatoes, it will take around 20 to 30 minutes, you’ll need to fry the onions, won’t take much time, and then when all is done and ready you’ll have to wait till it cools down, so you won’t rip the dough while making your pierogies.

Peel & chop potatoes, add into a pot, fill with water and boil until very soft, so it will be easy to mash it.

Fry In a pandice onions, grounds, add 1 tsp salt + pinch or ¼ tsp pepper + 2 tbsp vegan butter + 2 tbsp oil
Fry until beautifully browned

When the potatoes are ready and soft, strain the water, bring it back into the pot and mash with a handy masher.

Then add the fried mix into the potato pot and mix well with a spoon.

If you had the time to make the dough while frying and the potatoes are boiling, great, if not then while it’s all cooling down you can start with your dough.

(Usually, I’m doing 10 things at the same time, Richard calls me superwoman, LoL)

In a small bowl add
1 tsp yeast + 1 tsp cane sugar + 2 tbsp lukewarm water
Set aside to be activated

In a big bowl add
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp saltMix and make a crater in the middle.

In the middle add yeast mixture and start mixing with a wooden spoon slowly until starts forming, then add a little bit of water and continue mixing, continue the process until all the water is absorbed.

Now you can start the process with your hands, knead until it forms in to a nice shape with a smooth texture and there are no remains of flour or dough chunks in the bowl.

Cover and let it rise for around 30 to 40 minutes.

When the dough is ready, sprinkle a little bit of flour on top and knead for a few minutes, just so that the air the and the bubbles come out.

Roll the dough and cut it into 24 pieces.
Maybe it will be easier to cut into 12 pieces, and then cut those 12 in half making 24. If you want them smaller, cut in half each ball again into 48, each time decreasing the size of the final pierogies.

Flour the surface, place all the balls there and cover them with a towel.
Another option is each time to cut piece from the dough, any size that you want your pierogi to be, small, medium, large, you can just enjoy playing with it and see what you prefer.

Then, start rolling each dough ball into a flat, thin circle , but not too thin so it won’t break apart when adding the filling (around 2-4 mm).

When ready add mashed potatoes in the middle, depends on the size, not too full, we don’t want them to open while frying or baking.

Pinch the sides together to start closing the pierogies, or start braiding, you can see this demonstrated in the video.

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Another easier way is to place the mashed potatoes on one side, then cover it with the dough from the other side and press on the sides in the two parts closed dough with a fork, the shape you’ll get is half a circle.

Now you have 2 options, bake or fry.

Of course, baking is better because it’s faster and less oily.

Fry on both sides until browned, be careful not to burn it if you are doing it on high heat.

If you’ve decided to bake, then l suggest to oil your baking pan surface,( I placed parchment paper and oiled that), place your pierogies and then oil the surface of your pierogies.
Poke them with a fork a few times, preheat the oven at 350° and bake around 30 to 40 minutes, you can flip them after 15 or 20 minutes if you want, so at both sides it get brown, but it’s not a must.

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