Eggless Pogacsa – Hungarian Savoury Cheese Buscuits

Today we travel to Hungary to taste an yeasted savoury cheese biscuit – Pogacsa (po-gah-tcha). Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe and it shares its boundaries with Slovakia in north, Ukraine and Romania in east, Serbia and Croatia in the south Slovania in the south west and Austria in the west. While thinking about cookies to make, I wanted to make kiffles, which are made both as a cookie and as an yeasted pastry. I have made the yeasted pastry before but wanted to try the cookie version. But when I came across this savoury cheese biscuits, I changed my mind. The dough has yeast and so the biscuit turns with a crispy crust and soft interiors. I read a lot about these cheese pastries and some where I read that these are part of Hungary’s culture and in so many fairy tales, when the elder son goes out to conquer the world, mom would fill a knapsack with pogacsas. Very interesting, isn’t it? I was so happy that I tried the famous pastry of Hungary for this BM.

As with all the biscuits and pastries, chilled butter is rubbed into the flour. When the butter comes to pea size, rubbing is stopped and the liquid ingredients are incorporated. You should just bring the dough together. Kneading should be avoided to create the flaky texture. In the original recipe, the dough is let to sit on the counter for one hour. When I did that, the butter melted and the shaping became very difficult. I think refrigerating the dough will make the shaping easier and give the perfect texture. So I let the dough sit in the fridge during the second resting period and the result was great. I loved how the biscuits turned. It took 20-25 minutes for the biscuits to brown and become crispy. Relish it hot out of oven and you will be bowled by its flavour and taste..

Recipe Source: Tonyautkina

Makes 30 biscuits

Ingredients:

Cottage Cheese/ Paneer (click on link for recipe)-125 gm

Milk-1/4 cup

Sugar-1/2 tbs

Instant Yeast-1 tsp

Salt-1 tsp

Flour/ Maida-300 gm

Chilled Butter-125 gm

Sour Cream-1/2 cup (I used curd instead)

Curd-1/6 cup

Cheddar Cheese-100 gm

Procedure:

In a bowl mix together milk, sour cream, curd, sugar and yeast.

Let it stand for 5 minutes.

Mash paneer nicely.

Add it to the curd mixture and mix well.

Mix together flour and salt in another bowl.

Add cold cubed butter and rub it into the flour with your finger tips.

When the butter comes to pea size, add the liquid ingredients and slowly bring together the dough. 

Do not knead it.

Cover and set it in fridge for 2 hours.

Roll it into a square and spread shredded cheese evenly on it.

Roll it into a tight log.

Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Roll the refrigerated dough into a thick rectangle.

Cut out circles using a cookie cutter and arrange them on a baking tray.

Brush the circles with milk and with the help of a knife or bench scraper make criss cross marks on top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Serve it hot.

And here is one more recipe I tried from Hungary long back

Eggless Hungarian Kiffles

 Click on image for recipe

Eggless Pogacsa/ Hungarian Savoury Cheese Biscuits

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

  

Ingredients

• Cottage Cheese/ Paneer-125 gm
• Milk-1/4 cup
• Sugar-1/2 tbs
• Instant Yeast-1 tsp
• Salt-1 tsp
• Flour/ Maida-300 gm
• Chilled Butter-125 gm
• cup Sour Cream-1/2 I used curd instead
• Curd-1/6 cup
• Cheddar Cheese-100 gm

Instructions

 

Procedure

• In a bowl mix together milk, sour cream, curd, sugar and yeast.
• Let it stand for 5 minutes.
• Mash paneer nicely.
• Add it to the curd mixture and mix well.
• Mix together flour and salt in another bowl.
• Add cold cubed butter and rub it into the flour with your finger tips.
• When the butter comes to pea size, add the liquid ingredients and slowly bring together the dough.
• Do not knead it.
• Cover and set it in fridge for 2 hours.
• Roll it into a square and spread shredded cheese evenly on it.
• Roll it into a tight log.
• Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 180°C.
• Roll the refrigerated dough into a thick rectangle.
• Cut out circles using a cookie cutter and arrange them on a baking tray.
• Brush the circles with milk and with the help of a knife or bench scraper make criss cross marks on top.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.
• Serve it hot.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 44

[inlinkz_linkup id=424430 mode=1]