The Hungarian biscuit that uses crackling is delicious and in Hungary no New Years Eve celebration is complete without it. The biggest obstacle to making it is getting hold of is raw bacon, a type of thick fat. Where I live the only place to obtain pork fat is from an independent butcher who cures his own sausages. Then again, you have to plan and order the pork fat and depending on when the butcher makes his sausages or gets new supplies you may have to wait if, all he has is fifty pounds of solidly frozen pork fat in his freezer. You could luck out, but don’t count on it. It is not possible to make descent crackling from bacon or salted pork. The taste will be very different and the result is simply not worth the effort. Finally I got hold of a little bit of pork fat, not the 2 inch slab my grandma made her crackling from, but after cutting away the membrane layers I had enough pork fat
left to make some crackling. The added bonus is I also have some lovely homemade lard.
BUTTERY CRACKLING BISCUITS
4-1/2 cups flour [measured with 1/2 cup sweep method] 1/2 cup homemade lard
salt to taste
2-1/4 tsp dry instant yeast [1 pkg]
2 cups finely chopped crackling
1 egg
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup + 2 Tbsp full fat sour cream
ground pepper to taste
1 egg yolk for brushing
• Make the crackling first. Reserve the melted lard and finely chop the crackling.
• Add 4-1/2 cups of flour to a large mixing bowl.
• Add the lard and rub it into the flour.
• Add the salt and mix it into the flour. Taste it, it should be pleasantly salty.
• Add the dry instant yeast.
• Whisk to combine.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, the wine and the sour cream.
• Add to the dry ingredients and mix to combine.
• Place dough on a board and kneed smooth. Dough should be pliable and soft.
• Cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
• Roll out dough fairly thin.
• Scatter 1 cup of finely chopped crackling on the top.
• Press the crackling into the dough and fold up like an envelope.
• Cover dough and rest for 20 minutes.
• Repeat procedure, roll out dough again and scatter 1 cup of crackling on the top.
• Press the crackling into the dough.
• Sprinkle with ground pepper. The amount of ground pepper used is up to individual preference.
• Fold up dough like an envelope.
• Cover dough and rest for 20 minutes.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Roll out dough to a 12 by 9 inch rectangle and score the top with a knife. [Do not cut through]
• Cut into rounds with a small biscuit cutter.
• Re roll the dough scraps and cut more rounds.
• Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet.
• Spread the tops with the egg yolk.
• Let rest for twenty minutes.
• Meanwhile set the oven to between 400 and 425F.
• Bake the biscuits in the preheated oven until golden.
• These are best on the day they are made.
