The queen of pogácsa [po-gah-tcha] is layered! Pogácsa is uniquely eastern European with no exact
word for it in English. Hence the different translations. So then what are they?
Are they scones, biscuits, lardcakes, puffs? Well not quite. But for
convenience let’s just call them “biscuits”.
Layering in this case is laminating two different types of dough together with repeated folding and resting. The biscuits puff up in the high
temperature and the result is a tray of addictively salty treat. Don’t make too much though, pogácsa is
not a lengthy keeper.
LAYERED BISCUITS
Dough 1:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup 14% sour cream
Dough 2:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup lard
1 egg for brushing
- In a medium bowl combine ingredients of the dough 1.
- Kneed to form a dough.
- Lightly sprinkle a sheet of parchment paper with flour.
- Place dough 1 on top and sprinkle the top with a little flour.
- Flatten the dough by hand, and with a floured roller, roll it into a 1/4 inch thick 14x11 inch rectangle. Add a little more flour if needed.
- Set this aside.
- Next combine ingredients of dough 2.
- This will be sticky. Place it on top of the dough rectangle.
- Sprinkle a little flour on top of the sticky dough and with your hands gently spread it over the entire rectangle.
- You can use a roller, but first lightly flour the top and cover with plastic wrap. Dough 2 is very sticky and will stick to the wrap an/or the roller without a light sprinkle of flour.
- When the two dough layers are roughly the same size, fold the dough in three.
- Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
- Do a quarter turn, sprinkle with flour and roll it out again.
- Make sure the short side of the rectangle is always facing you before you fold.
- Repeat resting and folding twice more.
- When nearing the second rest turn the oven on to slightly above 400F.
- Line a baking sheet with clean parchment paper.
- After the last rest, roll out the dough to 2 finger thickness.
- Score the top in a crosshatch pattern.
- Brush the top with lightly beaten egg. It is important to brush the top with the egg at this stage. You don’t want the egg yolk running down the sides of the biscuits, this would result in much leaning. The aim is to have straight, evenly risen biscuits.
- Cut out as many rounds as you can and place them on the prepared baking sheet. The size of the cutters is personal preference, you can always experiment. Personally I prefer medium sized biscuits.
- Do not reroll the scraps, lightly guide them into a round grouping and bake them as they are. The resulting pull-apart is every bit as tasty as the biscuits.
- Place them in the preheated oven.
- Bake until the tops are golden brown.
- These are best fresh. Store leftovers on a tray, covered with a clean serviette.
- Do not store these biscuits in a plastic container. Do not reheat.
