My Delicious Hungarian Fried Bread truly belongs to my TOP fast food, even it is meatless. There is no festive occasion in countries I come from (former Austria-Hungary Empire), where “Lángos” isn’t been served. In Slovakia, it is traditionally doused with garlic water, similarly to pizza in some countries. As for the toppings, it is usually served with sour cream, ketchup or grated cheese. I love the whole experience, therefore, I put all the toppings at once. Great after partying, not enough sleeping or during the cold days.
Lángos comes from Hungarian word láng, which means a flame. This scrumptious fried bread has been connected already with the ancient Rome to a flat bread called “panis focacius”, which for instance, derives also the Italian Focaccia from. It was originally being made in front of brick ovens, in which the fresh bread was baking. Nowadays, people no longer have brick ovens, therefore, it is being deep-fried in oil instead.
The original recipe for Hungarian Fried Bread talks about ingredients like water/milk, sugar, salt and flour. Optional ingredients can also include sour cream, yoghurts or potatoes. The only important rule is kneading the dough, similarly to Dutch Oliebollen. It needs to be really smooth and have a middle thick consistency. Only then, you can let it rise and fry quickly afterwards. The fresher, the better. Jó étvágyat!
Hungarian Fried Bread is suitable for kids from the age of 3 plus. Easy on garlic, serve as an afternoon’s snack with tomato sugo and cheese. Yum!
Total Time: 40 minutes + 1 hour rising of The Dough
Shopping List
The Dough:
1 cup of lukewarm milk
1 teaspoon of caster sugar
20g of fresh yeast
350g of all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 whole egg
100g of plain yoghurtThe Toppings:
2 cloves of garlic, crushed, peeled and chopped
A pinch of sea salt
Few tablespoons of sour cream
Heinz Ketchup or any favourable tomato sugo*
Few handfuls of grated matured cheese (I used Cheddar)
The Tomato Sugo:
1 medium shallot, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tin of chopped tomatoes (fresh optional)
Sea salt and ground black pepper
1 handful of fresh basil
A pinch of caster sugar, chili and Provencal Herbs
Sunflower oil or lard for frying
The Dough
First, activate the yeast. Fill a coffee mug with lukewarm milk, add 1 teaspoon of caster sugar. Sprinkle with yeast and mix. Sit in a warm place for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large wide mixing bowl place the flour and salt. Once the yeast has been activated, make a well in the middle of the flour, mold the yeast in, and keep the rest of milk aside.
Stir in 1 whole egg and start kneading a dough. When it becomes a homogenous crumbly texture, pour in the yoghurt.
Take a solid spatula and beat The Dough from the bottom until you get a smooth elastic dough.
The dough shouldn’t be thick like a pizza dough, nor liquid like a pancake batter. Somewhere in between. If it is too thick, add more milk and knead some more.
Sprinkle with flour and cover with a clean cloth. Let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.
The Toppings
Prepare all the ingredients and make garlic water and tomato sugo.
The Garlic Water
In a blender put garlic, a good pinch of salt and a splash of cold water. Blend until the garlic is partly dissolved. Done
The Tomato Sugo
In a medium frying pan, sauté onion on medium heat with a 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Stir in the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Flavour it up with fresh basil, a pinch of caster sugar, chili and Provencal herbs. Let it simmer on a low heat until The Dough is ready.
Presentation
Once The Dough doubles its size, heat up a good amount of olive oil or lard in a large frying pan on medium heat.
Grease your hands with a bit of oil, so The Dough does not stick. Take a ball of The Dough, the size of your palm and start stretching the sides of the ball. Leave the edges a bit thicker and try not to break it. If it breaks, start from the ball once again. Place it gently into the hot oil and fry from each side about 3 minutes until the Hungarian Fried Bread is nicely golden.
Line a solid box with some paper towel and place all the fried breads standing next to each other. This way they leak down all the extra fat and warm each other up.
Once there is no Dough left, start plating. Brush garlic water over the top.
Next, good amount of sour cream. Sprinkle with ketchup/tomato sugo and cover with the cheese. Be generous. Enjoy with a good cold lager.
Makes 6 medium fried breads.
