When I told BM I wanted to make perogies from scratch, he tried to warn me it would take all afternoon, and possibly some of the evening. I scoffed, but he really wasn't kidding. We actually had to take a break during which BM cooked a "snack" meal to hold us over until the perogies were done.
All I have to say for myself is that it seemed like a good idea at the time.
The prep
Cost: $5-6 to make a whooooole lot of perogies.
You'll find everything you need at your local supermarket. In fact, you'll probably have most of what you need in your pantry/fridge already.
Cooking
Easiness: 1/5 for the inconvenience and time consuming nature of this recipe.
I sort of assumed that making perogies would be like making Chinese dumplings. I suppose the analogy is sound, but I actually haven't made dumplings since I was 6, and I don't think we ever made the wrappers from scratch. I followed this recipe, but I don't really recommend it that much. The ratios for everything were way off, even after I tried to make modifications based on the suggestions at the bottom of the page.
You'll need:
About 2 lbs of baking potatoes (don't use the recipe's 5 lbs!)
1 cup cheddar cheese
Other seasonings
Salt and pepper
4 cups of all purpose flour
1 and 1/3 c water (cold)
2 eggs, beaten
Start by peeling and cutting the potatoes into manageable chunks and boiling them until tender, about 20-30 minutes. When I did this recipe I used about 5-6 medium baking potatoes, figuring that would approximately be the 5lbs originally called for in the recipe. My estimations may have been totally wrong, but I know when I was done I had WAY more potatoes than I knew what to do with.
Once the potatoes are soft, drain and mash. I don't have a masher, so I usually overcook the potatoes a little and mash with a spoon or a fork. Stir in the cheddar cheese until melted, along with some salt and pepper to taste. I really like garlic so I threw in a tablespoon or two of garlic powder as well. You'll want to add some extra punch to your potatoes because the dough is actually quite bland and will leech a lot of flavor out of the potatoes!
For the dough, combine the flour, eggs, and cold water together until it forms a dough. I read that you should use the water from the boiled potatoes because the starch makes the dough easier to handle; I tried this, but I don't know if makes a difference. Also, the consistency of the water from the boiled potatoes was a little odd, and I wonder if it contributed to the stickiness of the dough later.
Roll the dough out on a floured surface. You want it relatively thin, but not so much that it will tear while you're filling it. I found this part especially arduous, since the dough seemed rather elastic and wouldn't roll out easily, shrinking back into itself. I ended up having to recruit BM's help with this whenever I got tired and frustrated.
Once the dough is rolled out, cut small circles out with a round container. I used a drinking glass.
Add a small spoonful of potato filling to the center of the dough and fold it over and pinch the edges shut. Be careful not to over fill them, you need enough room to seal the perogie so it doesn't burst open when you're cooking it. I found the easiest way was to do a bit of a fold (sort of like rolling the edge of the dough over itself) before pinching it to make sure they stayed shut. Repeat the rolling, circle cutting, and stuffing until all the dough is gone. It's very straight forward, it just takes FOREVER to do.
I stacked all my perogies on top of each other as I made them, but I don't recommend this since the ones on the bottom layers got sticky and the perogies started to merge together a little.
We got about 60 perogies out of it before we ran out of dough (and patience). One batch got cooked up right away, and the rest was frozen. To make sure the perogies didn't stick together, I lay them flat on a baking sheet in the freezer, and once they were individually frozen, tossed them into a Ziploc container.
I boiled the perogies until they floated (cheering when they stayed sealed shut) and then transfered them into a pan with a little melted butter and browned onions.
The Result
I think I started making perogies at around 1 or 2 PM that day, and we didn't eat until close to 10 PM. Whoever came up with this must have had a lot of time on their hands. I understand now why whenever people make perogies from scratch, it's like a social event. I can imagine that several people in the kitchen, each dedicated to a specific job in an assembly line of perogy production, could churn out many more perogies in less time than it took me. Even though this was a huge source of frustration and labor for me as one person (and a nice opportunity for an "I told you so" on BM's part), it's kind of nice to think of recipes that people can come together over, not just for the consumption, but for the creation as well.
Overall, the perogies turned out very well for my first time making them from scratch. Despite being a little low on flavor due to the blandness of the dough, the consistency and overall taste were very good, and on par with what I would buy from the frozen section of the supermarket. They also froze and reheated very well. The blandness might have been fixed if I had used the bacon recommended in the recipe.
Although cheaper than buying them at the store, I'm not convinced that the extra work involved was worth it. It was a good experience, but I'm afraid I definitely consider perogies a food better purchased than made from scratch.
Sorry for the lack of pictures. I swear I had a bunch, but my computer lied to me when it claimed that it had copied all the files over...but I only found out AFTER I deleted all the photos from the SD card. Whoops.
