Now let’s cook
Baursak. Go on, have one more. A yeast dough made with milk, a glass for a cutter and a kazan of hot oil.
Ingredients
- 400 ml milkCow’s milk, warmed before it goes into the dough.
- 6 g dry yeastDry baker’s yeast.
- 15 g sugarWhite granulated sugar.
- 540 g plain wheat flourPlain (all-purpose) white wheat flour.
- 5 ml fine saltFine table salt.
- 550 g sunflower oilSunflower oil, a neutral-tasting oil.
Method
Warm the milk and pour it into a bowl. Add the dry yeast and sugar and stir well.
Stir in 40 g of the flour, cover the bowl and leave it somewhere warm for about 15 minutes, until the surface turns foamy.
Add the remaining 500 g of flour and the salt and knead a soft dough. Cover it and leave it somewhere warm for 1 hour.
Pour 50 g of sunflower oil into the dough and knead it again. Cover and leave it somewhere warm for another 30 minutes.
Turn the risen dough out onto the worktop and roll it out 6–8 mm thick. Cut out rounds with a glass or a round cutter; gather the trimmings, roll them out again and keep cutting until the dough is used up. Cover the rounds with a towel and leave them for 10–15 minutes.
Heat the remaining 500 g of oil in a kazan until very hot. Fry the baursaks in batches without crowding them, since they swell in the oil. Fry both sides until golden, lift them out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Where this dish comes from
Baursak is one of the best-known national dishes of the Kazakhs: dough fried in oil. The dough can be yeasted or unleavened. Baursak is the first treat offered to every guest in a Kazakh home; it is served with tea, with honey or sour cream, and also with meat dishes.