Baked Langosh, The Hungarian Pizza

hungarian pizza baked langosh

 🍴  Servings: 4


🥣 Category: Street Food


💪 Difficulty Level: 4/5 


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The Hungarian Pizza

Baked langosh may look similar to a good Italian pizza, but it is a completely different dish. Boiled potatoes are added to the dough, the dough is thicker and the sour cream also gives it its characteristic taste. Incidentally, the baking time of a pizza is much shorter. Do not confuse this dish with the other famous Hungarian street food, langosh fried in fat; it is also a sensational dish and, as will soon become clear, the two are related. Let us get to know the Hungarian pizza!

The history of this fantastic street food

Langosh or bread pie most likely evolved at same time as bread. The bread dough was made in a kneading pan, and flat cakes were formed from the remains of the bread dough trough to the sides, and they were baked in the still smoldering furnace after the bread was baked. The langosh was baked in the oven’s front section.

But what was the purpose of making baked langosh?

Bread was traditionally baked every 5-7 days because it required a lot of valuable fuel to heat the oven and kneading the bread dough itself took langosh on the day the bread was baked, and smaller loaves later and the next day, while the 3-5 kilo loaves were often only cut on the second or third day.

Today's version of Hungarian pizza

The more affluent baked it loaded with onions and bacon, which inspired today’s baked langosh, especially in the south-western part of Hungary. It was eaten on its own in the East, with sour cream or jam, and later, after the introduction of industrial sugar (especially by children), it was also eaten sweet. The tradition of baking bread at home vanished with the modernization of agriculture, and was replaced by the baking industry and industrially produced bread in the transformed rural society. The fried langosh in fat first appeared at the end of the 1950s, primarily among small artisans. It became extremely popular in the 1970s.

"Kenyérlángos" in other countries

It is a popular street vendor item in Hungary and other Hungarian-populated areas. It is also available in amusement parks in Austria. Because of Hungarian influence, it spread there and in the Czech Republic. Locals can frequently be seen eating baked langosh in Vienna’s Prater. In addition to the traditional kenyérlángos, fried langosh are available. It has recently spread globally, and it is already known and sold in Australia and New Zealand.

Ingredients:

  • 500 g (+1 tbsp) all-purpose flour
  • 3 medium boiled potatoes
  • 3 tablespoons of lard or oil
  • 100 ml of milk
  • 100 ml of water
  • 100 g of smoked bacon
  • 100 g grated cheese
  • 20 g of fresh yeast
  • 1 tablespoon of crushed garlic
  • 1 head of red onion
  • sugar, salt

Steps:

  1. Mix the yeast with a tablespoon of flour, a teaspoon of sugar and the lukewarm milk. Cover and leave to rise for 10 minutes.
  2. Mash the cooked potatoes well. Mix with all the flour, the lard, a teaspoon of salt, the lukewarm water and the risen yeast. Knead into a smooth and homogeneous dough. Sprinkle with a little flour, cover and leave to rise for an hour.
  3. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1 cm and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
  4. Mix the sour cream with the garlic and spread over the pastry.
  5. Sprinkle with sliced red onions, stripped smoked bacon and grated cheese
  6. Bake in the oven or furnace at 390°F (200°C) for 25-30 minutes.
  7. Leave to cool slightly and enjoy!

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