Lángos
Hungary's deep-fried flatbread: a soft yeasted dough stretched thin, dropped into hot oil and puffed into a golden disc, then rubbed with raw garlic and crowned with sour cream and grated cheese. Market-stall food, street food, late-night food. Eaten hot, by hand, often standing up.
Overview
A soft potato-enriched yeast dough rises slowly, gets stretched thin (not rolled), and shallow-fries in hot oil for 60-90 seconds a side until puffed, blistered and golden. Out of the pan, it's brushed with a smashed garlic-water and immediately topped with sour cream and grated cheese. The classic combination is unbeatable, but plain salted lángos eaten with the garlic rub alone is also traditional.
Ingredients
Dough
- 250 g plain flour
- 100 g cooked, mashed floury potato (cooled)
- 7 g instant dried yeast (1 sachet)
- 1 teaspoon caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 160 ml warm milk
- 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 1 litre sunflower oil, for frying
Garlic rub
- 4 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 3 tablespoons warm water
- ½ teaspoon salt
Topping (classic)
- 200 ml sour cream (tejföl)
- 150 g semi-hard cheese, grated (Trappista, Edam or mature cheddar)
Method
Stage 1 - Dough
- Whisk the yeast and sugar into the warm milk; rest 5 minutes until foamy on top.
- Mix the flour, mashed potato and salt in a large bowl. Pour in the yeasty milk and the 2 tablespoons of oil.
- Mix to a soft, sticky dough. Knead in the bowl or on an oiled surface for 6-8 minutes until smooth and elastic. It should be tacky but not gluey.
- Cover; rise in a warm spot 1 ½ hours, until doubled.
Stage 2 - Shape
- Tip the dough onto an oiled surface; divide into 4 equal pieces.
- Rest the pieces 10 minutes covered (the gluten relaxes; stretching gets easier).
- Working one piece at a time, flatten with oiled hands then stretch gently into a 20 cm disc. The middle should be thin enough to see light through; the edges slightly thicker. Don't use a rolling pin: hand-stretching keeps the bubbles.
Stage 3 - Fry
- Heat 3-4 cm of oil in a wide, deep pan to 180°C (a small piece of dough should bubble vigorously and brown in 30 seconds).
- Slide one disc in carefully. It will sink, then float and puff within 15 seconds.
- Fry 60-90 seconds, spooning hot oil over the top, until the underside is deep golden.
- Flip; fry the other side 45-60 seconds. The lángos should be puffed, blistered and dark-gold all over.
- Lift onto kitchen paper. Repeat with the rest, keeping the oil temperature steady.
Stage 4 - Garlic and top
- Whisk the crushed garlic, warm water and salt together.
- Brush each hot lángos generously with the garlic water on one side.
- Spread thickly with sour cream and shower with grated cheese.
- Eat immediately while hot.
Notes
- Hand-stretch, don't roll: Rolling crushes the gas bubbles and you get a flat, leathery lángos instead of a puffed one.
- Oil temperature: 180°C is the sweet spot. Too cool and it absorbs oil; too hot and the outside browns before the middle cooks. A thermometer is genuinely useful here.
- Mashed potato: Adds moisture and softness; gives the proper lángos texture. Don't skip.
- Eat hot: Lángos goes leathery within 15 minutes. Time it so people are at the table.
Variations
Sajtos-tejfölös (classic): As above, sour cream and cheese. Fokhagymás (plain garlic): Garlic rub only, no toppings. The original. Pizza-style (modern): Tomato sauce, ham, cheese, sour cream. Common at Lake Balaton stalls; purists object.
Serving
Eat hot, by hand, ideally outdoors with a cold beer or a glass of fröccs (white wine with soda).
Storage
- Best eaten within 30 minutes of frying.
- Reheating doesn't really work; the texture is gone.
- Dough can be made and refrigerated overnight after the first rise; bring back to room temperature before stretching.
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