Pampushky
Ukrainian small soft yeast rolls slathered with a paste of garlic, oil, salt and dill - pulled apart and dipped into bowls of borscht. Pillow-soft on the inside, glossy with garlic oil on top, intensely savoury. The traditional companion to red borscht, but also good as a starter on their own.
Overview
A simple enriched dough, flour, milk, butter, egg, yeast, rises until doubled. Twelve small balls form, arrange touching in a round tin and rise again. Bake until golden. While they bake, garlic-oil dressing is mashed in a mortar; the rolls come out and immediately get brushed all over with the warm garlicky oil.
Ingredients
Dough
- 500 g strong white bread flour
- 1 sachet (7 g) fast-action yeast
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 250 ml whole milk (lukewarm)
- 1 egg (large, plus 1 yolk for glaze)
- 50 g unsalted butter (softened)
- 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
Garlic oil topping
- 8 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill (finely chopped)
- 2 tablespoons water
Method
Stage 1 - Dough
- Combine the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl.
- Whisk the lukewarm milk with the egg, butter and oil.
- Pour into the flour; mix to a soft dough.
- Knead 10 minutes by hand or 6 in a stand mixer with a dough hook, until smooth and elastic.
- Cover and rise 1 hour until doubled.
Stage 2 - Shape
- Knock back the dough; divide into 12 equal balls.
- Arrange in a buttered 26 cm round cake tin or oven-proof skillet, leaving small gaps - they'll touch as they rise.
Stage 3 - Second rise
- Cover loosely; rise 30-40 minutes until puffy and just touching each other.
Stage 4 - Bake
- Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan).
- Whisk the egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water; brush over the rolls.
- Bake 18-22 minutes until deep golden.
Stage 5 - Garlic oil
- While baking, pound the garlic with the salt to a smooth paste in a mortar.
- Mix in the oil, dill and water to make a slick, pungent dressing.
Stage 6 - Glaze and serve
- Pull rolls from the oven; immediately brush all over the tops with the garlic oil - it should soak into the warm crust.
- Eat warm, pulled apart and dipped into hot borscht.
Notes
- Brush hot from the oven: Cool rolls don't absorb the garlic oil; they sit dressed but unflavoured.
- Smash the garlic, don't mince: A mortar releases the oils properly. A grater or microplane is the next best; minced is fine.
- Eat the day baked: Pampushky stale fast - they're not bread to keep. Make for the meal you're eating.
Storage
- Best fresh; refrigerate 2 days at most. Reheat at 180°C for 5 minutes covered, then re-brush with fresh garlic oil.
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