Speķa rauši or speķa pīrādziņi, also known as pīrāgi or pīrādziņi are Latvian pastries made of yeast dough and usually filled with finely chopped bacon and onion. Fillings can be varied and can also be made of ground meat, cabbage, cottage cheese, cheese or apples. Pīragi are usually made for special occasions throughout the year.
This recipe asks for keeping the dough in a fridge for 30 minutes, so that we can enjoy warm and soft piragi without a long wait. Usually the dough for piragi is left to grow in room temperature for at least an hour or more, but the dough made this way also grows nicely and piragi are very soft.
I am sharing a different than traditional way of rolling the piragi, as it is the one I learnt in my childhood and is still the way I make piragi now. This way they are quick to make and come out the same size.
Ingredients
- 25 grams (2.7 tablespoons) fresh yeast
- 200 grams (0.88 cups) unsalted butter
- 25 grams (1/2 tablespoon) sugar
- 450 – 500 grams (3 and 3/4 cups) all purpose flour
- plus approximately 100 grams (3/4 cup) flour for dusting and kneading
- 250 ml (1 cup) milk
- 100 ml (0.45 cups) warm water
For the bacon filling:
- 500 grams (2 cups) bacon cut in small cubes
- 1 onion (size is up to you depending on how much you like onion)
Directions
- Crumble yeast in a bowl. Add sugar, warm water and a few tablespoons of flour. Mix everything and put the bowl aside in a warm place. Make sure to use warm, not hot water, otherwise you will kill the yeast and it will not grow.
- Warm up milk. Add butter and keep it on the stove on low heat till the butter melts. When the butter has melted, remove the post from the stove and put aside to cool as we need the milk to be just slightly warm to use it for making dough.
- When the milk has cooled and yeast has grown a bit, pour the milk in a bigger bowl.
- Add some tablespoons of flour and mix a bit.
- Pour in the yeast and stir.
- Add the rest of the flour to the batter and mix well. The dough will be changing and forming.
- Sprinkle some flour on the kitchen countertop and take the dough out of the bowl.
- Knead the dough to get smooth and consistent dough. It should be soft and buttery. If the dough is too sticky, add a bit of flour, but just enough for the dough to keep together as we want it to be soft.
- Sprinkle a bit of flour in a big bowl, put the dough in the bowl and cover it with a lid or a folded towel. Put the bowl in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
- In the meanwhile we can prepare filling for the bacon buns. Cut the onion in small pieces.
- Fry the bacon till soft, add to it the onion and some black pepper. Add salt if needed.
- When the bacon is fried, but still soft, and the onion is transparent, remove the pan from the stove and put the mix in a bowl to cool.
- Set the oven to heat to 220 degrees Celsius or 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- When the dough has been in the fridge for about 30 minutes, put parchment paper or a silicone baking mat on a baking tray and sprinkle some flour on it.
- Remove the dough from the fridge. It should have grown and doubled in size.
- Cut it in four pieces. Keep one of the pieces and put the others back in bowl and fridge.
- Roll the dough to form a circle.
- Cut it in 8 triangles like pizza slices.
- Put the bacon mix, approximately 1 and 1/2 teaspoons, on the wider end of each of the slices so that we have generous filling and at the same time are able to close and roll the bun.
- Fold the dough ends around the bacon mix, at first from both sides, then from the end to close it and roll the bun.
- Put the end of the dough triangle under the bun and make sure all the sides are closed around the bacon mix.
- Put the bacon buns on the baking tray leaving some distance between them as they will grow while baking.
- Beat an egg in a cup and brush the buns with the egg.
- Put them in the oven to bake for 8 to 11 minutes till the look nicely golden brown.
- Remove the bacon buns from the oven and let them cool in the tray for a few minutes.
- Put them on a plate and enjoy!