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Lángos
HUNGARIAN PIZZA!
HUNGARY
Lángos is a Hungarian flatbread mead with flour, water or milk, yeast and salt. It is one of the most ancient Hungarian dishes, dating centuries back in time.
Today Lángos is made by deep-frying the dough, but in the past, it was made with leftover bread-dough – the small clumps of dough that stuck to the bowl during the preparation of the bread. The name Lángos comes from the word láng, the Hungarian word for fire, suggesting that it was baked in the front of the brick or clay oven, in the morning, while the oven was still heating, and then consumed hot as the breakfast on the bread-baking day.
All up to the mid-20th century, almost every private household in Hungary was making its own bread. Due to the costs of heating the large oven and the long process of kneading, bread was baked once a week. After the communist regime developed in Hungary, and the need for a workforce asked for most of the population to start working, private households stopped baking their own bread and started buying it in food stores and bakeries. With no leftover dough and no oven heated up, Lángos was also not being baked.
After the revolution in 1956, few small businesses were allowed to open and they started to sell new kinds of Lángos – fried in lard or sunflower oil. It quickly became very popular, and during the ‘70s and ‘80s, it was one of the most popular street foods in Hungary.
Today Lángos is a beloved, affordable, simple snack that is often sold at the beaches of famous Lake Balaton, on popular street corners, around bus stations, at fairs and local markets, and during big celebrations and sports events all over Eastern European countries. It is also very popular in Austria, especially in the capital Vienna, where it is one of the favorite fast foods in the famous amusement park Prater. This fried flatbread can also be found in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Croatia where it is known as Langoš, in Serbia as Languš, in Slovenia it is found as Langaš, and in Bulgaria as Mekitsa. It is also popular in Romania as Langoși, and in Poland where it is known as langosz.
The dough for Lángos is similar to the pizza dough, and it is often referred to as Hungarian pizza, especially the versions with toppings, but Lángos is fried instead of baked. There are also versions where sour cream, yogurt or mashed potatoes (krumplis lángos) is added to the dough. It is traditionally served warm, rubbed with fresh garlic, and topped with sour cream and grated cheese, but ingredients such as ham, mushrooms, and cabbage can also be added. We made the traditional version but used plant-based alternatives for milk and sour cream.
This crispy, tasty bread is a beloved snack, transporting everyone, especially Hungarians to the summers at the country’s Lake Balaton with each bite.
RECIPE FOR 4 LANGOS
// a bit tricky // €€€
Preparation: 10 min // Rest + Cooking: 120 min // Total: 130 min
INGRIDIENTS
For the dough:
280g of all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp instant yeast
1 tsp white granulated sugar
250ml lukewarm vegan milk (we used oat milk)
1 tsp salt
For the frying:
1 cup vegetable oil*
Topping:
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp vegan sour cream
vegan cheese, shredded
- Put flour in a large bowl and add yeast. Mix well.
- Add sugar, salt and vegan milk. Mix well with a spoon and start kneading with your hands or use a food processor with dough hooks. Knead for about 5-10 minutes or until a smooth dough has formed.
- Form a ball, drizzle it with olive oil and turn it a couple of times to make sure it’s covered with oil (so that it doesn’t dry out while resting). Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and leave it in a warm place to rise for 45-60 minutes or until the dough has nearly doubled in size.
- Transfer the dough ball to a well-floured surface and divide it into 4 same-sized pieces and form a ball out of each piece.
- Roll the dough out with a rolling pin into a disc about 15-17 cm in diameter.
- In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, heat oil.
- When hot, add Lángos one by one. Fry for about a minute before turning it over and frying for another minute – Lángos should be golden brown, but some lighter spots are ok. Place fried Langos onto a few sheets of paper kitchen towel to get rid of any excess oil.
- In the meantime mix minced garlic, olive oil and salt.
- Serve Lángos while still warm, spread the garlic-oil mixture over and top with vegan sour cream and shredded vegan cheese, or any other ingredient of your choice.
- Jó étvágyat!
NOTE!
* Use any mild-flavored oil with high smoke point – we don’t recommend using olive oil. Depending on the size of your pot you might need more than 1 cup.
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Keep it Vegan!
Thank you for taking your time and exploring our recipes! We hope that we have inspired you to try out some dishes.