Hungarian Fried Bread – Langos Recipe (2024)

Published by: Adina November 2, 2017 · Last modified: January 13, 2024 20 Comments

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Crispy Hungarian fried bread – Langos recipe - topped with garlic sour cream and grated cheese or simply sprinkled with sugar.

Hungarian Fried Bread – Langos Recipe (1)

I have been eating Hungarian langos or Romanian "scovergi" lots of times during my childhood, but until I moved to Germany, I didn't know that langos are actually a Hungarian recipe and not a Romanian one.

That has been the case with many of the dishes that my grandmother cooked all her life, things like the Hungarian Goulash or Pörkölt, which my grandma would call tocanita de porc, chicken paprikash with dumplings, which we ate at least once a month or Plum Dumplings – Galuste cu prune.

Hungarian Fried Bread – Langos Recipe (2)

How to make langos?

Yeast dough

Dissolve the fresh yeast in the lukewarm water. If you are using dry instant yeast mix it with the flour.
Mix the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the yeast water to the flour, add the oil, and mix well with a wooden spoon. When the dough is well mixed, start kneading it until the dough is smooth and no longer sticks to the bowl.
You can make the dough in a stand mixer as well.
Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the mixer, add the yeast water, and knead for about 2-3 minutes until the dough is smooth and doesn't stick to the walls of the machine anymore.
Transfer the dough into a bowl, cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 40 minutes in a warm kitchen. Just check and leave it a bit longer if necessary.

Shape the langos

Place the risen dough on the very lightly oiled working surface. Knead shortly and divide the dough into 8 equal parts. Form 8 balls.
Take one ball, and with lightly oiled hands, start pressing and stretching it on the working surface to form a circle of about 15 cm/ 6 inches. You will not need a roll pin; press the dough with your hands and fingers.

Fry them

Heat enough oil in a wok or deep frying pan so that the langos can swim. I fried only one langos at a time, they are so large you will not be able to fit two in a regular sized pan or wok.
Make sure the oil is hot enough before you start frying your first langos. To check that, carefully insert a tooth pick in the oil, if you see little bubbles forming around it, you will know that the oil is hot enough.
Carefully place one langos in the oil. Fry it for about 2-3 minutes on each side or until deeply golden.
Take it out with a slotted spoon and place it on paper towels to absorb the fat. I also pat it dry on the other side with an extra paper towel.

Make the topping

Grate the garlic and place it into a small bowl.
Add mustard and oil, and stir well until the mixture emulsifies slightly.
Add sour cream or smetana and stir well.
Add about half of the grated cheese and stir again.
Adjust the taste with salt.

Hungarian Fried Bread – Langos Recipe (3)

How to serve?

Serve the langos immediately topped with the sour cream, the remaining grated cheese, a sprinkle of paprika or chili, and some chopped parsley. You could also replace the smetana or sour cream with crème fraiche or take yogurt, either Greek or plain, for a lighter version.

If you prefer to eat them sweet, you can sprinkle them with sugar or spread some jam or nutella on top of the langos.

At the fair, you have lots of other alternatives for the topping. These are some I remember:

sour cream + cheese + ham
sour cream + Alp cheese + green onions
sour cream + bacon + cheese
sour cream + feta + herbs
nutella
cinnamon sugar
jam

And if you are interested in similar flatbreads (baked, not fried), have a look at these recipes:

Romanian Cheese Pie with Feta and Dill
Romanian Cabbage Dill Pies - Placinte cu varza
Romanian Sweet Cheese Pies with Raisins - Branzoaice

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