Absolutely nothing in our family home was coveted more than piragi, Latvian bacon buns. My mom rarely baked yet every now and then, especially near the holidays, something magical would happen. Mom would bake these sweet fabulous bacon buns that would remind her of home in Latvia. They now remind me of home in Toronto with my family.
She sent me this Latvian Cookbook available only from the Latvian Canadian Centre in Toronto, as far as I know, a couple of years ago when I had decided to begin my foodie odyssey. I was shocked to find that there was not one quintessential recipe in there for piragi… there were three! And, none of them resembled my mom’s recipe. So I called her up for her recipe and the following is a breadmaker adaptation of her recipe that she had printed in my public school’s cookbook many years ago.
The original recipe calls for nine cups of flour. When my mom made these, she was going to make so many that they would last. I decided to divide the recipe in half so it would fit in the breadmaker and make my life easier. Fill loaf pan in this order:
1 1/2 cups warm (not hot) milk
6 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 egg + 1 yolk
4 3/4 cup flour
2 3/4 tsp of yeast
Select dough cycle. As you can see in the photo above on the right, this made quite a wet dough so I added some more flour until it all came together. Always check on the dough when you use a breadmaker to see if it is too dry or wet!
I got one package of turkey bacon and my mom said to cut them into strips which looked weird to me. I ended up using a spatula to cut them into finer pieces. I also added one finely minced onion, some salt and a ton of pepper. You really want to go heavy on the cracked black pepper. Cook together on medium heat for 8-10 minutes, do not brown. Let filling cool. (BTW, if you can use regular bacon, do it. The flavour is irreplaceable. The turkey bacon is OK but it is not the same.)
Update: I recently put so much bacon into my bacon buns that I could only make half the recipe so make sure to have an extra package of bacon just in case.
OK, maybe you only need 2 tsp of yeast! I made the dough and filling the day before. I did not have enough energy to make it all in one day. I put the dough in a greased bowl, made sure it was covered in oil, then wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge along with the cooled filling.
The next day I divided the dough into four sections.
You want to divide each quarter into 15 pieces. Roll into a ball, flatten until 1/8″ thin.
Fill with as much filling as you can. Seriously, this is my Mom’s secret to the perfect piragi. Believe it or not, I did not have enough filling for all the dough! I suggest adding an additional 1/4 of a package to bacon to the filling.
Pinch seam together and then use a glass to cut and seal the edge. Filling all those piragi took a while, even with me making only half a batch. Turn on the radio or some good music. You are going to be here a while.
Whisk an egg with 1 tbsp of water to make an eggwash and brush on to the buns. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Next you are going to need very strong and sweet coffee. Right after the buns come out of the oven, brush coffee generously onto the buns.
This is absolutely essential! After each bun has been brushed with the coffee mixture, cover with a tea towel moistened with hot water. Let the buns steam for a quite a few minutes but do not leave on too long or else they were wrinkle. Trust me, I learned the hard way!
Yes, these take quite a while to make but for me, they taste like Christmas at home. I am missing my family terribly this year. This will be the fourth Christmas I spend away from them and I am more than just a little homesick.
These are of course not a substitute for family but I will indulge in the unique flavours of my childhood with pleasure and nostalgia.
Here is the original recipe:
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Yum!! I’ve been thinking about piragi this season – almost enough to make them 🙂 Yours look absolutely perfect!
Reading your description I see just how many things feel like little family secrets and/or a bit of family history. Remember the year we made them at my place and tried making them both with the filling cooked and uncooked? And the coffee wash is Grandma’s special addition. It’s absolutely amazing not only how many memories certain foods hold but also the preparations of those foods.
I’ll look forward to making these together again – though I may have to get both a food processor and a bread maker!
Oh, these look and sound absolutely delicious! When I saw your post title, I thought “Hmmm, piragi sounds like perogy, but it says they’re buns so they must be completely different.” And of course they are, but still somewhat similar, having a filling and being pinch sealed. But they’re also sort of like oriental steamed buns, aren’t they? What I’m trying to say is: mmmmm, bacon.
Thanks Jamie! Oh yes, I totally remember us making them altogether at your place. I can’t remember if we liked the uncooked version better or not? I didn’t know the coffee wash was Grandma’s idea, so cool! I would love to make these together again but if we do, we’ll have to make the nine cup version, LOL.
Thank you Debra! It’s true, they are kind of like a baked perogy aren’t they? Just as much work too! Yes, the texture is similar to steamed buns, just with a golden exterior. I know, bacon, dough and onions… what could be bad?
These look beautiful Suzie and how much more special to have all of the memories and family treasures “baked into them”. They look like they were well worth the time and effort! xoO
Ok, like Drebra said I thought from the title that these would be like a ukranian perogy! I love the idea of these, and as soon as I read that you brush them with coffee I was sold!
Oh I am SO going to make these this weekend! Thank you for sharing one of your holiday traditions.
Do you use bread maker yeast or just regular old yeast?
So glad you like the stories as well as the look of them! The coffee glaze really makes these unique, you will love them! Tanaya, I used breadmaker yeast but you could use whatever, just not instant.
These look awesome! I’ve never heard of them before, but I think we’d love them!! I’m gonna have to try. Yum!
These look yummy. How unusual, bacon stuffdd and the coffee for a top glaze. It is so nice to have traditional dishes that remind us of family and good memories. Hope you are having a peaceful day today. I have been so busy lately, no time to visit many blogs.Talk to you soon. xoxox
I’m practically drooling. Those piragi look so delicious. I’m going to have to try to make them.
I made a batch of these last year, and they are absolutely amazing! I might do some up this year for when my folks come over (I find them extremely addictive!)
Your recipe is quite different from mine. The dough is similar but you use way more sugar than I do. Your filling recipe is also different. All the piragi I’ve ever eaten here contain both bacon and ham in addition to the onion and everything is finely chopped and then cooked. I’ve also never heard of brushing the outside with sweet coffee.
When I seal mine off, I pinch them closed and then fold the extra dough under to prevent the seams from popping open. It’s the way my grandmother, my great-aunt and my mother taught me to make them. All 3 of them are also awesome Latvian rye bread makers. It’s a shame my grandmother and great-aunt are no longer with us. I need to find time to have my mother teach. She’s taught me how to cook so much delicious Latvian food that my husband and kids love.
So glad you made these last year Nigel and that they were a hit!
LLL, well that is the joy of family recipes, the tweaking. That is similar to how I make perogies. Oh I am sorry about your family, I miss my Latvian grandmother so much too. I wish I had learned more about food from her.
I made piragi last night (using a different recipe, though) and now came across your post. How interesting to read about the coffee wash – i’m really intrigued! I wish I had known about it yesterday, I could have tried that magic coffee touch as well 🙂
Greetings from Estonia!
Pille, oh how exciting you also make piragi! That is so rare for me. Yes, absolutely, next time make a very sweet coffee wash, you will not be disappointed. Sorry you found the post a tad late but at least now you have an excuse to make more soon. 🙂 So nice to meet you and greetings from Canada!
Yeah, bacon patties are amazing! Everlasting value!
The thing is – the name pīrāgi is soo widely spread and so wrong. Many people in Latvia would never call this pīrāgs. In Latvian these buns are called speķa rauši (rausis in singular, speka rausi – bacon pastries/patties). This is much nicer name and more Latvian.
Well my family is directly from Latvia and would disagree with you. Maybe things have changed there since they left but that is what they were called when my mom grew up there. Thanks for the update though! Well done, I never got to learn Latvian and always wished my mom had taught me. Our incorrect pronunciation drove her crazy though, LOL. I love the language. Makes me feel like home to read it and hear it so thank you.
My mother-in-law taught me to make PEDUGS. She did not like the bacon style of buns. They were greasy as far as she was concerned. She always used a high quality ham filling with quite a lot of onion and some pepper and a dash of cloves. Yummy!
It’s true, they are greasy which is why I like to cook the bacon down. Ham is a great substitute, thank you!
Joan Scott 26 June
With my husbands help we have just made our version of Latvian perogies today.Smoky bacon,chestnut mushrooms,and sauted onions ,in.bread dough,plenty of blackpepper. Very tasty Just taking some to our Latvian neighbours.
Chestnut? Wow, that’s a new one for me Joan but I love the sound of it. How wonderful for you to share with your neighbours too, I bet they LOVED them! Thanks for sharing your story and rendition of the recipe with me too.
Oh Suzie, I bow down to you and will forever be thankful. Not only have you supplied me with what tastes like the traditional piragis that my grandmother used to make. But you have also adapted it for the breadmaker. You, seriously, are my hero! I have spent YEARS trying to get that certain individual taste of the piragi yeast dough and have until now, failed to get the exact right texture and taste! I think the secret is adding the eggs and milk to the dough mixture. Up until now I’ve always tried out different varieties of just plain bread dough – doesn’t compare! So I now have in my freezer over 6 dozen piragis bagged up waiting to share over Christmas. I started around 9.30 this morning and finished at around 8.00 this evening, but so well worth the time. I did have to make 3 batches of dough though so there was time spent having to wait for the breadmaker to do its thing each time! But thank you so much. I shall be doing another “piragi shift” in the next day or two to make sure we don’t run out over Christmas/New Year! Merry Christmas to you and your family 🙂
Hi Rieta! Thank you so much for commenting. You have just inspired me to keep on writing and photographing food, like giving me a big warm hug. 🙂 I am so glad that you have the right texture and taste. It’s such a treasure, isn’t it? I’m glad you enjoy and appreciate making the dough in the bread maker. The dough is the toughest (no pun intended) part for me to do so getting around that worked for me too. Oh it is such an odyssey to make these, isn’t it? But so worth it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to your family too. I am so glad my mom’s recipe will live on at your home with your loved ones too!
Suzie, it’s Rieta/Retty from Australia here again. Thanks for your response. I’m so glad that I have now inspired you to keep writing and photographing your food! You do so well with what I’ve seen! Can you possibly supply me with perhaps a link that you have, so I can see all your other food creations? I’m also glad that you felt that big warm hug – because that’s exactly what I wanted to send to you in appreciation for taking the time and effort to share. You truly have made me so thankful and appreciative…. All the piragis that I baked have now been eaten – and it’s not even Christmas yet! LOL So I will definitely be putting in more hours replenishing them before Christmas and New Years’ celebrations! *groans at the thought, but I also know how awesome they will be, thanks to you!* …. I don’t know about you, but because they are so labour intensive, you actually hate it when people eat too many of them in one sitting, don’t you? All the hours and labour intensive work can potentially be gone in 10 minutes!! LOL I remember my grandmother almost rationed everyone as to how many they could have, because she was scared if she ran out of them before the festive season was over that she would have to do more … Hahaha I know how she felt – do you feel the same??
I forgot to also say, that I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy New Year 🙂 xxx
Hi Rieta! You can find my regular feed at http://www.suziethefoodie.com And yes, I did feel that big warm hug! I’m going to pick up some bacon today and maybe make some for Christmas too. It’s true, they disappear so quickly, don’t they? My sisters and my mom and Auntie Laima got together once and made them altogether which helps but when you do it on your own…!!! Yes, rationing is a wise choice! Absolutely.
May you and your family have a beautiful holiday together. It is lovely to meet you! 🙂
Re my above comment, sorry I came up as Anonymous, but I couldn’t get it to post any other way. My name is actually Rieta! Cheers 🙂
These are my favorite Latvian treats. My grandmother would make them at every holiday and the cousins would literally fight over who got the last one. We also called them pedugs. I make them in her memory every year at Christmas <3
Oh yes, these are fighting-worthy aren’t they? Interesting pronunciation! I never know if I’m saying it correctly. I’m thinking of making some this year too, such a special treat. Enjoy Kalee!
I have been making piragus using my mom’s recipe for years. Due to pain in my hands I could no longer kneed the dough. Being able to use the bread mashine is wonderful. The piragi turned out perfect. Only a little pale. So I basted them with a little butter prior to 5 minutes from being done. Turned out just beautiful and they taste just like my mom’s.
Isn’t the bread maker wonderful? I am so glad it helped you make pirogues too. Bliss!
could you post you’re original recipe? i no longer have a bread maker by choice. I like the way everything comes out by hand instead. and also If you have any other recipe that is Latvian original. My boyfriend is first generation born in USA, Latvian and is always talking about grandmas cooking, so i am looking for some great recipes to make for him. He has talked about a cheeseburger cooked in a gravy. I am hosting an event next month and i travel the world with my menu and figured next month i would go to Latvia. so any suggestions would be great.
You got it hugapet! I posted the original recipe at the end of the post. I am looking for the recipe for the bun pronounced teeeemamayze…. Let me know if you find that recipe please!
My grandmother married a Latvian back in 1918. And of course back then, it was all from scratch and no written recipe. She called them (don’t know the true spelling) “speck-you-rowsh”. Been trying to figure out for years how she did it and will have to try out your recipe.
Wow, that is a very different way to pronounce the same recipe! I hope my recipe helps Paul.
Paul’s family called these bacon pastries or spekarausi. That is what they are commonly called in Latvia now. Same thing as piragi, as Paul guessed.
I had no idea Ritabergs! Thank you for letting me know. 🙂 Exciting!
Close to what my mother in law used to call them spirgi buns. We use salt pork and ham and yes our family fights over them too! A wonderful family tradition on holidays in honor of my dear sweet mother in law!
Oh really Cindy! Oh that would be good, salt pork or ham, yum! I might have to try a version like that. That’s beautiful, I am so glad you honour her that way. Lovely.
When we lived in Mississaga in 1976 one of my neighbours was Latvian and she made these Piragi and my kids loved them. She gave me the recipe and I have been making them ever since. I am now 76 years old and as I have a bread machine wondered if I could make the dough in it. Luckily I found this site and am going to make the dough tomorrow. I have to make them not only for all my kids and grandkids but they expect to take at leas a dozen home with them each! So hundreds of piragi here I come.
Wow! I lived in Mississauga too, a little earlier than you. 🙂 And yes! So happy the bread maker can make this dough for you to help the process. Just make sure the dough looks wet enough (not too dry or wet) once the maker really gets going and it should be fine. Thanks for writing Helen!!! It made my day. 🙂
I grew up in Mississauga with a Latvian mom. I now live in Savannah, GA. We took Latvian language classes every Friday evening at the Latvian Canadian Cultural Centre when we (my sister and I) were young.
We love piragi!
I am trying this recipe in our breadmaker using brown rice flour instead of all purpose. My son was diagnosed with lupus last year and my husband is wheat free too. My son has to stay away from simple starches. (He has not had a french fry since his diagnosis in March of last year.)
I will let you know how they turn out.
(I use ham as well as bacon our version of the filling.)
That is so wild Karen, I was born in Mississauga! Wow, to take language classes at the Latvian centre! I would have loved that. I have only been there once a few years ago. Yes, please let me know how it burns out with brown rice flour and ham. 🙂 I hope it’s wonderful!
Hi Suzie, do you know of any bakeries in Toronto that sell Piragi? I would love to buy some from a bakery before I attempt to make them myself!
Thanks!
Hey Phillip! You know, it’s been a long time since I was living in Toronto but I know who would know. Contact The Latvian Cultural Centre at (416) 759-3090. They are the experts!
We were in Latvia this summer and found that “piragi” could have a variety of fillings. We love the bacon, ham, onion the best–just like Mom used to make. I had some that had a sprinkle of caraway seeds on top which were very good. My sister and I have started using frozen roll dough(such as Rhodes). Follow directions on the package to raise the dough, then cut off pieces and proceed to form your “piragus”. Using the frozen dough cuts down on the time spent in the kitchen! And they are delicious.
Oh wow Mara, how wonderful you got to visit Latvia this summer! I had no idea there were other options for them, that’s amazing. Yes, frozen dough would make the process much easier and faster, that’s brilliant!
Our Pirogi has bacon onion and spamI sure miss making them. I made abol Maize.
Thank you. I have tried many recipes online to make piragi as good as my mum’s: and your (non-breadmaker) one is it. For the first batch in ages (I only make the Christmas and Easter): I feel I’ve nailed it.
Could you please advise what is the purpose of brushing the buns with coffee after they are baked?
Is it for the color? Do you taste the coffee?
Remember, the coffee is a very sweet coffee! It does help with the colour, absolutely, but most of all it adds a lot of flavour and also steams into the buns. It is the trick most people don’t share with other bakers and they wonder why it doesn’t taste as good.
Looks amazing. I’m glad your family members were calling them correctly – speķarauši. That’s what they are and that’s a Latvian word. I cringed every time I heard someone call them pīrāgi as that really doesn’t do justice to them and can be easily mixed with Slavic pierogi (a different thing). Pīrāgs in Latvian means ‘pie’ like in ‘apple pie’ – ābolu pīrāgs. Any other way to call them is speķa pīrādziņi.
My grandfather was Latvian and my grandmother made these and made these, well, just because. Been looking for a recipe but had a hard time finding it because I always heard it called “shpek u rowsh” and no idea how to spell it to look it up.
I do remember she always put a little dab of bacon grease across the top of the bun before baking. I will be attempting them for first time today .
Thank you for your recipe, I will try it. I’ve had trouble with Latvian Cooking book recipes #1 and #3. They’ve both come out with very dry piragi that I had to sprinkle with water and microwave before serving to make the bread moist. Ill be trying Zeberina’s recipe in Cepumi Ka Vel Nekad, also.
I make these for every holiday for my family. I dice the bacon and onion very very finely. I add diced ham if bacon is overly fatty I prefer not to cook the bacon. They are called piragi. My heritage is Latvian. I have visited Latvia and taken my grandchildren there. They are also called piragi in Latvia. Labour intensive, but so delicious. My dough recipe is similar but not the same. Every Latvian baker adjusts this recipe for taste and their own convenience.