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Proziaki (prażochy)

Name: Proziaki (prażochy)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 60 min
Cuisine: kuchnia polska
Ingredients: 500 g wheat flour (cake or Poznań (type 450 or 500)); 250 ml kefir, buttermilk, or sour milk (at room temperature; up to 300 ml if the dough is too dry); 1 pc egg (at room temperature; can be omitted); 1 tsp baking soda (flat); ½ tsp salt (flat); ½ tsp sugar; butter (fresh, for spreading on hot pancakes); white cheese or jam (your choice)

Proziaki are thick pancakes made with soda and sour milk, kefir, or buttermilk, baked dry on a hot stove plate, and today on a cast-iron skillet or in the oven. This recipe will teach you how to prepare the dough, bake the pancakes without fat, and how to substitute Polish products abroad.

Servings: 16 placków
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 1 h
Difficulty: Easy

Prostokątne proziaki z rumianymi plamami, ustawione na sztorc na ciemnej żeliwnej płycie oprószonej mąką

The story behind the recipe

Proziaki are thick pancakes made from wheat flour, sour milk, and soda, which in the local dialect was called "proza." In 2006, they were entered into the List of Traditional Products as a baked good from the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. The ministry's card describes them as pancakes baked without fat directly on the stove and lists other names used in Subcarpathia: prołzioki, prouzioki, and prozioki. They were known among the Pogórzans and the Lasowiaks, in the former Sandomierz Forest, which today includes the counties of Stalowa Wola, Nisko, and Tarnobrzeg. The description of Lasowiak cuisine briefly mentions them: pancakes made with soda, wheat flour, sour milk, and salt, baked on a plate.

In Żabno near Radomyśl nad Sanem, the grandmother of our portal's founder baked these pancakes on a stove plate, and in the family, they were called "prażochy." We couldn't find this name in any source; we record it as a local name remembered in the family. It fits with the verb that the authors of the recipes also use: proziaki are "prażone" on a hot plate or skillet. In other regions of Poland, the words "prażochy" and "prażuchy" mean something different: according to linguist Irena Jaros, they refer to dishes made from potatoes mashed with flour, dumplings, or potato pancakes, not soda pancakes.

According to the card from the List of Traditional Products, proziaki have been eaten in Subcarpathia for over 150 years, and the recipe has been passed down orally from generation to generation. They were made with wheat flour, preferably whole grain, with eggs, sour milk, and cream, with a bit of soda, salt, and sugar added. Because they are quick to prepare, they often replaced village bread. Every household baked them a little differently: with buttermilk, kefir, sour milk, or whey, with or without eggs, round or square.

Ingredients

Dough (16 pancakes)

500 g wheat flour (cake or Poznań (type 450 or 500))
Abroad: USA: all-purpose flour; UK: plain flour; Germany: Type 405 or 550
250 ml kefir, buttermilk, or sour milk (at room temperature; up to 300 ml if the dough is too dry)
Abroad: kefir; buttermilk: USA cultured buttermilk, UK buttermilk, Germany Buttermilch; sour milk: Germany Dickmilch
1 pc egg (at room temperature; can be omitted)
1 tsp (about 6 g) baking soda (flat)
Abroad: USA: baking soda; UK: bicarbonate of soda; Germany: Natron
½ tsp (about 3 g) salt (flat)
½ tsp (about 2 g) sugar

To serve

butter (fresh, for spreading on hot pancakes)
white cheese or jam (your choice)

Method, step by step

Take the kefir (or buttermilk or sour milk) and egg out of the refrigerator beforehand so they are at room temperature. In a bowl or jug, beat the egg with the kefir.
In a large bowl, sift the flour together with the salt and baking soda, add the sugar, and mix. Pour in the kefir with the egg.
Knead the dough with your hands for a few minutes until it is uniform and smooth. It may be slightly sticky, which is good: dust your hands with flour and add just enough to make the dough rollable. It should resemble pierogi dough in consistency.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and roll it out to a thickness of about 1 cm (just under ½ inch). Cut out circles with a diameter of 7–8 cm (about 3 inches) using a glass or cookie cutter. Re-knead the scraps, roll them out, and continue cutting until all the dough is used. You should get about 16 pancakes.
Arrange the circles next to each other on a board, cover with a cotton cloth, and let them rest for 15 minutes in a warm place without drafts.
Heat a large skillet with a thick bottom, preferably cast-iron, over medium heat. Do not grease it. Place a few pancakes next to each other and bake for 10–12 minutes, turning the pancakes every 1–2 minutes. The pancakes will rise while baking. If they brown too quickly, reduce the heat.
Instead of using a skillet, you can bake the proziaki in the oven: preheat it to 190°C (375°F), top and bottom heat, place the pancakes on a baking sheet, and bake on the middle rack for 12–18 minutes. Watch them to ensure they don't brown too quickly before they are cooked through.
Proziaki are ready when they are browned on both sides and risen. They are best served immediately: cut a hot pancake with a knife and spread butter on it so it soaks in. Serve with white cheese, jam, or cold milk.

Tips

Proportions. Recipes from Ani Gotuje and Polish Foodies, as well as a recipe from the Women's Agricultural Circle from Łubna Opacego, give the same proportions: half a liter of sour milk, kefir, or buttermilk for one kilogram of flour. They differ in the amount of soda. Our version is based on the recipe from Ani Gotuje. On the same basis, Małgorzata Kaczmarczyk (ziolowawyspa.pl/placki-na-blasze) bakes her pancakes using 250–300 ml (1–1¼ cups) of kefir or yogurt, one egg, a flat teaspoon of soda, ⅔ teaspoon of salt, and enough flour to achieve a consistency similar to pierogi dough, and then bakes them in the oven.

Without egg. You can omit the egg. In that case, add an extra tablespoon of buttermilk to the dough.

Too sticky. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky. Dust your hands and the work surface with flour. Only add as much flour as needed to make it rollable.

Burned on the outside, raw on the inside. The heat was too high. Bake on medium heat and turn the pancakes every 1–2 minutes instead of keeping them on one side for too long. In the oven, watch to ensure they don't brown too quickly.

Sweet version. Reduce the salt to a quarter teaspoon and add a full teaspoon of sugar. For a savory version, you can add up to half a teaspoon more salt.

With white cheese. The Women's Agricultural Circle from Łubna Opacego adds some white cheese to the dough. These pancakes have fewer large holes inside and are moister.

What to serve with. Traditionally served with fresh butter, white cheese, or jam, accompanied by cold milk. The card from the List of Traditional Products also mentions sweet cream. For a savory option, salted or garlic butter, tomato, onion, or chives work well.

Storage. Keep at room temperature in a bag or breadbox, so they don't dry out for 2–3 days. They can be frozen for a month.

Abroad. Flour: in the USA, all-purpose flour; in the UK, plain flour; in Germany, Type 405 or 550. Baking soda is called baking soda in the USA, bicarbonate of soda in the UK, and Natron in Germany. If you don't have soda, Karolina Klesta from Polish Foodies suggests using 3 teaspoons of baking powder instead of one teaspoon of soda. Kefir is sold everywhere under the name kefir. Buttermilk is cultured buttermilk in the USA, buttermilk in the UK, and Buttermilch in Germany. Sour milk can be replaced in Germany with Dickmilch. A stove with a cast-iron plate can be replaced with a thick cast-iron skillet or a griddle.

Photos

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