How to make Belish (Pagach)
Over the years my grandma on my dad's side made plenty of Polish and Slovak comfort foods. Belish is one of our family's favorite recipes from my gram. It's based on a pagach recipe, which is a bread stuffed with potatoes, rolled out and baked though I'm not sure how we got the name over the years. Also, be sure to add plenty of butter!
Dough:
320 ml (1 1/3 cup) warm milk
12 g (~1 TBSP) instant yeast
600 g (~4 cups) flour
12 g (1/2 TBSP) coarse kosher salt
100 g (1/2 cup) sugar
113 g (1 stick) melted butter
2 eggs, beaten
Potato Filling:
8 medium russet potatoes, peeled & cubed
113 g (4 oz) Monterrey jack
113 g (4 oz) cheddar cheese
Coarse kosher salt, to taste
Method:
Warm the milk in the microwave until luke warm (100 F). Add the instant yeast and stir together. Set aside and let activate for 5-10 minutes. Mix the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.
Meanwhile, remove the skin from the potatoes and cube them up.
Pour the yeast and milk into the dry ingredients. Add in the melted butter and beaten eggs. Mix the dough together with your hands until a shaggy dough forms. It will be very sticky. Put saran wrap over the bowl and let rest for 20-30 minutes.
While the dough is resting, add the potatoes to a pot and cover with water. Bring them to a boil and continue to cook until they can easily be mashed with a fork. Strain the potatoes off and add back to the pot. Mash the potatoes and add in the cheese. Taste them. Add salt as needed. Let cool.
With dough rested, add flour to the work surface. Turn the dough onto the floured counter and knead by hand for at least 10 minutes. Set a timer if needed. After kneading, the dough ball should be completely smooth. Add the dough to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until doubled (45-60 minutes).
When the dough doubles, turn it out and cut into two pieces. Flatten the dough by hand and thin out the edges. Add half of the potato filling and fold the sides up around the dough like a large dumpling. Do the same with the other piece of dough. Let rest for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Using your hands, flatten the potato filled dough until about 1 inch thick. Move the dough to a baking sheeting. Using a rolling pin, flatten until about 1/4 inch thick.
Add the belish to the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Take it out and flip the belish. Rub butter on the top layer. Add back to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes. Flip and rub more butter on the top. Add a sprinkle of flakey salt. Cut into squares with a pizza cutter and enjoy.