PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK LOADER
These buns are the not just the currency of love in our family but literally a part of family negotiations and math lessons. When my mother carted a large box of them to Isle of Palms for a family beach vacation (bribing a TSA employee with a few so she could carry them on the plane), my six-year-old great-niece quickly learned division as she told us how many each of us was allotted for the week. Her math seemed to favor her, but we all had our share.
Bacon buns freeze well in freezer bags and can be taken out in small numbers to accompany soup or a salad or alone as a quick snack. Guests to my mother’s home often left with a dozen in hand, pulled from the freezer, that is, if they rated with her in any way.
At holidays, we often pushed for a Christmas or Easter ham, knowing the leftover ham would mean bacon buns would follow in the weeks ahead.
Bacon Buns or Piroshki
Ingredients
For the filling
- 1½ pounds bacon
- 1 medium onion, diced finely
- 1 pound ham, ground finely
For the dough
- 2 cups milk
- 1 package dry yeast (Mom used Red Star)
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) butter, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 5 eggs beaten
- 7 –8 cups flour, sifted
For the egg glaze
- 2 egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons water
Instructions
To make the filling: (Do this in advance and simply warm or make while dough is rising.)
- Dice bacon and cook in a sauté pan. Pour off all but ½ cup bacon grease. Add diced onion and ground ham and sauté until onion is translucent. Remove from stove and set aside.
To make the dough:
- Warm milk but do not boil. Place ¼ cup of the warmed milk in a glass and stir in yeast. Set aside until bubbly or foamy.
- Place remaining warmed milk in a large bowl with 2 sticks softened butter. Add sugar and salt, then incorporate eggs into mixture. Add yeast mix to bowl and mix again.
- Begin to add flour by the cupful, mixing with a wooden spoon. When the dough seems to hold together—between 7 and 8 cups—empty bowl onto on a floured surface and knead. If the dough sticks to your hands, incorporate more flour. Knead until the dough is smooth and soft to the touch, then return it to the bowl, cover with a towel, and set in a warm place to rise until almost doubled in size (approximately 1 to 1½ hours).
- Knead again, incorporating more flour as needed. Cover and set aside to rise for another hour.
To assemble and bake:
- Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Pull off a section of risen dough the size of a ping-pong ball and stretch into a flat circle. Place1 heaping teaspoon of bacon filling mixture in its center. (If the filling appears dry, stir in a small amount of bacon grease.) Pinch edges of circle together around the filling. Set the buns, pinched-side down, on the cookie sheet.
- Lightly beat egg yolks and water together in a bowl with a fork and brush a small amount of mixture over top of buns.
- Bake until golden, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set buns to cool on a wire rack.
- Enjoy bacon buns while they are still warm from the oven. To eat later, cool and refrigerate or freeze and reheat in a 225° oven in a covered roasting pan or in a microwave on a lower power setting.
