How to Make the Perfect Dough
Each housekeeper has their own recipe for the perfect dough. But if you strive to eat something new like meringue cookies, choux pastry, or homemade pasta, you might find our article very useful.
5-Minute Crafts has recipes for a few different types of dough so you can pamper your loved ones with new culinary masterpieces.
Crepes
Ingredients:
🔴 100 g flour
🔴 2 eggs
🔴 300 ml skim milk
🔴 1 tbsp sunflower oil
🔴 a pinch of salt
1️⃣ Mix the flour and salt in a big bowl.
2️⃣ Make a small well in the center and break the eggs into it.
3️⃣ Pour 50 ml of milk and sunflower oil into the bowl. Mix the mass to have the consistency of sour cream.
4️⃣ Keep kneading the dough, constantly pouring the rest of the milk into it.
5️⃣ Pour a bit of dough on the pre-heated and pre-oiled frying pan, turning the frying pan so that the dough spreads in a thin even layer.
6️⃣ Turn the crepe over in about 30 seconds and fry it on the other side until golden brown.
Homemade pasta
Ingredients:
🔴 3 eggs, beaten to blend
🔴 2 cups of flour
🔴 1 tbsp of olive oil
🔴 1 tsp of salt
1️⃣ First, mix the eggs, oil, flour, and salt with your hands and then place it all in a mixing bowl. Knead the dough until it becomes elastic and smooth. It will take about 10 minutes. If you don’t have a mixer, knead the dough with your hands.
2️⃣ Depending on the desired shape of the pasta, roll out and cut the dough.
Pizza
Ingredients:
🔴 500 g of pizza flour
🔴 10 g of fresh yeast
🔴 ½ tsp of sugar
🔴 320 ml of warm water
🔴 1 tsp of salt
🔴 any ingredients (ham, cheese, tomatoes, etc.)
🔴 olive oil
🔴 semolina
Recipe:
1️⃣ Mix the yeast with the sugar and leave it for 1 minute. Pour some water into the mixing bowl, add the flour. Keep kneading it for about 4 minutes at the lowest speed until the dough becomes soft. Add salt into the mass and increase the speed. Knead for 4 more minutes. If you don’t have a mixer, you can stir the ingredients with a wooden spoon and then knead the dough with your hands for 10 minutes.
2️⃣ Brush a large bowl with vegetable oil and place the dough in it. Cover it with a damp cloth or with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place for about 4 hours.
3️⃣ Afterward, take the dough out of the bowl and roll it out on a working surface pre-sprinkled with flour.
4️⃣ Place the baking sheet in the oven and preheat. Once you make sure the oven is well heated, remove the baking sheet, sprinkle it with semolina, and place the dough on top of it. Quickly add the toppings and drizzle the olive oil over the pizza.
5️⃣ Cook for about 8 minutes until the dough becomes golden and crispy.
Fluffy kefir pancakes
Ingredients:
🔴 2 cups of kefir (you can make it yourself)
🔴 2 eggs
🔴 4 tbsp melted butter
🔴 2¾ cups of flour
🔴 2 tsp of vanilla extract
🔴 2 tbsp of sugar
🔴 ½ tsp of salt
🔴 ½ tsp of baking soda
🔴 2 tsp baking powder
🔴 4–5 tbsp of vegetable oil
🔴 caramel, honey, sour cream for garnishing
1️⃣ Whisk the eggs with the vanilla and sugar. Pour the mass into slightly pre-heated kefir, add melted butter, and mix.
2️⃣ Mix the flour with baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Add the mixture into the egg-kefir mixture. Quickly mix everything but avoid over mixing. Don’t worry if you still see some lumps — they will disappear during the cooking process. Let the dough rest for 5-7 minutes. It should resemble the consistency of thick sour cream.
3️⃣ Using a tablespoon, pour the dough onto a pre-heated frying pan with vegetable oil. Make sure each pancake is medium-sized. Reduce the heat and fry until golden brown.
Dumplings
Ingredients:
🔴 1 cup flour
🔴 2 tsp baking powder
🔴 1 tsp sugar
🔴 ½ tsp salt
🔴 1 tbsp butter
🔴 ½ cup of milk
🔴 stuffing
1️⃣ Mix all of the dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Add pre-cut butter and then add the milk. You should get a soft and elastic dough.
2️⃣ Roll out the dough and make small circles, placng any chosen stuffing in them (meat, potatoes, cabbage, etc.).
3️⃣ Bring water to a boil, place the dumplings in it, and boil until ready.
Choux pastry
Ingredients:
🔴 1 cup of water
🔴 115 g non-salted butter at room temperature, cut into squares
🔴 135 g sifted flour
🔴 4 eggs
🔴 ½ tsp of sea salt
🔴 1 tbsp sugar (optional)
🔴 ½ tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1️⃣ Heat the oven up to 375°F.
2️⃣ Place water mixed with salt, sugar, and butter in a pot and heat over medium heat, periodically stirring the mass. Once the butter has melted and the mixture starts to boil, remove the pan from the heat and add the flour, stirring it with a wooden spatula or spoon. When the water has completely absorbed the flour, return the pot to the fire.
3️⃣ Cook the dough over medium heat for a couple of minutes, occasionally stirring it. It can be removed from the heat when it starts to uncling from the walls and form a film on the bottom of the pan.
4️⃣ Take the resulting mass out of the pot and let it cool down for about 1-3 minutes. Add vanilla. Then mix the dough using a mixer or manually adding eggs into it (1 by 1) and thoroughly kneading the dough after beating each egg. When the dough becomes glossy, it is ready.
5️⃣ Line a baking sheet with baking paper and place the dough on top of it using a large-tipped piping bag or a simple spoon. Form the items into the desired shape with wet hands.
6️⃣ Bake for 30-40 minutes until the choux pastry rises and becomes golden-brown. The main thing to keep in mind is to not open the oven for at least 25 minutes. When 5-10 minutes are left, you can pierce each item with a toothpick or a skewer.
7️⃣ After the choux pastry is ready, leave them in an open oven until they completely cool down. Fill them with sweet or salty stuffing and serve right away.
Chebureki
Ingredients:
🔴 2½ cups of flour
🔴 ½ cup of water
🔴 4 tbsp olive oil
🔴 ½ tsp sugar
🔴 225 g ground beef
🔴 ½ medium-sized onions
🔴 6 tbsp milk
🔴 1 tsp finely chopped fresh parsley
🔴 salt (to taste)
🔴 pepper (to taste)
1️⃣ Take a big bowl. Sift the flour into it and add the sugar, salt, olive oil, and water. Knead the dough until it becomes soft and smooth. Add a bit more flour if the dough is sticky or water if the dough is rough. Put the dough aside and prepare the stuffing.
2️⃣ Mix the ground beef, finely chopped onion, and parsley. Add milk and season the mixture with salt and pepper.
3️⃣ Sprinkle some flour on the work surface and roll out a circle that is 1/10-1/8 inch thick. Cut circles using a small tea plate. Make a ball from the rest of the dough, roll it out and repeat the procedure until the dough is over.
4️⃣ Place 2 tbsp of stuffing on one half of the circle leaving about 1/2 inch space at the edges.
5️⃣ Fold the other half of the circle over and pinch the edges firmly together using your fingers.
6️⃣ Make sure there is no air inside and that the edges are closed tightly.
7️⃣ Heat oil in a big frying pan — it should cover about 1/2 of a chebureki. Then reduce heat to medium and place chebureki into the oil. Fry from both sides until nicely and evenly brown.
Meringue cookies
Ingredients:
🔴 4 egg whites, room temperature
🔴 ½ tsp cream of tartar
🔴 ⅛ tsp salt
🔴 1 cup of sugar
🔴 1 tsp of vanilla extract, flavoring, or coloring
Recipe:
1️⃣ Heat the oven to 225°F. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and set it aside.
2️⃣ Mix egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt in a big and clean (this is important) bowl.
3️⃣ Place the mixture into a mixer and stir at low speed until it becomes foamy. Afterward, increase the speed and gradually add sugar (1 tbsp at a time), stirring after adding each one until the sugar dissolves (about 15-20 seconds between each addition).
4️⃣ Stop whisking when the mixture becomes thick, increases in volume, and becomes glossy. Rub a small amount of mixture between your fingers — it shouldn’t be grainy. If it is, it means the sugar hasn’t dissolved completely and you need to mix/whisk it more.
5️⃣ Add vanilla, flavoring, or food color depending on the meringue you want.
6️⃣ Take a baking sheet and place the meringue cookies on it with the help of a large-tipped piping bag with a large tip.
7️⃣ Bake at 225°F for 1 hour. Afterward, turn off the oven and don’t open it. Let the cookies cool down completely in the oven (1-2 hours).