Potato langos: a Hungarian, fried, soft bread

A simple, quick and delicious Hungarian "fast-food". If frying scares you, just remember: when done at the right temperature barely any oil gets absorbed into the fried item. For this particular baking experiment I collected the oil at the end, and measured the "loss". Only two tablespoons of oil disappeared into the langos, which made 10 meals...and some of the oil remained coating the dish I used for frying. So, don't be scared!

Ingredients
3-4 medium potatoes peeled, cooked and finely mashed
2-3 cups of flour
1 egg
1 tbsp dry yeast
salt
1tsp sugar
1/2 cup warm milk
1 inch deep oil for frying in your choice of cookware

Preparation
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm milk, allow to sit at room temp or warmer for around 10 minutes. It should get frothy on top.

Meanwhile measure out 2 cups of flour and have more ready nearby. Salt the flour (I used around 2tsp, but tastes differ) and mix. Add the potato mash to the flour and mix. Finally add in the egg and yeast solution and work it together.
The dough should be on the soft side, but not too sticky. Add flour or warm milk as needed.
When the dough is smooth and elastic, cut into 10 pieces. Form them into balls of dough and place them onto a well-floured surface. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for around 40 minutes in a warm oven.

For this part I usually turn on the oven for a very short period of time before I place the dough inside. Make sure the oven is not too hot, you don't want your yeast to die, or your langos to bake! Below is a picture of a few of my dough balls:

About 10 minutes before you want to start frying your first langos, start heating the oil at the medium-high setting. You don't want the oil to burn, but the oil should be on the hot side.

When the oil is ready, just take a ball and trying not to deflate it too much, stretch it into a circle with your hands. Quickly lower into the oil. Be careful and avoid getting burnt!

When one side of the langos is golden, turn with a fork. It happens very quickly (60-90 seconds), so keep careful watch over it!

When both sides are cooked, remove onto a paper towel in order to drip away the little oil that sticks to the surface.

People serve these delicious pieces of soft bread with many different toppings. Sour cream and cheese are typical in Hungary, as well as garlic. In Sweden, where langos is a popular dish at festivals, they also serve it with shrimp and caviar.
I prepared them with chopped onions, red peppers, sour cream and grated cheddar. But sour cream remains my favorite topping.


Serve them warm. If you can't eat them all (or if you are able to restrain yourself even though you could) it's possible to store these frozen. After a quick spin in the microwave, they are nearly as delicious as fresh.

I tried very hard to snap a good picture which would illustrate just how soft these are...but alas, I failed. This pic was perhaps the best:


I can only encourage you to be brave and try it, you will see, these are worth the trouble!