Lángos
Deep-fried yeasted flatbread, stretched thin in the middle, rubbed with raw garlic and covered with soured cream and grated cheese.
Photograph credit: Budapest, Békásmegyer, piac, bolognai lángos by Random photos 1989 · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
A little mashed potato in the dough is the market-stall trick: it holds moisture, so the lángos stays soft for longer instead of turning leathery within minutes. Stretching the middle thinner than the edges gives the classic shape — a puffed rim around a crisp centre that holds the toppings.
What People Ask
How long does Lángos take to make?
1 hour 15 minutes of preparation and 15 minutes of cooking, plus 1 hour 20 minutes of proving, so allow 2 hours 50 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 6.
Photograph credit: Budapest, Békásmegyer, piac, sajtos-tejfölös lángos by Random photos 1989 · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
How to Make Lángos
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Mix the flour, cooled mashed potato, yeast, sugar and salt. Add the warm milk and 2 tablespoons of oil and knead 8 minutes to a soft, slightly sticky dough.
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Prove covered for 1 hour until doubled.
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Knock back gently and divide into 6. Roll each into a ball, set them on an oiled tray, cover and rest 20 minutes.
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Heat the frying oil to 175°C / 345°F in a wide pan.
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Take one ball and stretch it with oiled hands into a 20 cm disc, pulling the middle much thinner than the edge — thin enough to be almost translucent.
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Lower it into the oil and hold it under with a spoon for a few seconds. Fry 90 seconds, then flip and fry another 60 to 90 seconds until golden and puffed.
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Drain on a rack and immediately brush the top with the garlic water while it is hot enough to take it in.
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Spread with soured cream and cover generously with cheese.
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Eat straight away, and fry the next one.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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A Few Pointers
- Potato in the dough. It is what keeps a lángos soft.
- Thin middle, thick rim. Stretch, do not roll.
- Garlic water goes on while it is still hot from the oil.
Ingredient Swaps
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
What to Serve With It
Soured cream and grated cheese · A cold beer · Pickled peppers
Keeping and Reheating
Eat immediately. The dough can be proved in the fridge overnight.
What's in a Serving
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (how much frying oil the food takes up cannot be known from the recipe). Why some recipes have none.
Your notes on this recipe
Cooked this? Keep a note for next time
Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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