Pugacice - Recipe
Making bread was a regular part of our island life. Every family had a bread making day and made enough of it for a few days. Families made bread at different days so we could borrow from each other and would return a fresh loaf when we baked. All members of the family helped in the process. Bread was baked in brick ovens that everybody had. Only occasionally would the wood burning stove oven be used for baking. That would only happen in the winter when the weather was too bad for firing up the brick oven. The process would be started early in the morning to give it enough time to have fresh bread by noon. Now, the best part of this was not the fresh bread but the making of pugacice.
Rising the first time
Some of the bread dough was used to make pugacice. The dough was shaped by hand or rolled and cut into shapes and then fried. We used the pugacice for that day’s lunch instead of bread and also for desert. Just add some homemade fig jelly and you have a delicious lunch. I would run home from school on bread baking days to get my fresh pugacica with jelly on it and eat it on my way back to school. I often make pugacice instead of bread for my family and they are liked by everyone. If I make too many, I freeze them and then toast them as I need them.
Pugacice Frying - this is a square batch.
“The best part of making bread, was making the pugacice, which were fried in olive oil from our trees.”
Pugacice are very easy to make. Here is the recipe that can get you started experimenting with making pugacice. You can add fresh hearbs for variety if you plan to use them for a specific meal.
You need:
2 teaspoons of dry yeast or equivalent fresh yeast
26 tablespoons of flour and more for working the dough
¼ of teaspoon of salt,
1 teaspoon of sugar
warm milk or water as needed
2 tablespoons of good olive oil
Enough vegetable or olive oil needed for frying
Mix the yeast with about 4 tablespoons of flour, sugar and the salt.
Add enough warm milk or water to create a loose mass and let it rise until it doubles in size.
Once doubled, add the olive oil, another 20-24 tablespoons of flour and the liquid to create a nice size dough that can be handled and pulled together.
Transfer the dough onto a board and knead it until it does not stick to the working surface. Add additional flour as needed.
Transfer your dough back to a bowl, cover and let rise.
Once it has doubled in size move it back to the working area. You can make pugacice by rolling the dough and cutting into shapes or you can take small amount of the dough and shape them with your hands that resemble little pizzas. These are my favorite.
Before frying, prick all of the pugacice with a fork or they will be very airy. Pugacice can also be brushed with olive oil and put on grill. Be careful, they bake fast.
