Panonian Pork Crackling Biscuits Recipe

In the past, pork cracklings used to be used in cooking, just not to throw away excess pork fat – but nowadays you’ll see pork cracking used in many ways – and it’s considered to be a true delicacy.

Ingredients:

500 g all-purpose flour (3 1/2 cups)

1 40 g cube fresh yeast (4 1/2 tsp)

1 tablespoon sugar

300 ml milk (1 1/4 cups), warmed

1.5 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 egg

1 tablespoon pork fat

250 g pork crackings, known as čvarci (8.8 oz)

Extra:

1 egg for coating the biscuits

Course salt

Instructions:

Grind the pork cracklings in a food processor, or use a sharp knife and cut them into small pieces. Set aside

In a glass bowl, mix together the yeast with 1/2 of the warm milk and sugar and leave it for 10 minutes to activate (it needs to foam or bubble)

Mix the flour with the salt and pepper

Add to the flor the yeast mixture, pork fat, an egg and the rest of the warmed milk to make a dough

Knead until you get a soft dough, cover it with a kitchen towel and leave to rest for 45 minutes in a warm place until it doubles it size

Roll out the dough into a thin layer (approx 1 cm/0.3 inch) and on one half spread the one-third of the crackling mixture. Cover them with the other half of the dough, and roll the dough out again in the same way

Repeat step 6 for another two times until you use up all the crackling mix.  Now roll out the dough to 1.5 cm thickness and with a round mold (or a glass) punch out the biscuits

Put the biscuits on a lined baking tray sprinkled with some pork fat or butter, cover them with an egg wash and sprinkle over with coarse salt

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 25-30 minutes

Serve while still hot