I come from a family with three Jewish grandparents and one Catholic grandparent. As any typical Ashkenazi Jewish family, we have lineage from Russia, Germany, and many Eastern European countries.
My Catholic grandfather's part of the family hails from Poland. This means that every Christmas, although I don't celebrate religiously, we all gather at my grandparents' house for roast meats, vegetables and enough pierogis to feed the whole neighborhood. Pierogis are such a nostalgic food for me, so i thought why not try to make them in challah form?
Dough
1 Cup flour
½ Teaspoon salt
1 Egg
¼ Cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons butter (softened)
Filling
1 Large russet potato
¼ Cup cheddar cheese
¼ Cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons butter melted
To make the dough, combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Add in the egg, sour cream, and butter and mix with your hand until fully combined. This will get messy! The dough should be pretty sticky at this point.
Take dough out of the bowl and knead for 2-3 minutes until dough becomes a little less sticky. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate anywhere from 1 - 48 hours.
While the dough is chilling, cut the potato into chunks and place in a pot with cold water. Place on stove and bring to boil. Let boil for 10 minutes and drain.
Place potatoes in a bowl with sour cream, butter, and cheese and mash until smooth. Place in the refrigerator and let cool.
When ready to assemble, take the dough out of the refrigerator and cut into four portions. Take one of the four portions and place on a cutting board. Cut into 3 equal pieces and roll each into a log.
Using a rolling pin, roll each of the three logs into a rectangle and place potato filling in the center. Pinch the sides together and then crimp with a fork, creating a seal.
You should now have three equal sized logs filled with potato. Press the tops together and braid as you normally would for a challah, making sure to pinch the ends together very well.
Once braided, place in a pot of boiling water. Let boil until it floats to the top and then transfer to a heated pan with 1 tablespoon butter. Let crisp on both sides. Complete with the other three portions of dough and enjoy!
(I hope you enjoy the fish plates, we're in San Diego and these are the only plates Noah's grandma has at her condo!)