Fluffy Kefir Verguny

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   Gather your ingredients.

2. Step 2:

   

   The dough comes together in 5–10 minutes. Start with the sugar, salt, and egg.

3. Step 3:

   

   Whisk them together.

4. Step 4:

   

   Pour in the kefir and stir.

5. Step 5:

   

   Add the baking soda.

6. Step 6:

   

   Then the vegetable oil, and stir again.

7. Step 7:

   

   The soda reacts with the kefir and the batter starts to bubble.

8. Step 8:

   

   Now sift in the flour to aerate it.

9. Step 9:

   

   Mix with a spoon, then knead the dough by hand.

10. Step 10:

    

    The dough should be a little sticky, soft, and not stiff.

11. Step 11:

    

    Cover it with the bowl you mixed it in and let it rest about 20 minutes — the gluten will relax and the dough will be easy to work with.

12. Step 12:

    

    Roll the dough out into a sheet up to 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick.

13. Step 13:

    

    Cut into diamonds.

14. Step 14:

    

    Make a slit in the center of each diamond.

15. Step 15:

    

    You can gather the scraps and re-roll them, but I'll fry them as is — they make great little puffs.

16. Step 16:

    

    Pull one end of the dough through the slit, the way you would for khvorost.

17. Step 17:

    

    Now heat the oil properly for frying — heat the skillet first, then pour in the oil. It should be hot but never smoking! That's important. To check the temperature, drop in one piece of dough and watch how it fries.

18. Step 18:

    

    Once the oil is at the right temperature, add the verguny and watch them puff up right before your eyes! They fry fast — about 1 minute per side.

19. Step 19:

    

    Flip and finish frying on the other side.

20. Step 20:

    

    And these are the little puffs I made from the scraps.

21. Step 21:

    

    Here are our fluffy, golden verguny!

22. Step 22:

    

    Dust with powdered sugar if you like. Enjoy with your tea!