The best pierogi dough recipe + how to make perfect pierogi

The dough is soft, elastic, smells of butter and is easy to roll out.

📝 Ingredients

• 4 cups flour (500g / 17.5-oz, spoon and leveled, all-purpose flour)
• 1 cup + 2.5 Tbsp water (280g / 280ml / 10-oz (to weight on a scale))
• 3 tablespoons butter (1.4 oz/40g, or vegetable oil)
• 1 teaspoon salt

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1--- → Make the dough: ---
2. 2Add the flour and salt into a large bowl, mix together.
3. 3In a small saucepan, warm the water with butter until they are very hot, but not boiling (temperature should be around 80-85 °C / 176-185 °F, that is when the water starts to move and steam).
4. 4Pour hot water with butter into the bowl with flour, mix with a wooden spoon until roughly combined.
5. 5Knead the dough using your hands or with a stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment, for about 5 minutes. A food processor can also be used (fitted with the dough blade). The dough should be smooth, soft, and elastic, it shouldn’t stick to your hands. When you follow the recipe (especially if you weigh the ingredients, instead of using measuring cups), the dough should be perfect, but if for some reason it’s not, add some water if it’s too dry, or a little bit of flour if it’s too wet. If the dough already forms a ball, is relatively smooth, but still tough, it means that it’s not ready, it must be further kneaded until soft and elastic (after resting time it will be even softer).
6. 6Wrap the kneaded dough in plastic foil (so it doesn’t dry out), leave to rest for about 30 minutes (it will be easy to roll out).
7. 7--- → Rolling out, stuffing and shaping the pierogi: ---
8. 8Divide the dough into 4 parts.
9. 9Onto a lightly floured surface, roll out thinly the first piece of the dough, to a thickness of approx. 2 mm / 1/16 inch. If the dough is hard to roll out, set it aside for about 5-10 minutes to rest.
10. 10Use a cup or a pierogi/pastry cutter to cut out rounds. Place one ball of filling / 1 teaspoon of filling on each round.
11. 11Gather scraps, cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
12. 12Fold the dough over the filling to create a half-moon shape. Press edges together, sealing and crimping with your fingers. Do not leave any gaps or pierogi may open during cooking.
13. 13Place the pierogi apart on a towel lightly sprinkled with flour (this is important, they can stick to the board), cover loosely with a kitchen cloth so that they don‘t dry out.
14. 14Repeat with the remaining dough.
15. 15--- -> Cook the pierogi: ---
16. 16Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
17. 17Cook the pierogi in batches (for a 21 cm /8-inch pot I cook about 10-12 dumplings at a time). When they float to the water surface cook them for 1-2 minutes, then remove from the water with a slotted spoon. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of the dough.
18. 18Drain well and transfer onto a plate. Serve warm, pour over some melted butter.
19. 19Enjoy!